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Images are the Natural Evolution of Search Images are the Natural Evolution of Search By Ross Dunn (c) 2008 Over the past couple years it has been impossible to avoid the buzz about images and their increasing role in search; such as universal search which is becoming commonplace among the major search engines. But universal search is only the most prevalent news and only the baby-steps of a new format of search that is about to take over the Internet. Do I have your interest piqued? I will now lay the foundation of my statement to hopefully get you as excited as I am about this unstoppable search evolution. Evidence 1) Photosynth If you have any technology mavens as friends it is likely you saw this incredible video presented by Microsoft at the TED conference last year discussing Photosynth. To quote Microsoft Lab's Photosynth home page this software "takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and then displays the photos in a reconstructed three-dimensional space, showing you how each one relates to the next. In our collections, you can access gigabytes of photos in seconds, view a scene from nearly any angle, find similar photos with a single click, and zoom in to make the smallest detail as big as your monitor." My jaw still hurts from hitting the ground after my first viewing of Photosynth many months ago. This software made a massive impression on me that has led me to many interesting ideas on the applications for this software; I will leave these thoughts to another time. For now, however, lets just say that... more.. Following Yahoo to a Wealth of Traffic Following Yahoo to a Wealth of Traffic By Mark Daoust  Consider Yahoo the first major casualty of the search engine wars. Yahoo has admitted that they cannot reasonably expect to take away any significant amount of the search market share from Google, so they have chosen to be happy as the second most visited search engine on the Internet. On the surface, this may seem strange. Why would Yahoo ever publicly announce that they are 'throwing in the towel' in the search engine war? That would be similar to Pepsi recommending that people drink their product only if Coca-Cola is not available. From a business standpoint, it is absolutely ridiculous and makes absolutely no sense. But be careful to not read into this too far. Yahoo may have tipped their hat to Google as being dominant in the traditional search engine market, but this does not mean that they are giving up the fight for Internet users' attention. In fact, for some time n?Yahoo has been moving towards a market which is quickly emerging as being just as powerful as search engines currently are. Yahoo Moves to Web 2.0 Style Websites In a few of the articles published h? at Site Reference we have mentioned Web 2.0 and how Yahoo seems to be following this development trend, but we have nev?looked into why Yahoo is so fascinated by Web 2.0. As most of you probably know, Yahoo launched My Web 2.0, a public bookmarking service, along with acquiring Del.icio.us, a well-established public bookmarking service. Yahoo also launched Yahoo Answers, a service which relies on a community of users to answer quest?s that the same community asks. There is a common trend with all of these services - they all rely on... more.. Land in Texas Land in Texas Imagine the most peaceful place that you can think of. Imagine how the peace and quiet feel like, how all the worries and the problems that wonder off in your head, simply fade away. Imagine how your life would be like in such a place, how would you feel to be surrounded by those feelings on a daily basis. That's what a Land in Texas brings to the table. Many other things about a Land in Texas There are people who complain about the shallowness of the world, about the fact that most of us simply forget about our dreams, desired and focus on the daily routines that we have, the problems that are in our lives. That's the description of a typical middle class person that struggles to find his path in life. That person will be the one that disclaims the idea of a Land in Texas because he or she doesn't think that this is the perfect time to act on this matter. There are so many studies, opinions and arguments why now is the perfect moment to think about an investment in this area. Little do people know that the recession has made a lot of changes in the real estate industry in ways that aren't quite visible. The common opinion is that a land in Texas is very expensive and not everyone affords making an investment due to the high prices. The reality can be seen as a shock, but the prices have changed considerable over the years. A Land in Texas can easily be quoted at less than a half of the price that was given in 2007 or 2009.... more.. Inbound Links Inbound Links By Andy MacDonald (c) 2008 Inbound links are now so important in the constant battle to achieve top search engine rankings, that tons of people are using every tactic under the sun to gain that one additional link. You must be careful when it comes to linking though. You could jeopardize your whole linking plan by getting links in a shady manner which could have an adverse affect on your search rankings. These inbound links are seen by search engines as votes for your site within a particular community of sites. Anytime you're being voted for, you want to have as many votes as possible. However you want to be using tactics which are going to pay dividends in your linking strategy, not do more harm then good. Below I l? some of the best and safest methods around for generating inbound links for your website. Some can be more effective than others: Requesting Links: The oldest method of gaining inbound links is to request them. This requires that you study your market to find out who the players involved in the market are. Then, you contact each one of the sites and ask them to link to your site. In most cases, the person you contact receives your request, but providing links to other sites is the least of their worries, so you may never hear from them. If you do, it can sometimes be months later. So, you put a lot of time into requesting links from other sites for a relatively small return on your efforts. For more on requesting links, I recommend you checkout The Do's &... more.. The HSA allows you to Take Control of Your Health Care Plan The HSA allows you to Take Control of Your Health Care Plan Benefits of the H S A utilize the Consumer Driven Concept The H S A grew from the concept of consumer driven health insurance. To define what a consumer driven health product is, we need to look back years ago, before health insurance.  A patient visited a doctor; he or she then paid the doctor what they could afford and what the doctor would accept in payment.  It could be something as simple as a chicken.    Today our system design is completely different.  CMS is the acronym for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CMS has standardized everything within the medical environment.  There are now CPT codes (CPT which is the acronym for Current Procedural Terminology) has to be assigned to each procedure a physician performs.  Each code is attached to an ICD 9 code which identifies the type of sickness or injury.   The insurance industry and medical providers now use these codes. A mistake or mismatch of a code which is improperly reported to an insurance company can slow or cause a claim to be denied.  Physicians and hospitals are in the business to be caretakers, but they are forced to spend much of their time and resources making sure they are properly compensated.  The payer is now the government or the insurance companies.    The system has become so complex that that the physician is compelled to hire personnel who understand procedures and mechanisms mandated before they are properly compensated.    This system has separated any monetary interaction... more.. Anniversary gift ideas Anniversary gift ideas There are some people who are so scared of the moment when they need to search for anniversary gift ideas that it makes those days quite terrifying. Having an anniversary should be a moment an honoring the time spent together and the year that has passed since the last anniversary. This is the moment of love and should be celebrated as such. It's simple to find the best anniversary gift ideas The world is currently offering its best solutions for the ones that are willing to search for them as there are so many resources and so many places to get inspired, it's quite easy to find something that is suited for an anniversary. The only thing that needs to be done here is to have the courage to pick something out of this world and make it a gift. The internet is one of the best resources to find the perfect Anniversary gift ideas, because of the diversity that it provides. You just need to take some time to do a little research and use the resources of the online environment to find what you are looking for. The trick is to not limit yourself to what the internet offers you, but to start from there and stop whenever you please. You can find something really interesting and quite original and work with it in order to transform it into something even better. Imagination is the sole limitation when it comes to creating something spectacular. The very same goes for the Anniversary gift ideas and for any other things in life. The think with such gifts is that they need to express love. Usually people... more.. Five Crucial Components of Web Design Five Crucial Components of Web Design By Woody Longacre (c) 2009 Professional website developers know the importance of web design and the role it plays in making a website successful. Designing a successful website is no easy task, especially for someone who is new to the world of web development. With the help of web development applications many people can and do create decent websites. But decent in most cases is not good enough to make a site successful from a traffic or financial standpoint. There are five crucial components of web design that you must focus on in order to make a site valuable to its visitors and successful for you.     ? SEO - Getting free traffic to your site.     ? Usability - Ease of navigating around the site and finding desired information quickly.     ? Aesthetics - Visual appeal.     ? Content - Valid, up-to-date, relevant information.     ? Graphics - Eye candy that relays relevant visual information to the visitor. SEO Before you ever lay down a byte of HTML code for a site, you have to know and understand at least the basics of SEO and how it fits into the design. SEO is the art of designing a site in a fashion that gives the site an advantage for obtaining free and abundant traffic. The number one aspect of SEO is selecting keywords relevant to your site. The keywords you select should be based on high usage, low competition and relevancy to your topic. Once you select keywords you can then begin the development of your site. Keep in mind keywords are a critical aspect of the design. The keywords you choose will be applied within the design in strategic fashion to benefit the flow of traffic to... more.. How to Deliver a Marketing Message On Your Website How to Deliver a Marketing Message On Your Website By Jerry Bader (c) 2010 Here's a question for you? What do you need to be successful? What will it take for you to climb out of that deep, dark, dungeon of despair and mediocrity? What are you willing to do to be the best you can be? Look around. Things are nuts, the economy stinks, politicians are goofy, people are addicted to cell phones, businesses are obsessed with Twitter and Google and Facebook; everything is made in China, and it's all CRAP! You're lucky if anything you purchase works the way its suppose to and god help you if you complain. You'll spend hours on the phone with some clown who doesn't know, doesn't care, and doesn't get pa?to really help you. They are the purveyors of frustration and creators of cynicism. Athletes pretentiously thank God for their base hits and million dollar contracts, and we watch in astonishment. Trust me, God doesn't give a damn about who wins the next Nascar race, or that you get an even bigger flat screen plasma for your birthday. He's got bigger fish to fry like global warming, child starvation, and deadly pandemics. You're on y?own fella. So get use to it. So what's a poor entrepreneur to do? Follow the big boys as if they were The Enlightened Ones. Right, how's that worked out so far? Do you really want to go down the same road as GM or Lehman Brothers? Nobody is going to bail your ass out of trouble; you can count on that. People have... more.. Google Reinvents the Phone with Google Voice Google Reinvents the Phone with Google Voice By Merle (c) 2009 twitter.com/msmerle When it comes to "cool tools", Google is the master inventor. Say what you want about Google, but they know what they're doing when it comes to giving the public what they want and need. Take the telephone for instance. An old invention that now has been given a new twist with " Google Voice" (G.V.) . Hold onto your chair as I'm about to tell you how to have a lot more fun with Ma Bell. Google is giving you the ability to manage all your phones with one centralized number. At the time of this writing, it's only available to those in the U.S., and by invitation only. Upon registration, you'll be given your phone number that you connect to any existing phone number. When someone calls the Google Voice number, it rings the phone number that you specified. The option of selecting a word for your personalized number is also given. Now, if all Google Voice did was send phone calls to your cell phone, that would be great all by itself, but the amount of extra tools and features are truly amaz?. When a call is received you can answer it, send it directly to voice mail, listen in on the incoming call to decide what to do with it, or start recording the call upon answering. How's that for a few options? After receiving a call you'd like to record, hit 4 on your phone to start recording. Different states have different laws when it comes to recording calls, so check your current federal and state laws before using this feature. Currently outbound... more.. 3 Top Tools and Services for an Effective Internet Marketing Solut? 3 Top Tools and Services for an Effective Internet Marketing Solution By Sydney Nelson (c) 2007 Everyone knows the Internet is growing exponentially and continually evolving. The major players in the continual evolution of the Internet are the major search engines and consumer generated media such as blogs. Because of the continual changes, a well rounded Internet marketing strategy must include a variety of proven marketing options to ensure success. I will outline 3 of the most effective Internet marketing solutions available and how they relate to your marketing strategy. SEO Optimization Search engine optimization (SEO) is the first because the free advertising afforded by the search engines is partly determined by on-page optimization techniques. With thousands of new Websites being created daily, the competition for a listing on the first search result page is increasingly saturated for the popular keywords. Statistics show better than 90% of people only look at the first search result page, and a similar percentage only click on the top search listing. In order to compete effectively, a Web page must be designed around a keyword or more effectively, a keyword phrase. The keywords must be included in the page's title, keyword META tag, page's description, the first heading (using the H1 HTML tag), throughout the body of the page and within the last 25 words on the page. These are just a few of the basic SEO on-page options that, although will not guarantee a first page listing, are definitely required as a starting point in an effective Internet marketing strategy. In most cases, there is too much competition for certain keywords such as "golf clubs". A better strategy would be to... more.. Electronic Medical Records Electronic Medical Records   Is it safer to entrust the patient's files to one of the Electronic Medical Records? There are still many opinions who don't agree to the computerized system when people's life is at stake. Those people can be a little too traditional, but they need to see that this is a system that is designed to perform the actions that are already been done but with a much higher efficiency. The great thing with the Electronic Medical Records First of all, people need to observe how technology helps in their daily routines. There are so many examples that can be shared on this aspect that it is really hard to think of one that isn't affected by technology. The medical field is one of the best examples to prove how technology is the perfect assistant. Of course, there is the surgery room where all the equipment is so precise and it really helps people, but it can be spotted at the front desk as well. Many people don't actually know how the Electronic Medical Records really helps the doctors do their job without having another worry on their hands. One of the best benefits that can be illustrated here refer to the spearing a lot of time and space with the use of computers. All the information on a certain patient is being held in a computer and this means that the drawers and the files... more.. Top 10 Reasons A Website Fails To Perform Top 10 Reasons A Website Fails To Perform By Gary Klingsheim (c) 2008 You've taken the time to finally build a website, and now it is online. Months go by. Maybe you get a few visitors now and again. Maybe you land on the search engines. Mostly though, it just sits there. Is the website you paid for pulling its weight? A website is a tool and can be of significant help to your business. It can cut a lot of time you put into giving information to customers. It can answer questions and perform tasks for you. Find out where websites fail to perform and how you can figure out where to make it better. 1. Undefined Website Objectives Some sites try to do way too much at once, or worse, they have no definable purpose. Many provide no clear objective. A site can do more than look good and flashy and have your contact information. Websites can be informational, storing content and articles based on a topic. Sites can run eCommerce solutions that help you with your sales process. It can also generate leads, asking customers to fill out forms with their information and interests. It can also be a hybrid site, with mixed purposes, like offering a free ebook or free access to information (informational) in return for contact information (lead generation). Defining the purpose of your website gives a clear direction to your customers. Where should customers arrive when they find your website? Where do you want them to end up? Using a clear path and clear objectives, you can lead them through your site, your products, and... more.. Social Media Beginners: Using SEO and Social Media to Build Brand Authority (Part 1)  Social Media Beginners: Using SEO and Social Media to Build Brand Authority (Part 1) By Andrew Schiller (c) 2010 You may be at a point where your site has lots of usable and compelling content. Unfortunately this isn't always enough to gain new readers and revenue. It could be time to build a link strategy to boost your brand authority and site ranking. The way to begin is by making partnerships, starting conversations and trading links so more webmasters (and their readers) know who you are. Why? The majority of computers and much of the media are now social, so it's time for you to break out of your bubble. Getting your site optimized can be time consuming and often you won't see the results of the labor for a few weeks, if not months. A site that ranks well is the outcome of shrewd planning and lots of effort with few shortcuts. You have to make good decisions early in the process to gain a good amount of momentum. Basic SEO strategy is a lengthy process, and you can find out smart ways to begin here. Similarly, incorporating social media into the public face of your business is a long process that will take time to reach its potential. Success in social media relies on cooperation and engagement with your clients and customers (and sometimes even your competitors). Where do you begin? Basic Inbound Links: Inbound links are widely regarded as a necessity for high ranking in the search engine listings. Search engines view links to web sites as a vote in favor of their importance. If popular sites like your site, then search engines like your site. It... more.. The Best Page Layout and Design for Content Websites The Best Page Layout and Design for Content Websites By Miles Galliford (c) 2007 I was chatting to a veteran print publisher who had been producing magazines for over thirty years. He shook his head in despair, as he told me that every year he sees new magazines hit the newsstands with the publications' titles placed vertically on the magazine cover. "Whenever I see this," he said, "I know it has been produced by a new publishing company that does not understand the industry. Anyone with any experience of periodical publishing knows that publications with vertical titles fail, or at least have to change quickly to survive. The market has taught us this lesson hundreds, if not thousands of times, but still people make the same mistake." This message is just as relevant to website layout as it is to magazine design. The web has been around for long enough that rules and best practices have emerged from years of tr? and error by thousands of website owners. You can either go with the flow and be grateful that you can learn from the experience of others, or you can swim against the tide and try to convince the market that you are right and they are wrong. I would suggest that swimming downstream is far easier and will give you a much greater chance of success. To understand which layouts work you only need to look at the industry gorillas. These are the online content publishers who have been around for years, and who have tested just about every layout combination. Good examples are some of the most read websites on the internet including: - BBC - The Financial Times... more.. Land For Sale in TX Land For Sale in TX When trying to understand what the Land For Sale in TX opportunities offer to the people who are in need of a change in their lives, several arguments come to mind. First of all, the stress and all the craziness that people have in their life contribute to a daily routine. All of these factors negatively influence the way that people think and that's why they are so skeptical all the time. The positive of the Land For Sale in TX opportunities First of all, people need to take into consideration that this isn't a way to change their mentality, but this is a way to make them understand that there are solutions to the problems that they have and those solutions are worth to be checked out. One of the solutions that are being brought up here is to actually consider the Land For Sale in TX offers as a way of changing ones perspective of their current reality. The idea here is to view the entire palette of opportunities and choose the best ones that fit your current situation. Let's take an example. You are in need of a change in your life, due to the stressful problems and other issue that may influence your wellbeing. How can the Land For Sale in TX offers help? The answer can come in various forms, but the main point here is to evade from this environment to a place where you will find peace and quiet. It's... more.. 7 Characteristics of a Great Webpage 7 Characteristics of a Great Webpage By Titus Hoskins (c) 2006 What makes for a great webpage? Wouldn't you like to know the main ingredients for creating a superior webpage? What basic elements you must have if you want a solidly designed webpage? A webpage that will stand out and be noticed by your visitors. One that will keep those visitors returning to your site, again and again. An effective webpage that is 95% better than most of the other pages on the Net. Follow these simple design features when creating your next webpage and you will have the answer: 1. Good Keywords The nucleus. The conception. Good keywords are the very first building blocks you must consider before your webpage even becomes a dim notion in your head. Picking the right keyword or keyword phrase is the ultimate factor that will determine the success or failure of your webpage. You must do major research on the keyword or keyword phrases that will be the focal point and drawing card for your webpage. You must get this right. It is vital. It is the single most important element of a webpage. You can use keyword research software and sites such as GoodKeywords, Wordtracker.com, Nichebot.com, or superior keyword research software such as Brad Callen's Keyword Elite. Regardless of what process you favor, you must choose your keywords very carefully. You must ch? the competition for your chosen keywords or phrase. You must ch? the number of searches made each month for your keyword. You must also ch? the keyword density of your page to see if it will register in the search engines. You may have to adjust or... more.. Nine Steps to Social Networking Success Nine Steps to Social Networking Success  By Wayne English (c) 2011   Social Networking has taken the world of business by storm. Properly used, it can establish you as an expert in your field, keep you in-touch with customers, sell your products, and market your business or organization. It is an around-the-clock marketing machine that never sleeps. In our seminars, we are asked how to get started using it. While that is a simple question, it requires detailed understanding of the company, knowledge of business goals, and much more information as well. So, to provide people with meaningful assistance we developed these steps. Be advised that they do not provide answers, but lead you to asking the right questions. Why? Pertinent questions that apply to your business and situation only are invaluable. And those questions, my friend, are far more valuable to you than their answers. There are people, books, consultants, aplenty to give you answers, but if you don't answer the right questions, where are you? By developing the high quality questions that apply to your business, you will create a social networking campaign that is customized to your specific needs. To be successful, that is essential because your customers, their needs, your employees, your very business is unique. This is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. So, treat these steps as guidelines. Reorder them, combine them, delete any that you care to, but please read them all. Number nine you will find particularly interesting as it combines the online world and the offline world. Social networking has been around for hundreds of years. Don't think that it only takes place from your keyboard. Nothing could be further from the truth. 1. Goals... more.. Who's Linking to Your Web Site and What Does That Say About You to Google? Who's Linking to Your Web Site and What Does That Say About You to Google? By Stone Reuning (c) 2010 Linking is the mechanism that connects all the pages on the Internet. You've got links throughout your web site to let people navigate their way around. You may have links going out to other web sites that you think will be useful for your visitors. And hopefully you have links coming into your web site from independent sources. All types of links can impact your search engine optimization results, helping determine where your web site shows up online. Though the hardest to control, inbound links pointing to your site can make the biggest impact. At its most basic, the concept is that if several high-quality sites are linking to your web site, then Google and other search engines figure your site must be a popular, valuable resource - and they will be more likely to show it higher in their search results. In effect, your site receives "link juice" from other web pages that link to it. However, it's not enough to secure a couple links and then sit still. The Google PageRank algorithm looks at the pattern of links to your site as they build over time. Building the right kind of links can bring a major payoff, while a wrong turn could get you penalized - and the Google Sandbox is not easy to dig out of. Armed with a bit of knowledge and some creativity, you can build up valuable incoming links naturally and powerfully, avoiding the traps that plague amateurs. Spice Up Your Links With Some Variety There are all kinds of link farming schemes to grow links, and... more.. Evaluating Facebook for Your Business Evaluating Facebook for Your Business By Tinu AbayomiPaul (c) 2009 Social media is here to stay. There. I said it. It will be around in some form for years to come. Do you really see Facebook, Twitter and Web videos going somewhere? Or do you just see them evolving and becoming part of a larger system the same way business blogs did? Great. Then we can start figuring out how to use social media to our benefit. Now that we're past this issue of whether we are in love with MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook, Ning, etc., and we realize that we're focusing on whether these tools are useful or not, (not on whether or not they give us the warm fuzzies), there's still a fundamental question. This goes for whether you're using Facebook pages, Facebook ads, or a regular Facebook profile. How do you know if sites like Facebook are for YOU? How can you tell if a social networking site can help YOUR company? It boils down to three things. 1- Are There Enough People on the Site in Your Interest Area for it to Be Worth Your While? You have to think about business connections too, not just clients. You can connect with people who send you business. Think about what the value of a new client is too, whether you think you can get one out of 100, and how long it takes. When people come to your profile, are they visiting your site? If not, is your profile set up correctly? Experiment. There are several very subtle things you can do that maximize your exposure, not just daily clicks through to your site. To find... more.. Website Traffic Generation Planning and Methodologies Website Traffic Generation Planning and Methodologies By Duncan Wierman (c) 2009 Real Estate internet marketing is like any other kind of marketing, you're trying to reach a niche market and must plan accordingly. You have to start by identifying your target market in order to develop your message conveying exactly the kind of high value business proposition which your niche will respond to. The first steps are to:      1) Identify your target market; start with geo targeting and work with the demographics from there.      2) Decide how you want to be perceived by this target market and decide how you'll foster this          perception.      3) Identify and refine your value proposition. Once you've done this, the next step is to develop and distribute your value proposition, making sure that your value proposition is perceived by your target market exactly as intended. In marketing, shaping consumer perception isn't just the most important thing: it's everything. You have to start by positioning yourself to be perceived in a specific way; from here, you'll need to maintain, develop, grow or alter this market position as you deem necessary. The real challenge is putting these principles into action: Driving Traffic There are some important principles of traffic generation you need to understand in order to be successful at bringing visitors into your website. There are both principles and rules of traffic generation; principles have to do with your approach to the task and the rules are the practical nuts and bolts of driving traffic. You need to have an understanding of the larger picture before you can successfully put the practical techniques into action. What you'll usually see a lot of is the techniques alone. While this is still valuable information, you probably... more.. Top 14 Benefits of Social Media Marketing  Top 14 Benefits of Social Media Marketing By Wendy Suto (c) 2011 There's a lot of fuss surrounding social media these days. If you still haven't jumped on the bandwagon and aren't sure why so many people are making such a big deal about it, here are 14 benefits of social media for your business and you from Success magazine. For Business: Establish a Brand and Raise Awareness Since the majority of the population is already visiting social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, getting your brand name all over those networks can help let people know that you're around. If you have yet to create a company image online, social networks are the place to do it. Create a fun YouTube video that entertains and informs. Funny videos tend to make their way around the Internet a lot faster than any other kind, so when making a video, keep in mind that you want it to be interesting enough for your target audience to want to share. Using Facebook and Twitter to create a fun online community that your customers will want to visit will boost brand loyalty and drive traffic to your Website, allowing you the chance to make more online sales. Spy on the Competition Follow your competitors on Twitter and Facebook and you'll be able to see what they have up their sleeve. Just make sure to provide a better deal than whatever they have going on. Pitch Products in a More Human, Interactive Way Since people visit social media sites to get personal rather than be bombarded with ads, discuss your business in a fun way and engage your customers with questions. Ask... more.. Birthday gift ideas Birthday gift ideas The birthday gift ideas are considered to be one of the hardest things to do because of a single and yet confusing aspect: it's hard to find something that will surely be seen as a great gift. Many people find it difficult to please their friends or family because they don't seem to find the best gift for a birthday. How easy it is to find some great birthday gift ideas There are no golden rules that can be applied to these situations, there are some guidelines and things to be careful with in order to send out the perfect gift. First of all, people should consider that the best birthday gift ideas are the ones that are personal. This means that the gift needs to send out a message to the one that receives it. There are many people who go into the first convenient store and pick up the very first thing that comes to their attention. They put the thing in a wrapping bag and that's that. This is an example of an impersonal gift as it sends out a message that the person doesn't know much about you and that's why he felt the need to buy something that hasn't got a personal touch. Another aspect that should be minded here when it comes to one of the best ways to have great birthday gift ideas is to think of other ways to offer the gift rather than just putting it on a table or wrapping it in a certain way. The key here is to come up with a method that will surely impress the ones that will be receiving your gifts. It's like coming up with a proposal method that will surely impress the one at the other hand only... more.. How to Get Great Copy Without Hiring a Copywriter  How to Get Great Copy Without Hiring a Copywriter By Ken Hoffman (c) 2010   Most business owners now understand the importance of strong copy. What many business owners don't realize is there are other alternatives to paying a fortune for great copy. Most of these do require a nominal investm?. But nothing compared to the huge fees for copywriting. A big part of the value a copywriter brings to the table (aside from marketing knowledge and being a wordsmith) is a fresh perspective. It's that second set of eyes from a new perspective that can catch mistakes and provide more successful approaches. Unfortunately, copywriting is deceptively simple. Almost anyone that can write to any degree thinks they can write great copy. Creating a piece of copy that causes the reader to take the action of spending their dollars simply from reading words on a page is no easy task. 1) How a Simple Copy Critique Can Improve Your Copy Perhaps the simplest way to improve your copy is getting a copy critique. In the direct marketing industry this is a common term. Professional copywriters use copy critiques to sharpen each other's skills and copy. You can either hire someone to do this for a few hundred dollars typically, or you might be able to find someone to do it for free. Just be careful that you are getting someone who knows what they are talking about. The biggest value here is having things pointed out to you that you missed. It could be a headline that's unclear. Or a part of the copy that causes the reader to stop or bail out. Even your... more.. Backlinks - How To Get High Quality One Way Links To Your Websites Backlinks - How To Get High Quality One Way Links To Your Websites By Matt Garrett (c) 2007 There are basically two aspects to SEO, "on page" & "off page" optimization. "On Page" SEO is easy because it's totally under your control. It's simply a case of making sure you have optimized your web pages correctly. OK, so there is a bit more to it than that, like keyword research, keyword density & frequency, which html tags to use, making sure your site/pages are W3 Compliant, using relative/absolute internal linking structures to feed the pagerank where it's most effective, using titles and descriptions that encourage people to cl? through from the SERP's etc. But essentially, once you know how to do all that, it's not difficult to get it right for all your pages/sites. It's also less important in the long run than getting sufficient links to your site/pages from other sites. Getting links to your site is fundamental to getting visitors, and without visitors all the time, effort and money invested in getting your site up and running, and looking "nice", is irrelevant. No Visitors = No Point! So links are essential to the health of your site, and indeed your business, but all links are not equal in value to your site. Reciprocal links will help, but they are far less effective than one way backlinks, i.e. links from another site where you don't have to link back to them. These "One Way" backlinks will give your site a far greater boost in the search engine results and bring you more traff? providing of course that you have chosen good (relevant) keywords for your links. There... more.. Using Google Alerts to Help Your Business Using Google Alerts to Help Your Business By Adam McFarland of iPrioritize.com At times it seems that Google releases more new products and services than we can keep track of. From Google Calendar and Google Video, to Google Base, Google Finance, and Google Trends, it can be overwhelming just to remember what each one does. One of the oft overlooked hidden gems in Google's enormous offering is Google Alerts. Within minutes, you can be signed up for email alerts that can give you and your business a leg up on the competition. Alerts can be used to spy on competitors, keep track of what people are saying about your business, or follow an important news story. How Does It Work Google Alerts sends you an email each time a new page for your chosen term makes it in the top twenty results on Google's web search. You can also have the alert ch? Google News and/or Google Groups. To sign up for a Google Alert, all that you need to do is visit the Google Alerts homepage, enter the search term, type of alert (search Google News, Google Groups, or the web), frequency of emails (daily, as it happens, or weekly), and your email address. You can set up alerts for as many terms as you like using a Google Account. So why would you want an unl?ted amount of alerts? Because as a business owner, you have a lot to keep track of and very limited time to do it. Spy on Your Competitors Every business has a competitor. More likely, you have several direct competitors and several more... more.. SEO Web Design Secrets, Search Engine Optimization Tips for Beginners SEO Web Design Secrets, Search Engine Optimization Tips for Beginners By Peter Nisbet (c) 2008 SEO web design is a skill that can be learned, though most search engine optimization for beginners courses dwell too much on linking strategy as opposed to web site design per se. There are many ways for most normal people to get an improved search engine ranking, and secure a high search engine listing, and while linking is important, good on-site SEO is also necessary. Although it might not seem like it, getting a good listing on Google or any of the other search engines is not as difficult as many like to claim. There are rules to follow, and if you play the game properly then the outcome should be in your favour. The tips provided in this article are not really secrets as such; although many people offer to divulge marvelous secrets to you, all they are giving you is stuff that people have been using for years. So you won't get any secrets here. I have nothing hidden away that I don't want anybody to know, and if I had I wouldn't tell you about it! Would you? If you had some secrets that were so valuable that they were making you money, would you give them away free in an article like this one? Of course you wouldn't! So here are my not-so-secret tips on getting a good list? in Google and improving your search engine ranking. You likely know a fair bit about meta tags, and have been informed that most are not used by search engines. Well let me tell you something.... more.. Facebook Business Pages Demystified for Business Owners  Facebook Business Pages Demystified for Business Owners By Nancy McCord (c) 2010 Facebook is so popular that business owners can simply no longer consider it a site only appropriate for socializing and game playing. In fact, in September 2010, Facebook surpassed Google in regards to the amount of time users spent on their site. Facebook states that users spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook! With 500 million active users, Facebook is the new behemoth on the Web. With its popularity across diverse age groups, integrated email application, and new Bing search integration, a Facebook user may simply no longer need to visit Google for Web searches or log off to use an email application. They may be able to experience the Web fully all from inside Facebook. With more than 50% of the active users logging into Facebook every day, according to Facebook, Facebook is now so important to your potential customers' lives that it makes sense for you as a business owner to have a presence where your prospects are hanging out on a daily basis. Let's clear up a few things that have confused business owners about Facebook. First, a Business Page is not to be confused with a personal profile. They are two separate entities and provide different options and ways to interact with friends and colleagues. Are Business Pages Also Called Fan Pages? Many of you who have been using Facebook for a while will remember that Facebook used to call Business Pages - Fan Pages. Additionally, it used to be that someone "fanned you." Now they "like you." Don't get confused in thinking that a Fan Page is a different product than... more.. Google's Last Dance! Could Semantic Search Mean The End Of Google? Google's Last Dance! Could Semantic Search Mean The End Of Google? By Titus Hoskins (c) 2007 As a full-time online marketer and webmaster I try to keep my eyes peeled to what is happening with the search engines. These complex creatures control the Internet. They truly are the heart, soul and brains of the web. Unfortunately, they also control the faith of many struggling webmasters who are clawing their way to the top of SERPs in organic search. Being listed on these first page results for your chosen keyword phrases is the ultimate goal and it is often the determining factor in the success of your site. Recently, I have noticed some strange movements with my closely watched keywords, especially in Google. Which shouldn't alarm anyone because there are often sudden movements and adjustments as Google tweaks and refines its algorithm, the complex series of formulas it uses to determine which pages and sites get featured. (Side note: An excellent resource on Google's Algorithm and ranking factors can be found at: http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors#f41 It's way too early to jump to any conclusions but the big question on everyone's mind: Is Google Moving Towards Semantic Search? Or more precisely will Google have to move to semantic search if it has any chance of surviving in our 'here today - gone tomorrow' search world. Most of us old folks can easily recall a pre-Google web. Is a post-Google web possible? That's very hard to swallow but stranger things have happened on the net. But the real question should be: will Google have to embrace semantic search or perish? Wikipedia defines Semantic Search or Semantic Web as the evolving process of taking all the content... more.. How To Effective Link Building through Link Baiting How To Effective Link Building through Link Baiting By Rob Sullivan (c) 2006 There is a tactic out there embraced by bloggers but rarely used by typical websites. It is called Link Baiting. In this article I explain what link baiting is and how everyone, not just bloggers, can use it to build quality links. This is a topic that's been around for a while but I don't think a lot of people know what it is, or how to use it to their advantage. I think the name "Link Baiting" could be considered a black hat technique which is why most people wouldn't consider it as a legit?te organic tactic. However link baiting is merely link building with a twist: Rather than hunting out links, you are bringing the links to you through unique and popular site content. So how does Link Baiting work?more.. How to Control Your Listing Text in Google's Search Results How to Control Your Listing Text in Google's Search Results By John Metzler (c) 2009 A Google Webmaster Help video from Matt Cutts released on Nov. 10, 2009 got me thinking how the listing text in Google's search results can easily be overlooked by some webmasters in their SEO efforts. SEO is all about extending the reach of your web site content to your target market using online search platforms. You can tell when this has been achieved, and to what degree, by using web analytics software to monitor referral and visitor data. But what that data won't tell you is how your site appears to users in a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Sure, you're getting traffic but perhaps you're missing out on a lot more because your listing text is weak. You wouldn't take out a newspaper advertisement without looking at the final proof first. So don't be in the dark over how your site appears to people who use Google. Poor page titles, visible copy, and description meta data can result in a weak listing. Webmasters have a lot of control over what text is displayed in a SERP, but in the end, Google reserves the right to modify result snippets if it feels the original isn't up to par. It's important to remember that this decision by Google is based on a highly refined algorithm and is ultimately for the benefit of people searching for your content. That said, I'm willing to bet most webmasters still prefer to retain control over how their web site is shown in Google. By ensuring your on-page content is the best it can be, you're greatly... more.. Seven Deadly Video Marketing Sins Seven Deadly  Video Marketing Sins By Jerry Bader (c) 2010 So you want to develop a Web video campaign to put on your website and add to YouTube and all the other Web video directories. Maybe you even want to create a new video micro site to promote that hot new product or service you're about to launch. You want it done right, professional, slick, and you want it to be effective. Well of course you do. You know you need to hire a firm that has the creative staff capable of not just shooting video but professionals who can write, direct, edit, and add all the post production elements you need, including signature music, sound design and on screen text. But are there other things you need to be aware of in order to maximize the return on your investment? You bet there are. There are lots of production companies that just want to crank out the work at the lowest cost without providing any marketing guidance as to what works and what doesn't. Perhaps these firms don't know the difference or perhaps they just don't care. The company you hire should be willing to provide some advice as to the best way to present your message so that it delivers the best return on your investment. Too many Web videos are technically proficient but lack any marketing impact. The last thing you want is a bland, boring, lifeless presentation that goes in one ear and out the other. When you're ready to add video to your marketing and sales tool kit make sure you avoid the following seven deadly video development sins. Doing It Wrong - 7 Web Video... more.. How to Build a Profitable Twitter Profile How to Build a Profitable Twitter Profile By Harold Hemmings (c) 2009   Twitter is one of the fastest growing marketplaces on the Internet. The reason why so many people like Twitter is because it is actually the perfect communication tool for people who don't understand and don't want to learn about Internet technology and the technological geek-speak that goes along with it. A few years back, I asked someone for his dad's email address. The son replied telling me that you just email his name. The son was clueless that there was an actual email address behind the shortcut for his dad's name. He did not understand email, and he did not care that he did not understand it. He was able to use it in a manner that was easy for him, and that is all that really mattered. What makes Twitter so popular to the masses is that one does not have to be tech-savvy to use the service. The new user simply needs to locate the profile of the person he or she wants to follow, and then the user simply clicks "Follow". From that day forward, anytime the person "Followed" posts (tweets) new information to his or her micro-blog, Followers will be notified about the message in the Twitter Timeline. The only thing that is really difficult about Twitter is that new people seldom understand that they must "Follow" someone, before they start to receive messages from others. But once someone has chosen to follow a few people, they get the idea behind Twitter very quickly. With its' system of 140 character micro-posts (referred to as "tweets"), users are able to communicate information to other users. Sometimes the tweeted info is a random comment, but... more.. Google and Bing Love Anchor Text Link Spam Google and Bing Love Anchor Text Link Spam By Jill Whalen (c) 2011 While many bloggers and the media are calling Google's search results out lately, most of the focus has been on the somewhat low-quality pages that show up for informational long-tail searches. My concern for Google's search results is different, however. As I touched upon in the last newsletter, I'm tired of Google (and Bing) returning sites that use anchor text link spam to get on the first page of results. For those who don't know what anchor text is, here's a quick explanation: Anchor text is the words in the clickable part of any link. For instance, when someone links to my site, they typically use either my name or my company name in the anchor text, which looks like this: Jill Whalen is an SEO consultant. Or... Visit High Rankings for SEO consulting. But those links are not all that valuable in SEO terms. What would be better (for search engines) is for the links to be more like these: Jill Whalen is an SEO consultant. Visit High Rankings for SEO consulting. ...with the keywords that people might type into Google (or Bing) as the clickable anchor text link. Search engines assign a lot of weight to the words that are in that clickable link. It does make sense because you're telling both people and search engines what they'll get when they click the link. The problem is that it's not a natural way for people to link unless they know a bit about how search engines work.... more.. Baby Gift Ideas Baby gift ideas When trying to discover what is that people are searching when it comes to Baby gift ideas, there is an interesting aspect that arises and intrigues some people. Many of them don't actually know what to buy, due to the fact that it is hard to determine what a baby might need. There are certain things that can be minded in order to actually come up with a gift that will surely hit its target. The details you should know about Baby gift ideas The very first aspect that needs to be taken into account is the gender of the child. This is very important as studies have proven the impact that certain things have on a baby's perspective on life from its early age. This means that one of the best ways to approach this aspect is to know whatever the baby is a boy or a girl. There are many Baby gift ideas that are suitable for a boy rather than a girl and the other way around. General gifts can be an option, but they will be seen as something with a lack of a personal touch. The other aspect that can be taken into account refers to the idea of taking to the parents to see what they need in order to raise the baby. A proper conversation will lead to one of the best Baby gift ideas that you can come up with. The parents don't need to know exactly what your intentions are as this may lead to an awkward situation, but you can easily establish what the baby needs after... more.. How to Rank Higher in Google's New Search Engines How to Rank Higher in Google's New Search Engines By Titus Hoskins (c) 2010 Recent changes to Google make it seem like Google is no longer just one search engine but a combination of 6 or 7 different search engines all rolled into one. Your SEO efforts should now be geared to ranking high in these search engines as well as in traditional organic search. A little while back, I wrote an article entitled "The Five Pillars of Google Search" and had I known how important those pillars would become, I would have paid more attention to them. What I didn't factor into the equation was Google's whole re-structuring of its SERPs interface or landing page. It really is a whole new Google with not just one search engine but a combination of 6 or 7 search engines all competing for your attention. The new left side column with its new functions and displays, opens up new opportunities for webmasters to get their listings within Google on that all-important first page. There are also many new ways to view the results such as view everything, or you can view with more or less shopping links. Plus, you can also view Google results for books, maps, blogs, updates, and discussions - all new ways to get your site or links into Google. Throw in the Wonder Wheel and things are indeed looking very different within the new Google SERPs. As a full-time online search engine marketer, I should have expected something like this but the recent changes within Google has been totally unprecedented. We have seen major updates before, some of them very disruptive like the Florida update, but with Google Caffeine, MayDay Update, new layout... more.. 7 Things You Can Do Now To Cash in On Social Marketing 7 Things You Can Do Now To Cash in On Social Marketing By Jonathan Jay (c) 2009 Seven is a magic number. Why? Because there are seven simple strategies every small business can employ to jump on the social marketing bandwagon. The best part: most require only a moderate investment of time and/or money. 1. Start Blogging - Blogging is old news to many. Not quite the distant past, but still not the future... sort of a Web 1.5. Is blogging what's 'hot' at the moment? Well, no. It certainly doesn't compare with chasing a link from the front page of Digg. But blogging is alive and well! It continues to be a great way to get interactively connected with your customers. 'Dialoguing' is the reason social marketing exists. How much time you invest in your blog is up to you, but you'll get out what you put in. You don't have to drive yourself crazy putting in daily entries, but you should establish a regular schedule for your blog updates. Otherwise, when people check your blog they'll see the same-old/same-old so often that they'll stop visiting your site... which is the whole reason you started the blog! So don't shoot yourself in the foot by creating a blog that's a visitor-repellent rather than a visitor-magnet. Blogging is not a monologue. Your blog is not the electronic equivalent of Hamlet's soliloquy. Just the opposite! Blogging is about creating conversations and joining others in progress. Take time to read what others in your industry are saying. Get in on the discussion (and get your name out there) by posting your... more.. Website Design That Works (Part 1) Website Design That Works (Part 1) By Kevin Gallagher (c) 2007 Introduction Before you even think about opening Dreamweaver or your favourite html editor and start designing your site there are a few things I believe you need to do first. I am going to describe how to ?rease your work flow and give you some general tips and tricks that will speed up the design of your website project and help to get it showing up in search engines quicker. In future articles I will be going into greater detail of some of the topics I describe here. Now let's get started. Purchasing and Optimizing Your Domain Name The first thing you need to consider is your domain name. I suggest that you don't just use your company name, i.e. if your company makes tartan paint and your company name is "Hamish Paints" don't go for the obvious choice of hamishpaints.com. I would try and come up with a keyword rich domain name. Some search engine optimizers (SEO) would say that having keywords in your domain name doesn't make any difference to your listings but I disagree. Google will highlight your keywords in the search engine results page (SERPS), which leads me to believe that keywords do hold some we?t, and besides it will make it clearer to the searcher what your site is all about. What are Keywords? Keywords from a search engine optimization (SEO) stand point are the key -words that are used to optimize your website for better listings on search engines. These are the words or phrases people are typing into the search bar of Google... more.. Medical Billing Software Medical Billing Software   When talking about the advantages of the Medical Billing Software, there are several that come to mind. The most relevant of them all refers to the improvements that it brings to the table in terms of proficiency and efficiency. There are many doctors who thing that this is a reliable too, especially when it comes to a busy day at work. The proficient work of the Medical Billing Software First of all, the first thing that people need to take into consideration is how the medical field did improve with the latest systems. Right until recent years, the systems that were used didn't imply the use of computers and things were a little bit complicated as the clerk was required to go through various pieces of information before actually reaching the ones that were of interest for that particular situation. This is an aspect that took a lot of time and especially a lot of energy and this wasn't something that could be afforded then. The Medical Billing Software and the system that implied a structure in the patient's files were just what was needed in order to rise the level of efficiency that the medical system needed. Another great aspect that was changed here was related to the idea of patient control. Many people managed to change their prescription by saying that the files were wrong and they were given other dosages. By implementing... more.. Understanding Social Media Understanding Social Media   Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flikr, etc.  These are all social networking sites the business world is buzzing about these days. But why?  And how are some people using these platforms to make money and bring in new clients for their companies? Let's face it, no one wants to get left behind in business and certainly no one wants to miss out on a new way to attract new customers.   First let's talk about the wrong way to do social media marketing. These sites are not advertising vehicles to blast out sales pitches to millions of people.  Sorry it's not that simple.  The fastest way to fail at this new form of marketing is to try to slap old marketing methods on a new media. There are two terms that are often used interchangeably but they have important distinctions.  Social media and social networking.   Social media refers to the technology.  The various platforms mentioned in the first sentence of this article are all social media sites.  They are places people can go to... more.. Top 3 Google Linking Strategies of 2008 Top 3 Google Linking Strategies of 2008 By Michael Small (c) 2008 If you're serious about getting great ranking on Google you need to be serious about linking. Of course there are lots of ways to get links so we'll focus on just the methods that are fast, low cost or free and get the best results. Here are three that can put you on top of Google in no time flat! First let's start with getting inbound links from directories. A link from a directory gets a lot of weight from Google because they value it as a form of endorsement. You've probably used some directories yourself, like Yahoo. Or maybe you've used some without even knowing it, like The Open Directory Project (DMOZ.org) that powers many of the most popular search engines, including Google! Each directory is different and offers different options for obtaining links to your site. Here's a rundown of how different directories will link to your site... 1.) Free Submission: Just like it sounds. No charges for inclusion. DMOZ.org is the best one and powers Google, AOL and even Yahoo Search (not Yahoo directory.) Just be sure to follow their submission guidelines and pick the most appropriate sub category possible for inclusion. This is extremely important. 2.) Paid Submissions: They charge a fee to review the submitted link and possibly place the page. You might pay a few dollars one t?, a recurring annual fee or as much as the $300 that Yahoo charges for commercial site review. 3.) Reciprocal Link: These usually require you to link to the directory before they will even... more.. What to Include in Your Social Media Marketing Strategy? What to Include in Your Social Media Marketing Strategy? By Laura Wimble (c) 2010 Creating a "buzz" around products, services, businesses or an event is a requirement from all clients. There is no social media marketing wand that someone will wave and a target audience will automatically start coming to your site. And what works for one brand may not work for another. The process of creating buzz doesn't start from creating a Blog or creating a video, it's a social media strategy that encompasses social media and word-of-mouth marketing. We have compiled a list of social media tools that companies use to build their social media marketing mixes. 1. Blogs Blogs have become a great tool for social media marketing. First because, if optimized correctly, they can be used to drive traffic to a website. A good blog will help in creating internal links, fresh content, active community, or non-search engine traffic. Examples of popular blogs where you can create your account are: Wordpress, Blog.com, Bloggers.com, Typepad, etc. 2. Microblogging Like blogs, microblogs propose huge opportunities for business endorsement. That is both through content consistency and good optimization. Two of the most used are Posterous and Twitter. 3. Online Video The importance of online videos has rapidly increased during the last few years. To read more on this topic, have a look at our blog on The Growing Importance of Online Video. Popular video sharing websites include YouTube and Vimeo. 4. Photosharing Social media is all about sharing! Therefore, there are numerous platforms that allow photo sharing with your friends. Some of them are: Flickr.com, Memeo.com, and Photobucket.com. 5. Podcasting Podcasting is part of the new media tools that are offered to both promote your brand... more.. Top 10 Issues in Website Design and Usability Top 10 Issues in Website Design and Usability By Pilar Torres Wahlberg (c) 2010 You've tested your website, you've visited it a few times, you've gotten some feedback on it, and you have a bit of data about your visitors. You might want to make some changes. Here are the top ten issues in website design and usability. Think about these things in relation to your website and consider what you might want to do to perfect your site. 1. The First Glance In general, people look at the top left corner of your website first. You should have your essential information there: what your offerings are and how your potential customers can get it. Some visitors are at your site only long enough to confirm that you sell what they want, and some are ready to buy. All visitors need to be able to tell what you do right away. Don't hide behind a splash page or make people wait while something loads - many won't take the time. 2. Navigation When your customers want and need more information, they'll stay and look for it. Make sure they can find it easily. Put your navigation in the usual places, and make it very obvious what your visitors need to click in order to find each section. Don't have more than 5-7 choices in your main navigation and keep it consistent on every page. Let your creativity and uniqueness show in some other way - follow the rules when it comes to navigation. 3. Contact Information Can customers (and search engines) find you when they need you? Your contact information must be clear and accurate. It must also be easy to find.... more.. Smart Webmasters are Wasting Online Real Estate Smart Webmasters are Wasting Online Real Estate By Kim Roach (c) 2006 Many webmasters are not using their websites' traff?to full potential. The Web is full of wasted advertising space. Chances are that even your website has some virtual wasteland. These are areas that often go unnoticed by even the most experienced marketers, resulting in the loss of thousands of dollars of potential revenue. Below, four of the most underused online real estate spots are discussed as well as how you can reclaim these areas while maximizing your prof?. 1. 404 Error Pages The dreaded 404 page is something that almost everyone has encountered in their online journeys. The most common reasons for landing on a 404 page include: - a mis-typed URL - an out-of-date bookmark - a search engine link that is out-of-date - an internal broken link that the webmaster hasn't noticed Surveys suggest that approximately 40% of users who run into a 404 Page Not Found error will leave your site, nev?to return. However, as a webmaster, these pages should be customized in order to help the user find their way back to your website. To create your own customized 404 page, keep the following guidelines in mind. Provide an explanation of what went wrong. A nice way to apologize would be to offer them a fr?report. By using this technique, your visitors will not only be impressed by your creativity, but you can also collect their name and email adress at the same time. Provide a link to the site map. By redirecting them to your sitemap, they should be able to quickly and easily find what they are looking for. Provide... more.. How Blogs Can Break or Make Your SEO Strategy How Blogs Can Break or Make Your SEO Strategy By Jon Rognerud Blogs are a great way to get started authoring content and sharing your knowledge and insights with other people. Plus, mix work and play - and you can get rich doing this. You don't have to be an MBA-accredited author by any means. However, there are some rules to play by, and I'll break those out below. We will talk about the top blogs, practicalities around blogs and creative ways to get started, including how you could possibly ruin your good-standing ranking and having to change your Search Engine Optimization strategy. Blogs - Structure and Layout I work in the field of Search Engine Optimization. It has a wide range of options, from the technical to the more strategic. Tons of discussions are found on off-page and on-page factors, latent semantic analysis, content scope, quality, HTML/CSS development, site navigational structure, spamdexing, 301 redirects, plagiarism, link strategies, directories, blogs, search engine news, email marketing tips & online (internet) marketing. Most all of the top 10 SEO firms out there agree that blogs are a "must" for driving traff?and to get established in the Internet community. There is a right way, and a wrong way. We'll discuss these below. Be warned - too many folks out there are thinking about "how to outbeat the search engines" and use the latest-and-greatest (blogs) to elevate their rankings, essentially via content and blog sp@m. Blogs are a powerful way to get seen by the search bots. Blogger (Google's own) is an important key to the puzzle, but there are many. The Un-Official Top 7... more.. 9 Tips for More Effective Facebook Marketing 9 Tips for More Effective Facebook Marketing By Brandon Cox (c) 2011 Facebook is NOT welcoming of the marketing efforts of its users; and often, family and friends on Facebook are ANNOYED by marketing efforts. Both of those statements are undeniable. So trying to "market on Facebook" requires good sense, strict moderation, and an understanding of how Facebook might work for marketing purposes. Personally, I rarely post any marketing messages on Facebook. I post them on Twitter frequently, but I also try to make sure that 75 - 90% of what I post on Twitter is either personal interaction, plugging good free content, or plugging other people's stuff. I do think, however, that monetizing my content on even free social media platforms is perfectly acceptable. Why? It's simple. Even though the platforms are provided to me for free, I'm also providing the content that allows the network to exist. If nob?posted on Twitter, they'd be broke. So again, in moderation, with good sense, and with a priority on relationships over sales, marketing across these platforms should be an acceptable thing. Now about the good sense part. Why is it That Social Platforms Are So Effective for Marketing? People are social, by nature, so they love recommending stuff they like. Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms have a rapidly expanding user base. Authenticity is demanded as people will give honest and public feedback. The platforms are accessible and easy to use by design, even by people with few technical skills. For the most part, marketing across social platforms is free, but doing it badly can cost dearly. Why Is Facebook So Important to Messaging and Marketing? With 500 million (and growing) unique... more.. Marketing in the New Technological Eco-System Marketing in the New Technological Eco-System By Leslie Lyon (c) 2009 Spas2b Inc. There is a whole technological Ecosystem developing before our eyes, that we can either ignore; adapt to slowly at our own pace (recommended!); or race to embrace. These new methods of network marketing provide us with everything from enhanced lead generation, to high level CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Knowing that many industries are slow to move in the technological arena, I am confident that this "Snapshot" will be eye-opening to many of you! Our Top 5 Sites for Social Networking and Micro-Blogging These are not just communication devices to chat from, they generate leads and help close sales by increasing exposure and developing relationships. Another purpose they serve is to improve your organic ranking, as search engines are now sending traffic to your site based on these social networking "traffic sources". Here are just a few to consider... 1. LinkedIn - Use LinkedIn for business referrals and leads. A great way to introduce men to your business. This business-oriented site is used for professional networking and has a primary demographic of males averaging 41 years of age. Your developed "connections" are people you know and trust in the business. Your connections, connections & their connections (called second degree and third degree connections) allow you to be introduced to possible business opportunities. You can join relevant alumni, industry, or professional groups of your choice. 2. Twitter - Use Twitter to notify your clients of latest business developments; promotions and business initiatives. Demographic of 35-49 is biggest. This "follow-me" site allows you to put in up to 140 characters which are displayed on your profile page and delivered to those... more.. Top 10 Internet Marketing Tips for 2008 Top 10 Internet Marketing Tips for 2008 By Gillian Meier (c) 2008 Internet Marketing has grown phenomenally over the last few years but the shift has quite clearly moved to a market that is driven by the consumer and that is no longer dictated by journalists and corporates. Online consumers are responding more favourably to non-intrusive, relevant and socially attractive campaigns and have quite frankly had enough of intrusive, forced online advertising campaigns. The top 10 internet marketing tips for 2008 are: 1. Optimize your website's content 2. Create a content development strategy for your website 3. Invest in a paid search (pay-per-click) campaign 4. Publicize your website through article marketing 5. Develop a social media marketing strategy 6. Create a Company Blog 7. Experiment with video marketing 8. Engage your audiences with web widget marketing 9. Discover the benefits of mobile marketing 10. Create an effective email market? strategy Let's look at each of these in more detail:- 1. Optimize Your Website's Content: First and foremost, get your website content right. Make sure it is easily read by both humans and search engines. An essential variable applied by Search Engines in the way in which they rank websites is based on the relevancy of the content that the search engine is indexing. 2. Create a Content Development Strategy for Your Website: In addition to optimizing the existing content on your website, it is essential that you develop a strategy to continuously grow your website's content on an ongoing basis. All new content should be written specifically with the web reader in mind and should also be optimized for the search engines. 3. Invest in a Paid Search (Pay-Per-Click) Campaign: When you... more.. SEO: Best Practices SEO: Best Practices By John Sylvester A few nights ago I was asked by a regular in a bar I frequent: 'what is this pub doing with a website? Somewhat bemused, I replied that it receives substantial hits to its website and that it is listed on all the Bangkok portals. More importantly, they have consistently remained at #1 on Google, Yahoo!, MSN and the other major search engines for well over a year. Visitors the site, although not verifiable, must convert into a lot of money.' He looked slightly bemused, shrugged his shoulders and muttered something about not knowing much about search engines. That is where we stand on building websites: our philosophy is based on making the web work for our clients; in providing them with a new revenue source. We don't just deliver tastefully designed websites, we also provide detailed research which we convert into accurately anticipated keywords likely to be used by potential visitors when searching for a source of information. With this knowledge, we optimise our clients' web pages and register it with sites we know will boost its rankings. This strategy has been successfully employed on sites based in Thailand, the UK, Germany, Australia, France, Austria and France. But there is another option to be seriously considered: commercial search. It is by far the most dynamic and fast-growing industry segment now, estimated to extend beyond $5billion by 2006. Pioneered by Overture (now Yahoo!), pay-per-click was created in response to three fundamental issues concerning internet search: poor quality results; random ordering of listings; and a weak advertising revenue model. It solved these problems by creating a real-time market for keyword bidding. Recently, however, it has spawned a series of bidding wars among a growing number of... more.. 16 Tools for Twitter Users 16 Tools for Twitter Users By Kalena Jordan (c) 2008 Hands up if you're a Twitterholic. Yes, my hand's up too. If you love the micro-blogging platform Twitter as much as I do, then keep reading. I've put together a l? of the coolest plug-ins and apps designed for us Twitterholics and scored each out of five on the *must have* scale. Twitter Specific Tools: 1) TwitterFox is a Firefox extension that notifies you of your friends' status on Twitter and lets you make posts from your browser status bar. It also allows you to switch between multiple Twitter accounts in one click. This is my #1 must-have, deal-breaker, cannot live without Twitter plug-in. 2) Retweet This is an application designed for use with the Greasemonkey Firefox plug-in. It allows you to append a retweet button to the end of each Twitter entry to encourage your followers to retweet your posts. 3) Classify Twitter Users is a script that allows you to classify Twitter users and decide whether they are worth following based on their friends, followers and post ratios. Another Greasemonkey app, it's a great tool to help you weed out the Twitter spammers and fan boys from the socially healthy. You can set the script to use your Twitter user scales (e.g. spammer, social climber, social rock star) or just gather more information about people you are following. Must Have Scale (4): ? ? ? ? 4) TwittAd allows Twitter users to monetize their account by accepting advertising on the background image of their Twitter user profile. You decide the duration and price advertisers pay for... more.. Website Branding ? Establishing Your Web Brand Website Branding ? Establishing Your Web Brand By Matt Jackson (c) 2008 Any form of branding essentially means being recognized. A positive website brand image means that your potential customers will recognize your brand and begin to associate that brand with a particular product or range of products. In achieving this, those same customers will begin to turn to your brand when they need the product you sell or require information that you provide. Branding Is More Than A Pretty Logo A lot of websites and website owners mistakenly believe that creating a brand means a compelling and relevant name, and well designed logos and web pages. While these are a part of website branding, they are far from being the whole story. In fact, every aspect of your website and online business needs to convey your brand image. This includes design, narrative voice, advertising, and marketing. Customer communication is equally as important, and provides the opportun? to strengthen your brand even further. Your Target Market Branding needs to concentrate on the target market you are aiming to attract. Market research and some competitor analysis will usually garner you with relevant information regarding the people you are aiming to attract. What products and services are they looking for? What information do they want access to? Do they expect to be able to interact with you or other members of your online community? These are all important questions that you not only need to ask but answer as well. The most effective branding will also consider the demographics of a target market. Age, sex, nationality, religion, and disposable income bracket are important... more.. How To Create A Video Campaign Concept How To Create A Video Campaign Concept By Jerry Bader (c) 2007 Have you ever had a good idea, maybe a great idea, only to find that someone else already ready did it? Frustrating. You want to be a success and who doesn't? It's why you do what you do, why you put-up with what you put-up with? But it all gets so frustrating. As much as you'd like to believe otherwise, there just aren't any secr?methods, special potions, or motivational DVDs that are going to make you a success in thirty days, but there are things you can do that will help. Sure working hard helps but working smart is even better. So how do you work smart? Well you can start with presenting your core, marketing message to your targeted audience in a way that engages the spirit, informs the intellect, and embeds in the mind. And if you want to be cutting edge, the way to do it is with audio and video. What A Difference A Difference Makes Anybody who has ever tried to raise mon?for a project from a bank, or contacted an ad agency for help has heard the question, "What makes your company different?" If you don't have a different product, different process, or different way of doing or presenting what you do, you are nev?going to raise a cent or make an impact on the market. Yet most companies blindly continue to follow the market leader, and wonder why they nev?attain the level of success they hope to achieve. If you want to be a success, you have to reinvent your company as something unique,... more.. The 5 Minute SEO Site Audit Checklist The 5 Minute SEO Site Audit Checklist By Matt Siltala (c) 2009 From month to month I have the opportunity to present 4 different webinars on different topics related to Internet marketing to brand new online business owners. The reason I bring this up is because no matter what the topic I am presenting on, I usually get asked the same question by completely different random people. They are all wanting me to "look at their site" and give them a "quick, what do you think?". These people are wanting to know if their site is ready to "go live" (although I never really understand why people ask that question) but for these people, and this post - I have come up with what I'd like to call "The 5 Minute SEO Site Audit Checklist". If you have a brand new site, and haven't done any kind of SEO before, this will be a great list of reminders that will set you off on the right foot. 1. URL canonicalization and 301 re-dirs. One of the first things I look for on any domain I am giving a health check on is the URL canonicalization. In My Opinion it does not matter if you pick proper URL canonicalization pointing to the www's or non-www's, but you need to pick one and stick to it. I personally always choose the www's because more people (from my experience) tend to link to you with the full URL. So you need to get into your .htaccess file and make a few edits. Any variation of the homepage URL needs to be done this way too - for example you need to have the /index.php also re-direct to the main URL (however you have it set up) Bottom line here, you need to... more.. Which Website Visitors Are Potential Clients? Which Website Visitors Are Potential Clients? By Jerry Bader (c) 2009 With today's website tracking software and services you can find out a lot about the people who visit your website. You can learn where they're from, what kind of browser they're using, how long they stayed on your site, and a whole lot more. But what all this high tech intelligence won't tell you is what kind of people they are, and how likely they are to be transformed by your Web presentation from viewers to customers. Your ability to convert website visitors into clients depends on your ability to find the soft underbelly of their subconscious desire. After all, if someone is happy with what they've already got, they don't need you, but if they were truly one hundred percent happy, they wouldn't bother coming to your website. Therefore every visitor that comes to your site is a potential client whether they know it or not. The Setup's The Thing Your website presentation has to find that annoying little subconscious scab just under the surface and pick at it until it becomes a full blown irritation that fosters discontent and a desire for change. That discontent is your opening to make your value statement. We refer to this process as The Setup. Like any good presentation you cannot, or rather should not, just blurt out how great you are, but rather you have to set the scene. Like any good story, the punch line, moral, or payoff only works if it is properly setup. Far too many website presentations suffer from premature pitch climax. The ability to transform viewers into customers requires patience. Entrepreneurial companies tend to view the setup as a waste of time, and... more.. Eleven Steps to SEO Heaven Part 1 Eleven Steps to SEO Heaven Part 1 By Tim Meadows-Smith in Featured Are you fed up with feeling baffled by search engine optimization (SEO) because of jargon and poor practitioners? Do you feel you have been charged too much for less than you were promised? This two part article sets out to explain the process and put you back in control. If you have focused objectives and a clear online strategy then SEO will almost always be a good cost effective addition to the marketing tool set. The first thing to understand is that search engine businesses, like Google, Yahoo and Bing, have customers to satisfy too. Their customers are searching and they expect to see the ?best and most relevant? search results. I expect like me, you get frustrated if your searches bring irrelevant results first. No surprise then, that the methods used by the search engine operators are designed to deliver customer satisfaction. They work hard to eliminate bogus SEO services that aim to cheat. It is possible for you to make your website ?the best and most relevant? for certain searches and to convince the search engine operator you are just that too. That is SEO. Each of my 11 steps to SEO heaven is necessary. I assume that you will be committed to a long term marketing strategy, and to measuring results with a view to adjusting your activity. The steps include those of preparation as well of those of continuous repeated activities. The early preparatory steps are perhaps the most important as errors here will frustrate the effectiveness of the later ones. Armed with our clear objectives and online strategy: Step 1 to SEO Heaven ? Keyword Research A vital first step that should not... more.. 10 Tips for Launching your Business Blog 10 Tips for Launching your Business Blog By Beth Hrusch (c) 2010 Are you thinking about launching your business blog? You're not alone. A recent study by GuideWireGroup revealed that approximately 89 percent of businesses polled use blogs as a way to communicate with their customers. In another survey, Burson-Marsteller found that 15% of Fortune 500 companies have blogs. A successful business blog can generate tens of thousands of dollars in revenue each year, with figures for large corporations typically much higher. So, business blogging is becoming a mainstream marketing tool. That does not mean, however, that blogging comes easily or naturally for many companies, their owners and employees. Blogging, like any form of content, is a commitment of time and resources - namely, you have to know how to write (or have access to good writers) and you have to maintain your blogs with fresh, original and insightful new material on a regular basis. This should not scare you away. It should, though, inspire you to learn the basics of business blogging before you turn your baby loose on the world. Planning out your blogging strategy first is a wise move, because it gives your blog a greater chance of success. Here are 10 tips for launching your business blog: 1. Identify your readers. Before you start writing anything, make sure you understand who your target market is. This is also known as your "buyer persona", which marketing guru David Meerman Scott defines as "...a distinct group of potential customers, an archetypal person whom you want your marketing to reach." Basically, you want to tailor your topics to the groups of people who are most interested in your company. Otherwise, you're missing... more.. Why You Should Create Controversial Content at Least Once a Week Why You Should Create Controversial Content at Least Once a Week By Tinu AbayomiPaul (c) 2009 Last week, like every other week, I wrote an article. This time I decided to syndicate it, something I should be doing twice a week, but only get to about 4 times a month, and that's if I'm feeling up to it. This was one of the biggest traffic draws from a single article that I have had in years. It is still producing a steady stream of traffic, sales and subscribers as I'm writing this. It's been 2 years since I've gotten that much of an appreciative response, or that amount of attention, period, for an article I wrote that wasn't widely syndicated. In fact, it only appeared in one major publication. So what's all the hub-bub, bub? As you may have guessed, there was a controversy surrounding the article. First, there were several typos. Normally I'd edit the article so relentlessly that by the time the article was perfect, it would be a month since I wrote it and it wouldn't fit into my article marketing campaign for that week. Since I'd been kicking my own butt to get content out on schedule, even when it isn't perfect, I took my own medicine and just sent it out the way it was. And boy were the grammar, typing and spelling police mad! Two people wrote me that they passed my article around at their meetings as an example of what not to do. Does it count as a backfire when one of the people who sees it Googles you and becomes a client? (Just had to get in that little dig. Forgive me.) What else was so bad about the article? I called my readers... more.. 7 Simple Ways To Build Traffic To A New Website 7 Simple Ways To Build Traffic To A New Website By Mike Tekula (c) 2008 Got a brand new website? That's great, but nobody cares. OK, maybe that's a little harsh. The truth, however, is that just having a website doesn't get you much. Editor's Note: Publication of the SiteProNews newsletter will be intermittent during the next 2 weeks. Visit SiteProNews.com for the latest articles, webmaster news and blog posts. We wish all of our loyal readers a happy holiday season. Many business owners I meet are surprised to find, once we look at the numbers, that the shiny new site they had built not too long ago gets little to no traffic on a daily basis. Many newcomers to the web make the mistake of thinking that just by buying a domain name and putting up your site, visitors are going to happen by - something like when you buy property and build a storefront in a busy part of town. It just doesn't work that way. The web is harsh. You can have the best looking site in the world with great resources and content and go entirely ignored or unnoticed. It happens. It's happening right now. Somewhere out there in the ether is a brand new gorgeous website loaded with great content, and nobody cares. Poor little lonely site. But there is hope. Every website had its early days. Even sites that get hundreds of thousands of visitors a day started out with none. Here are 7 simple things you can start doing right now to help drive traffic to your site. 1. Get Some Quick Links From Trusted Directories Link building is a long-term process with... more.. The Top 10 Tools for Monitoring the Success of Your Website The Top 10 Tools for Monitoring the Success of Your Website By Steven Snell (c) 2007 One of the most important aspects of running a website is monitoring the site and its progress. By monitoring your website you will be able to see how it is performing and how it can be improved. This article covers 10 fr?tools that can help you to optimize your site for maximum results. 1 ? Google Analytics Google Analytics has become the preferred option among fr?statistics programs. Like any other stats program, Google Analytics provides data on the number of visitors, and page views, referral sources, entry and exit pages, and more. Unlike most other programs, Google Analytics includes the ability to track and monitor pay-per-cl? (PPC) campaigns. Other useful information includes the geographic location of your visitors, their internet connection speed, and their screen resolutions. You can sign up for Google Analytics at: http://bizsolutions.google.com/services/ 2 ? Google Webmaster Tools Want to know how the largest search engine in the world sees your website? Google's Webmaster Tools will give you loads of information such as the pages that are indexed, errors found by the Googlebot (dead links), your search engine rankings for specific search phrases, your anchor text on inbound links, internal and external link data, and robots.txt and sitemap data. By knowing how Google sees your site you will find some basic items that you'll need to change in order to reach your maximum potential in search engine traff? You can sign up for Google Webmaster Tools at: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ more.. 10 Tips to Grow Your Business Using Online Video 10 Tips to Grow Your Business Using Online Video By Diana D'Itri (c) 2010 Lacking any information to the contrary, many businesses still think that all they need to do to get new clients is to put their name and face in the Yellow Pages or online social directories, get some professional looking business cards, a website and Voila! It's the old adage "build it and they will come". Trouble is, that's what their competitors are doing also and in this day and age, it's just not enough. Does Your Business Stand Out Online? Most advertising on the Web follows a time-honored format, although some might call it a time-worn format as it does little to differentiate itself. You can bet that a high percentage of this advertising will be ignored and the money spent on it will be wasted. So how does a company stand out from the crowd online? Thanks to an oversupply of similar text, claims, and presentation - coupled with a short 21st century attention span - your website has less than ten seconds to move a visitor to action. If it doesn't, that visitor will click away to another site, and then another. Therefore, it's critical that you find a way to break through the noise your competitors are making. But even that's not enough. Statistics show that even the best-looking websites generate conversion rates of under one percent, so for every 100 visitors you do manage to get, less than one will call or email you. Sound bleak? Thinking of redirecting more of your advertising budget back to the Yellow Pages? Don't. You're on the right track - you just haven't leveraged all the power available to... more.. Is Google Really Developing a Facebook Killer? Is Google Really Developing a Facebook Killer? By Titus Hoskins (c) 2010 No less than CNN is reporting rumors that Google does indeed have a social networking site in the works which could give Facebook some competition. This new social site/program is supposed to be called GoogleMe or Google Me. Only Google knows the truth. However, creating such a site would be a smart move on Google's part since they do need to comp? with Facebook, mainly because Facebook is turning into a real search engine, one that could possibly give Google a run for all those lucrative search dollars. Ridiculous you say - not really, especially when you consider Facebook's recent move towards "Open Graph Search" and its use of the "Like" button and box. is the number of plugins which you can add to your blog. Unless the surfing public changes overnight, Bing/Yahoo is not going to give Google any real search competition, but Facebook with its massive number of users and rating system could present a true contender. We also might see a complete change in how the surfing public sees online search. Google and the other search engines are quickly becoming one big "joke" in regards to organic search with big companies buying and selling their way into the top 10 spots and the search engines are helpless to stop it. Link buying and selling has made organic search a joke and more and more web users are catching on to this fact. Once this becomes common knowledge, search engines will be appropriately viewed as corporate billboards rather than anything of true relevance or importance - even the mighty Google could fall. That's why Facebook and its actual ratings/rankings by actual consumers/customers are becoming... more.. Killer Campaigns Volume Four: The Color of Branding Killer Campaigns Volume Four: The Color of Branding By Jerry Bader (c) 2010 Web video is a communication technique that provides a viewer-experience that delivers several big advantages over broadcast: first, the length of your presentation is for the most part a non issue other than the degree to which your content and delivery holds your audience's attention; second, the cost to produce and present professional online video is far more affordable than broadcast; and third, Web video provides the chance to intellectually and emotionally engage your audience with a memorable viewing experience, and involve them physically by prompting direct-response action. On the other hand, broadcast does provide a mass audience, but not necessarily an attentive one like your website. As we have seen in previous installments of Killer Campaigns, the commercial broadcast industry, despite its economic and time constraints, has plenty of good examples of techniques that can be used effectively in Web video campaigns, if you understand how certain elements affect an audience. It's easy to misread a commercial's true marketing effectiveness and assume the big flashy special effects and grandiose production stunts are what makes a commercial work, but in fact those kinds of things generally only make a commercial more expensive. True the big-deal aspects of a production may attract attention, but it's the small things that are the most important, the most effective and the most affordable. It's the things you hardly notice like writing, casting, music, performance, and campaign consistency that have the most impact on a presentation's ability to communicate, influence and persuade. It's the production techniques to which the audience pays little attention that maximizes sale-conversions and increases the... more.. 3 Simple Tips to Make Your Website User-Friendly 3 Simple Tips to Make Your Website User-Friendly By Lindsay Glass (c) 2008 The one assumption you need to make to follow along with me in this article is "People Buy People." It can be a hard concept for many people to understand and agree with. However, millions of spent dollars have proven this premise to me, so I consider it more of a law than a theory. If you understand the rule that people buy people, then your website MUST have a pleasant atmosphere that allows the visitor to connect with you, your company and your products. By now, you've heard me talk about our Celebrity Branding philosophies, and the fact that you need your picture on your website goes without saying. But, there are some smaller, often overlooked, areas that shouldn't be forgotten. Here are three simple tip to make your website user-friendly: 1. Navigation The navigation on your site is probably its most important element. If visitors find your site confusing or cannot successfully navigate through it, they will leave. Make your navigation bar as simple as possible. One of the worst mistakes is using an expanding navigation bar that makes the visitor scroll over it in order for the menu to reveal their options. Most often, this type of navigation bar has too many choices; your visitor doesn't know where to go, so they get flustered and leave. Navigation on your site is an art, and you should direct your visitors through a logical path to where YOU want them to go (not to where they think they want to go). One way to do this is through call to... more.. Embracing Cascading Style Sheets Makes Good Sense Embracing Cascading Style Sheets Makes Good Sense By Fred Black Why do I like Cascading Styles Sheets (CSS) and what makes CSS so great. The answer only makes sense if you know what CSS is. The Holy Grail of CSS is to separate the content of a web page from the instructions that control what it looks like. This makes it much easier for various devices to display the web page correctly. The same page would display correctly on all standard web browsers (Internet Explorer, FireFox, Opera, Netscape, etc.), and devices used by persons with a handicap, cell phones, other devices, and yet-to-be-developed interfaces. The web site designer would not have to make separate pages for these devices. However, reality is different and here in the real world CSS does not do all these things. It does have enough positive points to make it worthwhile to learn and incorporate it into your web pages. There are multiple ways to control how something looks on a web page. The color, size, and font used for a headline or for a paragraph of text can be defined with in-line styles and tags. The term "in-line" means that the commands for controlling the color, size, and font are mixed in with the content. This makes the source code for the page cluttered and hard to read and edit when you want to update it or fix something. Also, because you're repeating the same commands over and over throughout the page, the file size of the page gets larg?and hence slower for those browsing your site. As opposed to in-line styles, CSS is not repeated throughout the page. CSS can be defined in the head... more.. Improve Every Aspect of Your Business With Twitter! Improve Every Aspect of Your Business With Twitter! By Abe Cherian (c) 2009 You've seen countless articles and e-books written about it, but do you know how to market online with Twitter? If you don't, you're not alone. Most marketers are still boggled when it comes to using Twitter in their promot? efforts. The main reason is because marketers don't realize the sheer ingenuity of our favorite microblog's 140-character limit communication. The reality is that the internet is information overload for most people. The genius of Twitter is that communication is forced into small chunks of information which most people can willingly digest. Presented with the option, people are more inclined to read a sentence or two as opposed to a long, involved blog entry or email! In this article, I will demonstrate how Twitter can not only be used by your business for marketing purposes, but also for customer service, product development, free publicity, and valuable access to experts! Twitter for Marketing If marketing entails everything you do to place your product or service in the hands of potential customers, including all communication, relationship building, and brand recognition - Twitter makes it instant. For this reason, it is the perfect social networking platform for announcing sales, specials, and promotions. Many larger companies, such as Dell, have a Twitter account to announce sales as soon as they become available. As a small business owner, you can harness the power of Twitter this way too! If you can get hundreds, or even thousands of people interested in your niche to follow your company's tweets, you have a targeted l? of prospects at... more.. How to Write a Media Release How to Write a Media Release By Sue Currie (c) 2007 Did you know that publicity is supposedly seven times more effective than advertising? And it is free ? that is if you do it yourself. If you know the elements of writing a good media release to capture the attention of journalists, you can benefit from free editorial coverage. Here's a few tips to help you write a media release. The Beginning The first and most important thing is to have something interesting to say. Consider your USP ? just like in sales. It's your unique selling proposition. After all publicity is "selling". You are selling a story idea to the media. I like to call it the unique shining point. It really needs to stand out, shine, be compelling ? not an advertisement, not a boring product plug. Another element that will really hook the journalist in is to consider the ESP the emotional selling point. Often it is the human element in the story that will capture the reader's attention therefore the attention of the media. Think about what your story is. What is your background? Have you overcome any obstacles to get where you are today? Any achievements or milestones? Where is the human interest? What's more compelling? An announcement about a wedding limousine service, or the 30th anniversary both in marriage and business of the couple who run the service? This is a story I helped someone uncover in a seminar I conducted. The couple later went on to get a full page colour photo and editorial story in a wedding supplement in their local paper ? for free, just by working out the human element... more.. Guide to Facebook Marketing Guide to Facebook Marketing By Martin Sejas (c) 2010 Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 4 years, you know how popular and widely used Facebook is today. Just a couple of years ago, you had to relentlessly encourage family and friends to join this social networking website (shortly after others had convinced you to join). Nowadays, it's rare to find someone who hasn't got a Facebook account. At last count, there were over 350 million users on Facebook and this number is continuing to grow. It overtook MySpace as the number 1 social networking website on the planet last year and is just behind Google when it comes to online traffic. You can then understand how important Facebook marketing has become for websites everywhere. It's Not A Pitch Zone The most important thing to remember about social media is that it is not a place to blatantly and endlessly pitch your product or service. If you do this, then you will not get any favors from social media users, will get largely ignored and even receive bad reviews. Social media is actually used for building relationships with potential clients in the market. There are a number of ways you can do this:      ? you can post helpful information (links) that helps them solve a problem.      ? you can personally chat with them to assist them.      ? you can create content addressing the needs of users and post it. The bottom line is that you want to be seen as genuine and helpful. This way, word can get out that you're the real deal and before you know it, people will become interested in what you have to provide in terms of products... more.. Website Traffic Generation and the Love of the Traffic Fairy Website Traffic Generation and the Love of the Traffic Fairy By Bill Platt (c) 2010 the Phantom Writers For a number of years, many online marketers honestly thought that the only thing they needed to do to be successful online was to build a website, and the buyers would come to them. They heard all of the success stories from people who claimed that they had simply built a website, and people just started to arrive in huge numbers. The story, as it is told, is: These folks built a website, then the search engines found their websites and started showing people the link to their website. And the people using the search engines saw the link to their websites and saw that it was good. Search engine users saw the link and, as if it were the only link in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), they clicked the link by the thousands. And hoards of people came to the website with fists full of money, ready to purchase what the website was selling. Some people still believe this is how the search engines work. They have built their websites, and they are waiting anxiously for the "Traffic Fairy" to sprinkle his magic dust on their websites too, so that they can also make lots of money. Are YOU Still Waiting For The Traffic Fairy? I hope not. Those who are "waiting" for anything may wait until they realize they are flushing good money down the proverbial toilet, month after month. When they realize that they still have more money going out... more.. cabinetry Ventura cabinetry Ventura When talking with the satisfied clients of the cabinetry Ventura services, there are several aspects that pop up and are quite relevant to this material. One of the main qualities of this service is the fact that they put the interest and the desire of the client first. This means that if an order has been placed now and here, the results are soon to arrive at your doorstep. The flash of the cabinetry Ventura services One of the first ideas in this material refers to the efficiency of the system that was developed by the cabinetry Ventura services. Basically, it uses the online system in order to help the customer be as comfortable as he can. This means that he can make his choices right from his favorite chair, without having the need to go into the shops and spend endless hours there. Anything that he or she might like is available in the online shop and can be chosen from there. Many people say that the online possibilities are limited and people don't have that many choices, but when it comes to finding the perfect cabinets, things are a little bit different. There is a certain diversity present here as the focus of the company is to satisfy as many of the client's tastes as possible. Of course, there will always be someone that is not satisfied with the available merchandise, but for the rest of them, there are plenty of choices. Another great aspect here is that the cabinetry Ventura models really respond well with the other features of the house. This means that if you have a Victorian... more.. My Tactics for Getting Those Top 5 Spots in Google My Tactics for Getting Those Top 5 Spots in Google By Titus Hoskins (c) 2010   Actually, getting in the #1 spot is best, but I will settle for the top 5 or even anywhere on the first page for very competitive keywords. Obtaining those top rankings for your targeted keywords in Google will obviously be very important to achieving your online goals. I don't have some magic formula, just marketing online stuff that works. Very simple stuff that everybody can do to get those top rankings. Here are some of the tactics/things I do: * article marketing through the free article directories * create videos on my niche products * make blog posts in my niche areas * do press releases for my targeted products * create free ebook guides on my subject areas * build separate lists for each major niche market with follow-up emails * participate in online forums with my sig links added * make regular tweets about any new content * find out my competitors' main backlinks and duplicate them * create Google Alerts for my major keywords and add comments/links to the ones I like * keep adding fresh content pages to my sites keyworded to phrases used by buyers Now on second thought, some of those are not so simple, but they can be easily done by most webmasters. Or, you can get someone to do them for you. For example, I get my videos done for me since I simply don't have the time or expertise to do them myself. If you're poor at writing or have little time, you can even get someone to write your articles for you as well. Same goes for your web content, but you have to be careful and make sure it is of the highest standard.... more.. Key Marketing Methods For 2008 Key Marketing Methods For 2008 By Sam Law and Julian Stone (c) 2007 ProWorkFlow ProActiveSoftware - Julian101.com (c) 2007 Isn't online market? by definition, expensive? Not necessarily. Online businesses are coming to the realization that in an organic environment like the Internet, organic marketing is required; paying for traditional or static marketing only gets you so far before it becomes ineffective. The consumer now controls your marketing. What is Wrong With the Old Methods? Old marketing methods are failing because users are beginning to wise up (Rise Up) against the old brute force advertising that tries to win users over through sheer volume, using abrasive web-page banners, unrelated Adwords displayed on the page, or repeated newsletters (most being restricted by anti-spam laws). The old methods no longer work effectively for two key reasons. One is the fact that they are a "flash in the pan", directing users to websites only so long as you continue to pay for the campaign, the second reason is consumers are now at the stage where they either ignore them or go out of their way to block them (with plug-in based browser or email filtering). Let's quickly run through some of the "traditional" ways to market on the web, and their failings. Paid Campaigns - (These only work while active) Paid campaigns may lure people to your site, but they are regularly not your target market and after arriving they promptly leave (High "bounce" rate). Banner Ads - People hate banner ads. Most of the ads on the Internet are loathed because they aren't relevant. Seeing a banner for a better ?urance rate... more.. Google's Orion -The Next Shining Star or a Burnt Ember? Google's Orion -The Next Shining Star or a Burnt Ember? By Rob Sullivan (c) 2006 By now you have probably heard that Google bought a new algorithm developed by a university student down under. Many in the industry have speculated on what this could mean. Will this transform Google yet again? Or, will it merely be just another piece of technology they buy but don't appear to use. In this article, I look at the implications of Orion and what it could mean to the future of search. In order to understand the issues at play, we must first understand just what the heck Google bought. Orion is a new algorithm which in a nutshell works like Ask or Clusty in that it will not only match results based on keywords but also similar results based on concepts around those keywords. For example, if you were to search for "Canada" you may get not only the... more.. Understanding Search Engines So You Can Get a High Ranking Understanding Search Engines So You Can Get a High Ranking By Rusty Ford (c) 2007 Just 5 years ago getting a high ranking in the search engines was easy. As search engines have gotten smarter it has become impossible to get a high ranking in the search engines with gimmicks. Now the only way is to have one of the best pages about your topic and lots of people agreeing that it is one of the best by linking to it. Before explaining how to get high rankings in the search engines it is important to understand some basics about search engines. If you were to run a search engine what would be your number one goal. This one is simple; you would want to be the most used search engine on the Internet. The only way to become the most used search engine is accuracy. People use a search engine for one reason and that is to find what they are looking for. When I first started using the Internet 12 years ago, it was difficult to find anything in a search engine. You would type in baby toys and get hundreds of sex toy sites with a few baby toys sites mixed in. Now you type in baby toys and you get baby toys. The reason Google became number one was that for several years they had the most accurate results. So if you want to get a high ranking in a search engine for the terms your pages are about, then you must give the search engine what it is looking for. The search engines became more accurate because now they look primarily at one thing. That one thing is... more.. 7 Tactical Reasons To Use Mini Campaign Websites 7 Tactical Reasons To Use Mini Campaign Websites By Jerry Bader (c) 2008 How many websites should your company have? That's a question that comes up often in discussions with clients, but perhaps the idea hasn't crossed your mind. Why would any company need more than one website? Not to be glib but the answer is as many as you need, but how many is that? If you're a large corporation, it is fairly obvious that you need a separate site for each brand you offer, and a separate site for corporate background material and perhaps investor information. But what if you're a small or medium-sized company with a limited number of products or services? Then the question becomes, do your products relate to one another? Does one item flow into the next? Is your audience for each product or service the same? And what about totally different audiences for the same product: audiences that need to be approached with totally different tactics? And then there are special circumstances like new product launches, time sensitive marketing campaigns, and limited availability offers? Mini Campaign Websites and Alternative Marketing Websites are an effective method of enhancing your marketing efforts and targeting optional audiences you wouldn't have otherwise reached using your traditional sales marketing approach. 7 Tactical Reasons To Use Campaign Websites 1. Focus Your Presentation: eliminate distraction and non relevant clutter. It is human nature to want to get your money's worth, but when it comes to website marketing this can be counter-productive. Wanting to cram everything you provide into one website aimed, or more to the point not aimed, at every interested audience only... more.. 6 Things You Don't Know About Online Video Marketing 6 Things You Don't Know About Online Video Marketing A SPN Exclusive Article Nicole Beckett (c) 2012 Make no mistake - online video marketing is the "next big thing." However, there are a ton of misconceptions about it floating around out there. The end result is business owners that are hesitant to jump onboard and who don't think they have what it takes to use online videos as a marketing tool. Chances are you don't know these 6 things about online video marketing. And, until you understand them backwards and forwards, you're really missing out! 1. YouTube is the World's Second-Largest Search Engine How much time do you spend making your website "Google-friendly"? Why do you work so hard on it? Because Google has a tremendous reach. Heck, the word "Google" has turned into a verb that's used day in and day out, all over the world. Need an answer? Just Google it! But how much time are you spending, marketing through YouTube? Did you know that YouTube gets more than 4 billion video views every single day? Yes, that's "billion," with a "B." And, don't fall victim to the myth that getting exposure on YouTube is nothing more than a crap shoot. With just a few mouse clicks, you can optimize your video titles, descriptions, and tags - and even create your ?optimized "About Me" and "Channel Description" areas - so that you're more likely to pop up in a search. You can even take it one step further and organize your videos into different "Playlist Categories" that - you guessed it - have keyword-based names. That... more.. Website Development Strategy That Will Drive Customers  Website Development Strategy That Will Drive Customers By John Carroll (c) 2010 Take this one question quiz: What should be the first step in developing a website? 1. Creating a design to use as a basis, 2. Deciding how the content needs to be integrated and managed, 3. Gathering content from corporate collateral, 4. Developing a strategic plan for your specific needs, or 5. Choose the most cost-effective hosting plan. In just about any profession other than website development, your answer would be choice 4. After all, you couldn't build a house without considering the layout, number of bathrooms, and features of the home. You wouldn't create a design for a major advertisement and then plan the content and message of the ad. Yet, when it comes to website design, often the design comes first and the strategic plan for the site comes last. Being a veteran of about 20 years in marketing and design, this issue has perplexed me for years. It seems to me that the development process should be: 1. Discover the reason a business needs a website and the expectations of the business. 2. Understand your typical customer and what influences their purchasing decision. 3. Have a clear understanding of how the website fits into the marketing plan. 4. Research to find what customers are searching for in Google, Yahoo in relation to the business (keywords). 5. Carefully plan a site architecture which is best for the demographic, online search trends, and have a site that's easy for search engines to follow, is designed with the target market in mind, and has clear definitions of conversion goals. 6. Create a design which speaks to the target demographic. 7. Launch the site and begin... more.. 18 Effective Search Engine Optimization Techniques 18 Effective Search Engine Optimization Techniques By Sue Cooper (c) 2010 Proper Search Engine Optimization, otherwise known as SEO, has quickly become a popular topic of conversation among website owners and entrepreneurs. The difference between having a successful website, and hosting a flop, is often the difference between whether or not you've incorporated proper keywords and phrases into your webpages. Learning proper SEO techniques can seem like a daunting task, especially to those who are not familiar with the concept. The following list offers 18 simple SEO techniques you should keep in mind when developing and marketing your website. 1. Make sure your website is initially designed with your search engine optimization needs in mind. Search engines look for text, not flashy graphics and cool layouts. The trendiest web designs will mean nothing if no one is able to find your site. 2. Every page of your website should have a title tag with text describing either your site or what is on the page. Be sure the text includes SEO-type keywords instead of the name of your website. Unless you're incredibly popular, no one is going to be looking for you by searching for your name. They'll most likely search for a product or service and the keywords you use will lead them to your site. 3. Consider canonicalization, or whether or not your website address includes or excludes the www prefix. If you choose to use the www version of your website, make sure the non-www version directs users back to the one you use. Make sure you use your preferred version (http://www.mydomain.com or http://mydomain.com) every time you place a link to your site on the web. Don't use both! 4. When... more.. mineral lipstick mineral lipstick If you were to talk with 10 females on the street and ask them about what kind of lipstick do they use, the answer will most positively be different than the mineral lipstick. This is due to the fact that most of the people aren?t aware of the benefits of the organic cosmetics and what they bring to the table. They are so used to what they are currently using, that it?s quite hard to change their minds for something better. The better perspective brought by the mineral lipstick A first idea here refers to the comparison between the mineral lipstick, or any other product that has a mineral foundation and the products that don?t use organic substances in their components. A difference is the amount of time that the products last. The nonorganic ones have a very low durability, due to the fact that they deal with the surface of the skin, rather than head a little deeper and discover the source of the problem. The mineral foundation products are designed to go a little deeper, until they reach the possible problem and try to fix it. This will be able to change the effects of the problem that are visible on the outside and make the skin shine in a natural manner. Another difference between the two of them refers to the matter of the price. A mineral lipstick... more.. What?s worse? The spam itself? Or how anti-spam solutions block legitimate mail? What?s worse? The spam itself? Or how anti-spam solutions block legitimate mail? Posted by David Berlind After being in New York City last week and being busy almost the entire time, I spent a good part of the weekend catching up on e-mail. I have more inboxes than I care to admit and use more technologies than I should be using to see access them (Via the Web, Thunderbird, Outlook, etc). Somewhere on my to-do list is a day or two?s worth of purging and consolidation. These e-mail marathons usually include the tedious job of searching junk mail and spam folders for any legitimate e-mails. When it comes to e-mail, most of us (e-mail users and the e-mail solutions providers that serve them) have lost our sensibilities. The facts that (a) legitimate e-mail finds its way into our junk mail folders, (b) we must spend our time searching through junk mail folders for that legitimate e-mail, and (c) we somehow think this is normal, is proof that we?re gluttons for punishment. So, let me make this abundantly clear: the very second you must access your junk e-mail folder to make sure there?s no legitimate e-mail in it is the very second in which your anti-spam technology has become entirely useless to you. After all, the whole idea of anti-spam technology is to make it so that you don?t have to wade through illegitimate e-mail in order to read your legitimate e-mail ? all of your legitimate e-mail. One statistic that anti-spam solution providers pride themselves on is the fewest number of false positives. That is, they?ll boast that their systems make the fewest number of mistakes when it comes to misclassifying a legitimate e-mail as spam (and dumping that legit mail into your... more.. Is Domain Age a Significant Factor in Website Rankings? Is Domain Age a Significant Factor in Website Rankings? A SPN Exclusive Article By David Jackson (c) 2011 The debate is over - well, at least in my mind it is. What debate am I referring to? The debate over whether or not the age of a domain plays a significant factor in website rankings. Some SEO experts say it does, while others say it doesn't. Count me on the side of those who say it does matter. Frankly, I don't see why there's a debate about this at all. I mean it's hardly a secret that Google gives preferential treatment in the search engine results pages (SERP's) to long-established businesses because of the trust factor. Meaning, the longer a domain has been registered and active, the more trust it will be given by Google - provided, of course, the domain has a good reputation and quality inbound links. Just to be clear, I'm not talking about a domain that has been registered for 10 years, but has not actually been indexed by Google. Because in Google's mind, a domain that's been registered for 10 years, but has no actual website, is exactly the same as a domain that was purchased yesterday. It has no juice. No, I'm referring to domains that are both registered and indexed - active domains. Does Domain Age Really Matter? Two years ago I wrote an article titled Domain Age: Does It Really Matter When It Comes to Rankings? In the article, I talked about how I conducted an experiment with hundreds and hundreds of domains in dozens of different categories...... more.. 7 Social Media Tactics for Explosive Results in Your Business 7 Social Media Tactics for Explosive Results in Your Business By Tinu AbayomiPaul (c) 2009   First, let's define the term Explosive Results for our usage. A standard social media campaign helps spread the word about you and encourages other people to as well. An explosive social media campaign has inherent viral exposure, inspires community driven communication, helps make the web a better place, and even brings joy to people, however fleeting. When you share in social media, if your goal is just to get more people to see your links, you're on the right track, but at the same time, you're limiting your potential. You may think that getting explosive results from social media will take more time, energy and money, but this doesn't have to be the case. If you're a business owner, you know that working harder doesn't necessarily mean better results - what if you're working hard on the wrong thing? Sometimes the remedy is working smarter. Here are a few small changes you can make to your social media approach that can propel your social media results from lukewarm to smoking hot. Explosive Social Media Tactic #1 - Hot Content The cornerstone to any social media campaign is the content. If you get this component wrong, it doesn't matter if all other elements are perfect. Study what's going hot in your targeted topic and find a unique angle to tailor your content into what people already like, without stealing their ideas. Explosive Social Media Tactic #2 - Niched Network Nuances The more tightly focused your submissions to social media sites are, the more likely they are to go viral, whether they are links you share by other people... more.. Everyone Is All A-Twitter About Twitter Everyone Is All A-Twitter About Twitter By Jennifer Horowitz (c) 2008 I personally have been Tweeting for a few months. But I use the phrase "tweeting for a few months" loosely. I haven't been all that consistent with it, and I definitely didn't have a strategy. I just thought it was kind of cool. Recently I've started paying more attention to it for a few reasons; my mother-in-law was at a librarian conference recently and attended a session on Twitter. I got into a conversation with her about it, and then the next day I saw John Reese's email about Twitter. It seems like there is a lot of twittering about Twitter going on. What is Twitter? According to the Twitter FAQ, "Twitter is for staying in touch and keeping up with friends no matter where you are or what you're doing." Wikipedia says, "Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates via SMS, instant messaging, email, to the Twitter website, or any one of the multitude of Twitter applications now available". Basically Twitter asks the question, "What are you doing?" and allows you to send a short update (your tweets are limited to 140 characters) to your followers (family, friends, colleagues, customers, potential customers etc). Twitter allows you to send and receive updates (also called tweets) via your browser, email, instant messaging clients and SMS (using your cell phone). No matter where you are, you can tweet! I haven't been following Twitter since day 1, so I'm not going to comment on it's evolution but I will speculate that as its popularity grows, as more and more marketers... more.. 8 Methods Of Adding More Content To Your Site 8 Methods Of Adding More Content To Your Site By Matt Jackson (c) 2007 Content is king and your content site is your kingdom. When the adage "content is king" was first coined, the web was, in many respects, a simpler place for Webmasters. Creating a website with ten to twenty pages of keyword rich content would generate excellent search engine results and a mass of traff?as a result. Note that keyword rich has now been replaced by keyword optimized ? a subtle difference, but a difference nevertheless. However, the web evolved (difficult to imagine that it's only now considered web 2.0). With the evolution of the web came a much greater demand from web users. Where the static content site was once the epitome of everything good about the Internet, that is less true of the most recent incarnation of the World Wide Web. Your website visitors demand more, but are you able to provide it? We look at various methods of including more content on your website.   More Pages OK, we'll deal with the most obvious method first. Add more pages. It's simple and it might be considered old school to many, but it still has a place. The more pages of content you have, the more information you can provide and the more keywords you can target. The math is simple and the technique is devastatingly simple. Try to add new pages for new topics and, if a particular topic looks like being too verbose, split the page down into several parts. Host? plans usually allow for a lot of disk space so you should have no problems with space limitations in this respect. Content Management Systems... more.. Texas Land for Sale Texas Land for Sale What happens when a person actually decides to consider the Texas Land For Sale opportunities or offers? What are his or her benefits and what will be the road that needs to be taken in order to fully enjoy the decision that has been made here? The answers to these questions might scare off the people who haven't decided in this direction yet. The solid approach towards the Texas Land for Sale opportunities Firstly, people need to take into consideration the current condition that the world is currently living today. Many people think that the recession has made a lot of damages and they should be scared to approach any investment right now. Probably, they are entitled to think so, but there are some opportunities that have opened up and are really worth to be taken into consideration. Such an idea refers to the Texas Land For Sale offers and the benefits that come along with them. On of those benefits refer to the fact that the price that you will be paying for a specific land is quite low, if compared with the one given to the same land in the year of 2008 or 2009. This is because of the fact that the world is in some harsh economical stages and things are quite uncertain right now. The next step that follows considering the acquisition of a Texas Land For Sale, is to think about the reason why you are buying. There are two ways that can be taken here: a personal investment or a financial one. Both ways are quite beneficial to take and it really matters how the... more.. 7 Tricks to Get a Goooooooooooogle of Links 7 Tricks to Get a Goooooooooooogle of Links By Richard Gilmore (c) 2009 SEO is a race. And in any race learning from your competitors makes you a better runner. Even when you're running first it's sometimes good to look back and check the runner-ups. And if you're not the yellow jersey guy, you absolutely should examine the leaders: their gear, their training, their strategy. In SEO the most interesting thing about your competition are their links. Whether you like it or not SEO is still pretty much about links. Good link profile can make up for almost any lack of optimized content and other onpage flaws. Love or hate, the best thing you can do about it is embrace the fact and run with it. So let's go through some tricks that will enable you to look deeper into your competition's link profile granting you access to the restricted areas: their locker room, dirty laundry and even the briefing hall where they plan their link building strategies. Let's Talk Competitive Link Research Finding out where your competitors' links come from is not all that hard. You just go to Yahoo! or Google and type in link:www.your-competitor.com to get a list of inbound links to the site. Yahoo's much better in that respect as it tends to give more extensive and accurate data. The problem here is that there's a limit of 1,000 links per website which is often not enough as the fattest link sources get left behind the limit fence. Here're some tips to break through to the other side. Note: If you're lazy like me skip to the end of the article where I'll share a tool that does it all much quicker. more.. The SEO's Toolkit - Firefox The SEO's Toolkit - Firefox By Dave Davies (c) 2009 Every SEO uses different tools and resources. Some tools are paid, some are free and some are internally developed tools that we use for ourselves and our clients - but we all use them. Very often I get asked what tools people should use if they're looking to optimize their own sites and what resources they should use to keep up with the latest going's on. While telling people how to optimize their own sites and what the tools we use isn't generally the best of business practices - I just can't help myself. If your budget doesn't allow for the hiring of a professional SEO company - trying it yourself may be the only option. I also try to remember that once-upon-a-time I was optimizing my own sites and was new to SEO and without the open advice of others already involved in the community - I wouldn't be running a successful SEO company today. To this end, it only seems right to provide a list of some of the main tools we use on virtually every site. When I initially started writing this article I was going to cram a slew of various tools and resources into one article, but the article was going to end up running WAY too long to hold your attention (or mine) so I've cut it into three EZ parts (as opposed to three EZ payments which you'll be familiar with if you too watch late night TV with a laptop in front of you writing things like SEO articles). But let's get to the meat of this article shall we? The series will be... more.. Understanding Business Cycles and How They Relate to SEO  Understanding Business Cycles and How They Relate to SEO A SPN Exclusive Article By Nick Stamoulis (c) 2011 As the song by The Byrds goes "To everything - turn, turn, turn/ There is a season - turn, turn, turn/And a time for every purpose under heaven." The same principle applies to Internet marketing - different aspects of Internet marketing campaigns run on different cycles. These business cycles have to be understood and accounted for when developing any SEO strategy, because they can directly affect the success of the campaign. While one company's business cycles may greatly differ from another, especially when comparing B2B companies with B2C businesses, the bottom line is that you have to be aware of your company's business cycles to more effectively measure SEO success. There are three main types of business cycles a company should keep track of: the sales cycle, the conversion cycle, and the SEO cycle. The sales cycle begins the moment a company gets a lead. It could be a phone call from a prospective customer or client, someone submitting an online form and so forth. Each business has to decide when they are dealing with a real lead that is worth pursuing. The sales cycle doesn't stop until that lead has either gone cold or been successfully closed. Some leads may remain active for months as potential clients hem and haw over making the final purchasing decision. Depending on the complexity of the products and services your company sells (medical testing equipment versus office supplies, for example), your business sales cycle could take a few days or even up... more.. The Lifeblood of the Internet The Lifeblood of the Internet By Robert Imbriale (c) 2010 If you've been involved in marketing of any kind over the last two decades, I'm sure you've heard the saying, "content is King." Marketers, successful marketers, live by that mantra. When I look at the Internet what I really see are two things. There is the content and then there are the applications that allow you to interact with the content. To completely over-simplify things, the applications are what make it possible for us to create, share, and use the content we find on the Internet. So to say content is King, you'd have to also say that the applications are Queen in order to have a more complete view of the Internet. There are all kinds of applications from the browsers that make surfing the Internet possible to all sorts of applications that manage and deliver the content. Think about it. Without the application we know as Google, how would you find the content you're looking for on the Internet? I've been there and I remember finding things online was next to impossible, but that was back in 1987. Then we have Adobe TM Flash that allows us to see and hear sounds and images over the Internet. There are all sorts of content management systems available to us today that simply didn't exist a few years back. As it becomes easier and easier to manage and digest, the demand for new content grows and grows. Marketers who create quality content often find they are able to generate large amounts of traffic, they usually have large mailing lists, and it almost goes without saying that they usually have healthy bank accounts.... more.. Webmaster Tips Webmaster Tips By Sharon Housley According to Matt Cutts, there are over 100 factors that affect search engine ranking. For those of you who don't know, Matt is a Google guy guru, he is employed by Google but writes an independent blog and shares information related to Google and search engine optimization. Unfortunately, of those 100 items that account for search engine ranking, there are only a few that webmasters can actually control. Unless you are a interested in an exercise of futility, it is important to only focus on those ranking factors that you, as a webmaster, can control and influence. What Search Engine Factors Do Webmasters Control? Outside of the obvious (webpage title and description) those items over which the webmaster has the most control are: PageRank, TrustRank, Anchor Text, Keyword Density, Domain Age, URL, and Relevant Links. How Can a Webmaster Use These Items to Help Ranking? First off--the obvious, each and every web page should have a descriptive page specific title and description. The title, description, and header tags are channels to communicate the most important details of a specific webpage. They should be used effectively, but not be abused. The web page should make use of h1 and h2 tags (header tags) to emphasize pertinent keywords and phrases. Particular attention should be paid when formatting urls. Keywords related to the webpage can and should be used in the webpage urls. Use hyphens rather than underscores between the keywords. Search engines are designed by developers and programming languages will recognize a hyphen and distinguish separate words, while an underscore blends the words. Keywords in the URL should not... more.. Bounce Rates Count Bounce Rates Count By David Leonhardt (c) 2008 Of late there has been a lot of discussion about bounce rates and whether or not the search engines count these in their algorithms. As far back as late 2007, there were reports that webmasters were seeing a difference in their rankings for major keywords within a few weeks of drastically changing their bounce rates. However, none of the tests and reports seem to be complete enough or repeatable enough to constitute proof. As a result, there are plenty of naysayers who believe that such things as bounce rates are not now and probably won't ever be part of the search engine algorithms. I am of the opposite view; bounce rates will certainly be part of the search engine algorithms and probably already are. What I would like to do here is share with you some of the common naysayer objections and refute all but one of them. But first, for those who are scratching their heads about what bounce means, we are referring to people leaving a website. A bouncy website is the opposite of a sticky website, one where people stay a long time. Objection 1: There is no definition of "bounce rate". Response: This is the flimsiest of arguments. A bounce is when someone leaves a website, going back where they came from. Objection 2: I don't like how Google Analytics defines a bounce. Response: Sadly, Google doesn't ask me for advice, either. But cheer up, the bounce rate in Google Analytics might not be the same as they use in their algorithm, just as the little green bar is not necessarily the PageRank... more.. Dreaming of Pay Per Cl? Sausage Dreaming of Pay Per Cl? Sausage By Jim Hedger (c) 2007 The problem might have been that Jeffrey had heard the same set of quest?s once too often or it could just be the night noises one hears when traveling in strange cities. It could have been an undigested slice of deep-dish pizza from the evening before or a phantom blues-riff floating in his head. Whatever it was, it was 4AM on the morning of the last day of the Chicago Search Engine Strategies conference and Jeffrey K. Rohrs was wide awake. At 9:00AM he was scheduled to moderate a panel titled In House: Big SEO. Two hours after that he was to moderate another panel, the one that was keeping him up at night, In House: Big PPC panel. Five hours before presiding over two long sessions, and Jeffrey wasn't able to sleep. He wasn't nervous. Jeffrey is an SES veteran having appeared on or moderated large-attendance sessions for several years. The day before he had moderated for panels: Search Arbitrage, Dealing with Affiliates, Auditing Paid Listings and Cl? Fraud, and Search and Regulated Industries. So what could be running through his head at a time when he clearly should have been fast asleep? Jeffrey was thinking about PPC, Von Bismarck, Garlinghouse and sausages in that lucid but dream like state that comes when you wake from your sleep with a start. Jeffrey had had a revelation that jolted him awake so he pulled up his laptop and started writing what would become known as The Sausage Manifesto. As legend has it, nineteenth century German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck once remarked, "Laws are like sausages. It is better not to see... more.. SEO Copywriting Tips for Google, Yahoo and your Prospects SEO Copywriting Tips for Google, Yahoo and your Prospects By Angela Charles, President, (c) 2008 Pilot Fish It might not seem logical, but a web site that's well-written for human consumption with a little SEO help usually is also well-received by the robots of search engines like Google and Yahoo. So, what does "well-written" mean? Here are some tips to good SEO copywriting for Google, Yahoo and site visitors. SEO Copywriting Tips ? How to Write Great Web Site Content Keyword research: This topic deserves a whole article on its own, but suffice to say that you'll want to base your site content on the keyword terms that you know are most popular among the audience you're trying to reach. There are online tools available that can help you determine the right keywords for your company. Among them are WordTracker and Keyword Discovery. One topic per page: If your company makes 5 different products, you'll need to devote at least one page per topic. Details, details: Each topic should be covered in enough detail that the site visitor can determine whether to contact you for more information. From an SEO standpoint, the more detail you provide on each topic, the more easily the search engines will be able to determine the relevance of your site to that keyword. Kill the sales brochure: Internet users don't appreciate going to your web to find only a sales brochure. Avoid flowery language; it usually signifies a page that's light on content and heavy on sales pitch, which the search engines won't rank well. Good SEO copywriting will focus on objective facts about your company's products and services,... more.. Article Submission Trumps Ezine Ads and Google AdWords Article Submission Trumps Ezine Ads and Google AdWords By Anthony Harris (c) 2011 You may have heard advice from Internet marketing gurus that ezine ads are one of the best forms of advertising. You may also have heard that Google AdWords and other pay per click search engines are one of the best advertising methods. But when it comes to marketing your web site, article submission trumps ezine ads and Google AdWords anytime. The advantage of article submission is trust. Suppose you subscribe to an ezine in the form of an email newsletter. You've just sat down at your PC, coffee in hand, to read your email. There in your inbox is a copy of one of your favorite ezines, the one you read every time. Clicking on the newsletter, you see that this edition starts with a sponsor ad and then has a couple of great sounding articles and a couple more ezine ads. Sipping your coffee, one of the articles catches your attention. You read the article, and you were right. It's a great article. At the bottom of the article, there is a link to the author's web site and a short biography. You notice the author has a link to pick up a free report with more information about the article's topic. Then you notice that right below that there's a sponsor link in an ezine ad. The sponsor's link is for a different web site, but it also offers a free report about the same topic. Now you might click both links. But if you could only click one, which would you choose:... more.. Debunking the Top 10 Search Engine Myths Debunking the Top 10 Search Engine Myths By Marc D. Ensign (c) 2009 We've all done it at some point in our professional lives. We search a keyword that describes our business only to scratch our head as to how our competitor's website shows up on the top of the l? instead of ours. If you've gone one step further and read about Search Engine Optimization, then surely you have come across the conflicting information online. One article tells you to do one thing while another tells you to do the opposite. Which one should you believe? This gray area of what you should or should not do is much like the modern day "Bat Cave." If you are lucky enough to stumble upon it, chances are you don't quite know how you got there and if you had to go back one day you would probably just find yourself lost in the woods. So what should you believe? The general rule is to combine what you read or heard with what you have experienced and somewhere in there lies the truth. To get you started, let's debunk some of the more commonly used myths floating around. 1) Use a Keyword Rich Domain Name: It is widely believed that if you include your keywords in your domain name like www.professional-website-design-in-nj.com it will greatly improve your rankings. This is not true. It is best to choose a domain name that is short, easy to remember and if possible includes your company name. 2) Google Partnership: If you are ever approached by a company claiming to have a partnership with Google, run in the... more.. How to Defend your Website from the Google Duplicate Proxy Exploit How to Defend your Website from the Google Duplicate Proxy Exploit By Sophie White (c) 2007 There is a current and active way to knock a website out of Google's search engine results. It's simple and effective. This information is already in the public domain and the more people that know about it, the more likelihood there is that Google will do something about it. This article will tell you how it works, how to get a website knocked out of the search engine rankings, but most importantly, how to defend your own website from having it happen to you. To understand this exploit, you must first understand about Google's Duplicate Content filter. It's simply described thus: Google doesn't want you to search for "blue widget" and have the top 10 search terms returned copies of the same article on how great blue widgets are. They want to give you ONE copy of the Great Blue Widget article, and 9 other different results, just on the off chance that you've already read that article and the other results are actually what you wanted. To handle this, every time Google spiders and indexes a page, it checks it to see if it's already got a page that is predominantly the same, a duplicate page if you will. Exactly how Google works this out, nobody knows exactly, but it is going to be a combination of some or all of: page text length, page title, headings, keyword densities, checking exactly copy sentence fragments etc. As a result of this duplicate content filter, a whole industry has grown up around trying to get round the filter. Just search for "spin article". Getting back to the story... more.. What is Internet Marketing? What is Internet Marketing? By Daniel Scyphers (c) 2008 Internet marketing is still a complete mystery to a large majority of Internet users. For many users, internet marketing is seen as some foreign area of the web, populated with silly get-rich-quick schemes and unsavory characters ready to rip off the innocent and uninformed consumer at the click of a mouse. In reality, Internet marketing is populated mainly with hard working professionals promoting and selling high quality brand products by many of the world's Top 500 companies. Worldwide there are now over a billion Internet users, representing one large global consumer base or marketplace. The total amount of goods sold online has been steadily increasing each year as the Internet gains in both popularity and familiarity. Studies have shown people shop online because of lower prices, a wider selection of products, easier comparison shopping, and many just prefer not having to travel to stores to make a purchase. Still Internet marketing has gotten a raw deal. If you mention to any group of professionals that you're an Internet Marketer and that you work full time on the Internet... you will receive some very skeptical looks and more than one arched eyebrow of disbelief. Regardless of this lingering skepticism, Internet marketing has become a viable alternative for many disgruntled professionals dissatisfied with their working hours or conditions. It has become a viable alternative for many people from all walks of life. From the college student to the bored housewife to the retired doctor... all are enjoying a part time or full time income from the comfort of their homes. And since the Internet is now practically available to... more.. The Evolution / Revolution of The Abrasive Flap Disc The Evolution / Revolution of The Abrasive Flap Disc        The object of the invention of the abrasive flap disc was to increase life and efficiency of the abrasive material used in the surface preparation of fabricated metal. Up until the mid 1990?s, the most common method was the use of resin bonded abrasive grinding wheels and resin fibre sanding discs. With the invention of the abrasive flap disc, all that has changed.          The design of a rotary abrasive disc requires balancing the operational life of the disc against the ?aggressiveness? (how much surface material is removed) of the abrasive. The old method required a grinding wheel to ?knock? the weld down and a resin fibre disc to sand the weld so as to blend the two pieces of metal together. Aside from the inefficiency of the two-step process, resin fibre discs proved to have to glaring weakness:  glazing and loading.        A resin fibre disc has large and small abrasive particles bonded to a fibre substrate. During use, the large abrasive particles, which are first to contact the work surface, begin to wear and become dull. This leads to flat spots on the disc. The flattened particles, too dull to... more.. The Seven Deadly Sins of Website Copy The Seven Deadly Sins of Website Copy By Michel Fortin (c) 2009 Throughout my research, I'm always surprised when I stumble onto websites that are professionally designed and seem to provide great products and services, but lack or fail in certain important elements. Elements that, with just a few short changes, can help multiply the results almost instantaneously. Generally, I have found that there are seven common mistakes. I call them the "Seven Deadly Sins." Is your website committing any one of these? 1) They Fail to Connect Traffic has been long touted to be the key to online success, but that's not true. If your site is not pulling sales, inquiries or results, then why would it need more traffic? The key is to turn curious browsers into serious buyers. Aside from the quality of the copy, the number one reason why a website doesn't convert is that the copy is targeting the wrong audience or fails to connect with them. First, create a "perfect prospect profile." List all the attributes, characteristics and qualities of your most profitable and accessible market. Don't just stick with things like demographics and psychographics. Try to get to know them. Who are they, really? What are their most pressing problems? What keeps them up at night? How do they talk about their problems? Where do they hang out? Then, target your market by centering on a major theme, benefit or outcome so that, when you generate pre-qualified traffic, your hit ratio and your sales will improve dramatically. Finally, ensure that your copy connects with them. Intimately. It speaks their language, talks about their problems, and tells stories they can easily appreciate and relate to. Since this is the most common error that marketers and... more.. Brand Positioning Using Web-Video Brand Positioning Using Web-Video By Jerry Bader Multimedia Modeling and Vicarious Observation Albert Bandura, distinguished psychologist and expert in the field of social learning theory, points to television commercials as an important influence on social learning through multimedia modeling and vicarious observation. We often forget that like all creatures human beings are subject to our hardwired instinct for survival, one of the most important being our ability to learn through vicarious experiences rather than just direct encounters. We may learn not to touch a hot stove by putting our hand on a hot heating element, but it is far less dangerous to learn the same lesson by watching someone else do it, even if that observation is simulated as in a commercial. As Web-video presentations ?rease in popularity as a means of delivering marketing messages over the Internet, there will be the inevitable major successes and unfortunate failures. It is only a matter of time before Web-video becomes the dominating vehicle for businesses that are serious about marketing communication. The businesses that will be successful will learn how to use the medium beyond its technical implementation, focusing instead on the psychological elements that communicate beyond mere surface meaning. Marketing Campaigns Are Learning Experiences All marketing campaigns are learning experiences for the target audience in that advertisers are attempting to manipulate viewers' behavior by vicarious demonstration of brand benefits resulting from product or service use. Cost has limited the use of broadcast television commercials to all but the most deep-pocketed of advertisers, but the broadband Web and digital technology has changed all that. The means to produce reasonable-cost Web-video is at hand, witness the... more.. The Top 10 Dumbest Web Site Decisions The Top 10 Dumbest Web Site Decisions By Kalena Jordan (c) 2007 Having worked with web sites for the past eleven years, I've seen a LOT of errors, poor judgment and embarrassing gaffs on the web. Sometimes they are the fault of the client, the web designer, the IT Manager, or the SEO, but human error is always to blame. The saddest thing is that the problems are usually preventable. Here is a l? of what I consider to be the Top 10 dumbest web site decisions ever, in reverse order, David Letterman style : 10) Misspelling a Domain Back in the glory days of the late 1990's when I was working for a large Internet agency, the web designers had responsibility for the registration of domain names on behalf of clients. One particular designer had a face to face meeting with a major client, during which the client asked him to register CarTuneCentral.com (or so he thought!). The staffer did a check and was delighted to see the domain available. He made the purchase and proudly emailed the client. An hour later his boss called him in to his office to say that he'd had a call from a very frustrated client who *actually* wanted him to register CartoonCentral.com. Needless to say the desired domain wasn't available and the whole office dined on his mistake for months. 9) Letting the Domain Name Expire Now what type of company would allow their domain to expire a month after site launch? A very large one, that's who. I'll save the company some embarrassment and won't reveal their name but the site was offline... more.. Top 10 Tips for Using Web 2.0 to Promote Your Business Top 10 Tips for Using Web 2.0 to Promote Your Business By Kevin Stirtz (c) 2007 We hear a lot about "Web 2.0" these days. It sounds neat and it's trendy to talk about blogging and social media. But does it really affect our businesses? Is Web 2.0 just for kids and tech-hipsters or is it something we business owners should use to help promote our businesses? I can't tell you if Web 2.0 is right for your business, but I can tell you it's something to be aware of. Ignoring it means ignoring a possible tool that could be valuable in helping you get more customers. So, to help you get started in thinking about Web 2.0 for your business, here are some things for you to consider. 1. Have a plan Don't dive in just because it's cool or because you read an article about it. Be clear about what you're trying to accomplish, how much you're willing to invest and what time frame you are working on. Like any aspect of your business - plan ahead. 2. Make sure your target audience is online Web 2.0 tools are fun but useless if the people who see your stuff don't want what you off? Or if they don't look to the Web for information to help them buy what you sell, then your efforts will be less effective. Like any marketing channel, it only works if your prospective customers are there to see (or hear) your message and they are receptive to it. 3. Create good content Web 2.0 is the social web, but it's still... more.. The Next 10 Online Trends By Patrick Stafford (c) 2010 The Next 10 Online Trends By Patrick Stafford (c) 2010 It hasn't ever been harder to keep up with the latest web trends - with the expansion onto mobile platforms, the growth of social media and the need for start ups to be aware of new SEO techniques. As a result, we've assembled a team of web experts to help you and your business keep on top of the most important trends on the web. Constructing a mobile website, creating social media campaigns and selling online are just some of the challenges businesses will face during 2010. Here are top online trends for the next 12 months. Mobile Web Every web-savvy business knows smartphone use is on the rise. But few are actively developing for mobiles by creating websites specifically used for handheld devices. As more and more mobile users flock to gadgets with larger touchscreens and internet browsers, such as the iPhone or Google Nexus One, the mobile space will become bigger and SMEs need to get on board. If your website isn't accessible through a smartphone or app, users will give up and go somewhere else - losing you traffic and potential sales. Ovum analyst Nathan Burley says the number of people taking up smartphones instead of traditional handsets will require businesses to develop mobile websites. "In our view there are two big trends that will occur in 2010. That is mobile broadband and the adoption of smartphones, and the impact of those two things on the industry. This is changing the way people access the internet, and that is in mobile." "The big change is that these smartphones are allowing people to use tools in the same way a laptop... more.. Make Your Brand Cool  Make Your Brand Cool By Jerry Bader (c) 2011 Is your brand cool? Cool is the ultimate compliment your company or product can receive from its buying public. To be cool is to be special, superior, and of higher value than the competition, which is why coolness is such a sought-after marketing objective. And before you reject the idea that your business, product, or brand doesn't have to be cool, think again. To be cool is to be desired and to be desired is exactly the goal of all marketing communication. Sure you want sales but first you got to be cool. You Got To Be Cool To be cool is definitely not the same as being trendy. Trendy is a far too ephemeral goal to invest in. Where trendy is a mere short-lived fad; cool is a statement of character. The recent American Idol finale and pop culture sideshow illustrates perfectly what I'm talking about. Lady Gaga, the Queen of Trendy, put on a performance that may have wowed her twelve-year old fans but will surely be regarded in the future as merely a bizarre, over-the-top, vulgar circus act; whereas senior citizens Tony Bennett, Tom Jones, and Steven Tyler all delivered remarkable displays of class, cool, and resilience despite their obvious decline in vocal chops. You won't be seeing fans lineup to see Gaga fall off a staged-cliff in her underwear when she's cashing her old age pension. If you run a Internet business, you know you have to be pop culture savvy, not always the easiest thing to do when things change so quickly, another reason why "cool" needs to be the goal, not "trendy." When businesses... more.. Develop Quality Content to Rule the Web Develop Quality Content to Rule the Web by S. Housley Fresh content The age old question keeps coming up, how do you retain website visitors, how do you make visitors return to your website? The answer should come as no surprise, fresh content. Content is truly king, the fresher the content the better the site. What many webmasters fail to realize is that there is an endless supply of content on the web that is freely available to webmasters. Not only can public domain material be freely used and syndicated on websites, but a number of content publishers provide content in exchange for a link back to their websites. A variety of contents related to the website theme that is integrated into the website will attract the interest of both search engines and web surfers. The key to taking advantage of free content is integrating or including content that is directly related to the theme of the website. 1. Articles Article repositories exist that categorizes content articles. Searching the repositories using keywords that are related to a websites theme will result in a wide variety of articles available for publication that are related to the site's existing web content. Articles in the repositories are available for syndication, which means webmasters can freely include the articles on their websites as long as they include the author resource box with valid links. Use the following to locate topic specific articles: Free Website Content GoArticles 2. RSS Feeds The contents of many RSS feeds can be syndicated. The added benefit of syndicating feeds is that they are frequently updated which will result in a steady stream of fresh changing content. In order to reap the benefits... more.. Land Texas Land Texas The contempt that can be seen on people's faces after they've understood the Land Texas offers and what they bring to the table is quite remarkable. Most of them state that they had a little bit of skepticism and they weren't sure about what this offers imply, but after a closer look, they've understood the benefits implied here. What are the Land Texas offers talking about? This is one of the most common mistakes that people make when it comes to a subject that they are not very familiar with: they believe every little aspect they hear about it. This can easily be solved with a research on the topic at hand in order to personally come across information and form an opinion. The very same things can be said about the real estate industry. There are many people who disclaim one of the Land Texas opportunities on the premises that the offers are designed for other people and not for them. Most of the persons that are being asked, don't even wait to be informed on why they should think about those opportunities. One of the greatest things that can be said about buying a land in Texas is the fact that now normal people can actually afford it. This means that there is no need for a huge loan, just to cover the costs of a land. The reason for this aspect is because the recession has made a lot of devastations in the real estate market. That's why the Land Texas opportunities come to respond to dreams that people have when it comes to building their own home. Many would argue that buying... more.. Clicking into the Future Predictions for 2007 Clicking into the Future Predictions for 2007 By Jim Hedger (c) 2006 While 2006 was a great year for webmasters it was a time of great change and challenge in the search engine sector. The most notable trend from 2006 was the continued advancement of Google against natural rivals Yahoo, MSN and Ask, as well as its persistent movement towards other, less obvious advertising venues. Next week we will look back at the ghosts of 2006 but as the New Year approaches, thoughts turn towards the spirits of things to come. Predictions for 2007 1/ Google's early entry to radio advertising will bear fruit prompting Google to start examining television advertising. When it comes to the allocation of advertising dollars, Google fundamentally altered the rules of the game. In the past, mass market advertisers would gamble on a shotgun approach to ad-spending. The options consisted of newspaper, magazine, telephone directory, radio or television. While each medium could provide statistics showing their print-run and audience, tracking the success or failure of these types of advertising has always posed a problem for manufacturers and retailers. When Google popularized the pay-per-click model in which advertisers only pay when a person actually views the ad, a new model was born. Google's billing model will have to alter slightly to meet the radio and video formats however, as digital radio and television becomes the norm, tracking will become far easier. Google will be able to charge by the listener or viewer though it remains to be seen if listeners or viewers will actually listen to or view advertisements on digital radio or television. more.. Search Engine Promotion - No Strategy. No Success Search Engine Promotion - No Strategy. No Success By Frederick Townes Whether you're planning the launch of your first site, or wondering why your site counter is actually moving backward, stop. You need a strategy to promote your site to search engines and to visitors. A plan of action based on five key factors, all of which should be weighed carefully before you take another step. Here are the five, most important considerations in the development of any search engine promotion. 1. The Site's Objectives What are your expectations for the website? These will usually point you to the site's objectives. In the case of commercial sites, the broad objective is straightforward ? to sell enough goods and/or services to become profitable. However, you might also want to educate, motivate, persuade and inform in addition to, or instead of, selling. A top-down analysis of your site's objectives is the place to start the development of your action plan. Once you've determined the site's objectives, keep them front and center during the entire development of an SE promo strategy. It's important that any search engine understand your site's objectives on the very first spider visit. 2. Market Analytics Essential. Who are you trying to reach ? your sal?demographic? What do the members of your demographic need? How do they make purchase decisions? Are they computer savvy? Critical to the design and implementation of a search engine promo strategy is to know your market. And the best place to learn is from the competition. Pull a Google on the competition to see how the successful sites do it. Perfectly ethical and a measurable,... more.. Cracking the Google Code? Under the GoogleScope Cracking the Google Code? Under the GoogleScope by Lawrence Deon Google's sweeping changes confirm the search giant has launched a full out assault against artificial link inflation & declared war against search engine spam in a continuing effort to provide the best search service in the world? and if you thought you cracked the Google Code and had Google all figured out ? guess again.Google has raised the bar against search engine spam and artificial link inflation to unrivaled heights with the filing of a United States Patent Application 20050071741 on December 31, 2003. On March 31, 2005 is was available online for the first time.The filing unquestionable provides SEO's with valuable insight into Google's tightly guarded search intelligence and confirms that Google's information retrieval is based on historical data.What exactly do these changes mean to you? Your credibility and reputation on-line are going under the Googlescope! Google has defined their patent abstract as follows:A system identifies a document and obtains one or more types of history data associated with the document. The system may generate a score for the document based, at least in part, on the one or more types of history data.Google's patent specification reveals a significant amount of information both old and new about the possible ways Google can (and likely does) use your web page updates to determine the ranking of your site in the SERPs. Unfortunately, the patent filing does not prioritize or conclusively confirm any specific method one way or the other.Here's how Google scores your web pages.In addition to evaluating and scoring web page content, the ranking of web pages are admittedly still influenced by the frequency of page or site updates. What's new and interesting is what Google takes into account... more.. Maximizing the Triangle of Relevancy With Google Maximizing the Triangle of Relevancy With Google By Sydney Nelson (c) 2007 The "Triangle of Relevancy" is used to describe the relationship between the text in a landing page, a sponsored advertisement and the keyword or phrase that's entered into a search engine. Google places a premium on relevancy as it endeavors to ensure visitors have a positive experience by getting search results relevant to their search terms. I will outline specific steps an advertiser can take to maximize their landing pages and sponsored advertisement's effectiveness in their search engine marketing endeavors. Relevancy with Landing Pages The product, if you will, of any search engine is the resulting landing pages. The page's relevance to the search terms determines whether the page will show up in a search and at what position. Google's algorithm scores each page and/or sponsored ad's relationship to the keywords or phrase and uses this information to assist in determining the order in which the landing pages and AdWords ads are placed. The algorithm also monitors the amount of time a visitor spends on a page and includes this in the score. Search engine optimization (SEO) techniques such as placing keywords in the page's title and throughout the body of the page can sometimes affect the position of a page in the search results. But of greater... more.. 20 Must-Have Tools to Automate an Online Business 20 Must-Have Tools to Automate an Online Business By Donna Gunter (c) 2007 With all the information online about tools and techniques available to help someone effectively manage and run an online business, how do you ever decide which ones are truly useful to have in your business management toolkit? Here's my listing of the 20 indispensable tools that I cannot live without: 1. Article Marketing: SubmitYourArticle.com automates the article submission process by allowing you to submit up to eight articles each month and then distributes the articles to hundreds of web sites, article directories and ezine publishers. Without a doubt, this has been my most effective online marketing tool that has produced tremendous results for my business. 2. Audio Recording/Podcasting: AudioAcrobat.com makes audio streaming fast and simple, whether you want to add an audio greeting, audio testimonials, podcast or videos to your website or send out an audio postcard or record a teleclass. 3. Backup: Carbonite.com offers an unlimited amount of data storage for $50 per year. Carbonite is very intuitive and went directly to my email files and Roboform files to back them up without me having to manually select the backup files. I frequently use this service to find the original version of a file that I've accidentally overwritten, as well. 4. Blogging: Typepad.com is both simple to use and powerful. You can set up as many blogs as you desire with a Pro account, and you can customize your blog in an infinite number of ways. Once it's set up, the online interface makes... more.. Social Media Puts Fortress Journalism Under Siege | Social Media Puts Fortress Journalism Under Siege | By John Sylvester (c) 2009 In a recent report by Peter Horrocks, Director of BBC World Service, it is clear that as society becomes more networked, the fortress mentality of the mainstream media is increasingly under siege by social media, but they are adapting. There's a lesson for us all in this. For so long now, Web 2.0 has been working in the background to subtly but unwittingly undermine mainstream media, especially in America where, for example, RSS is understood and used far more readily than in most other nations. In this, the role of the "fortress journalism" is being steadily eroded as the nature of RSS feeds allow you to choose the BBC for video news, the New York Times for international news, the Guardian for ecological reports and ESPN for sports - so storming the gates of the fortress has been around for some time, but it is only now that publishers are seriously looking at new dissemination models in a more integrated and enlightened manner. The main problem for the newspaper industry is that journalists have been very slow to recognise the changes that have been happening under their noses, and whilst the major players have all installed news feeds on their websites, they still continue with the assumption that their news product provides a complete set of information for their readers. However, in the world of Web 2.0, the choices available for a total news information set is beginning to change journalists' collective mindset: as Jeff Jarvis, Professor of Interactive Journalism at the City University of New York, described it: "Cover what you do best. Link to the rest." Social media websites now have millions... more.. Can Google Truly Make Quality Content King of The Web? Can Google Truly Make Quality Content King of The Web? A SPN Exclusive Article By Titus Hoskins (c) 2011 For those webmasters and e-marketers who can remember a web without Google, life was much less complicated and a lot less tumultuous back then. Since Google came onto the scene and became the dominant search engine in the world... things have changed drastically. And not necessarily in a negative way, those same webmasters probably jumped for joy when they reached the top of Google for their keywords. Then they complained just as loudly when Google made one of their never-ending changes to their algorithm and these webmasters saw their rankings drop or in some severe cases, disappear from the web altogether. In those early days, most of Google's major updates were kept secret until the fallout got webmasters fuming or rejoicing. However, in recent algorithm updates or changes, Google has openly broadcasted these changes to anybody who was listening. The same openness applies to Google's recent changes dealing with "content farms" and "low quality content" in Google's SERPs. Matt Cutts stated in his blog, "we're evaluating multiple changes that should help drive spam levels even lower, including one change that primarily affects sites that copy others' content and sites with low levels of original content." Basically, what Google is trying to do with these changes is to improve the overall quality of their search results by lowering the rankings of sites which it perceives as low quality and containing little or no original content. These would be sites that have scraped content from other websites and... more.. 2010 SEO Predictions That Came True 2010 SEO Predictions That Came True A SPN Exclusive Article By Warner Carter (c) 2011 Each time a year ends, we encounter countless bloggers and writers who share their thoughts about the incoming year. Some predictions are theoretically supported and some are just plain wild guesses. Predicting what's in store for the next year is almost a tradition for writers, even those not involved in SEO and Internet marketing. Sports writers, business analysts, music critics, and amateur writers - they all follow this unsung tradition. Many think that this tradition is worth following because nailing a wild guess or a well-researched fact means only one thing: respect from your readers. It's only the third month of the year but some predictions from last year have become realities. People didn't ever expect that the realization would be this quick, but, unbelievably, many predictions are coming true right now. The Power of Content Length This was a common prediction that was heavily criticized. I read on some blogs last year that Google would be considering a site's content length as a determining factor for site ranking. Experts and SEO veterans commented that this was an amateur's prediction, but they all ended up wrong. As a result of this latest algorithm update, many guest blogging sites have increased their minimum article length to 450 words, and some are requiring even lengthier articles. Perhaps this recent update caused content-related terrors to some SEO geeks. They'll just have to remember that quality is still better than quantity. Mobile Search Growth Both local and global search benefited from the rise of high-tech phones... more.. Gear Up Your Site For Social Media Marketing Gear Up Your Site For Social Media Marketing By Deepak Dutta The year 2006 saw the emergence of social media. If you are engaged in operating a website, you must realign your site to exploit the popular social media sites for increased traff? You should also introduce social media components to your site because web users are experiencing these new forms of interactions on more and more sites and they may have an expectation of the same from your site also. The first step is to declare who you are to the online community. People should be able to relate to you. Unless they know more about you, you will be just an unknown identity and most people don't like to deal with unknowns. Create an About Us page and l? your achievements and skills. Create a MySpace page and link your bio in the About Us page to the MySpace page. Also provide a link back from the MySpace page to your website. Spend an hour every week to develop your online social network in MySpace. Invite a few of these new friends to write blog articles at your site about your products or services. If you want to attract repeat visitors and want them to stay longer, your focus this year should be on the social aspects of your site. Social media uses technologies like RSS, blogging, podcasting, tagging, etc. and offers social networking (MySpace, Facebook), social video and picture sharing (YouTube, Flickr), and community-based content ranking (Digg, MiniClip) features. The central theme of these sites is user generated content used for sharing among the end-users. The social aspects of these sites are to allow users to setup social communities,... more.. What Your S.E.O. Strategist Won't Tell You What Your S.E.O. Strategist Won't Tell You By Jerry Bader (c) 2007 Maybe you own your own business, or perhaps you're a critical cog in the corporate machinery responsible for marketing your company, brand, product or service. If that describes you, here's eighteen things you need to know about Web-marketing but were afraid to believe. 1. Time To Be Heard Your mother told you 'children should be seen and not heard,' but you're not a kid anymore. So why are you listening to all those guys telling you not to use audio on your website. If you want to deliver a lot of content that people will remember, try letting your website do the talking. 2. There's Nothing Like the Real Thing In a world of virtual everything there's nothing like the real thing. The sound and image of real people delivering your marketing message makes it a believable, memorable presentation. 3. Unlock the Conventional Wisdom Straightjacket Driving traff?to your site is great, if those visitors stay long enough to find out why they should be doing business with you. If your website traff?is leaving as fast as it's arriving, maybe search engine optimization isn't the answer you've been looking for. 4. Linking Your Way To Obscurity You know the reciprocal linking strategy everyone is talking about as a way to generate leads? Did you ever consider that each link to another website is an invitation to leave your site? Is that really what you want - to invite people to leave? I think not! 5. Your Company's Voice... more.. Analysts Speculate on IT Tech Trends for 2008 Analysts Speculate on IT Tech Trends for 2008 By Anne Sych (c) 2007 Novo Help Desk Software What are the experts predicting for tech trends in 2008? At the recent Gartner Symposium/ITxpo held last October in Orlando, more than 6000 senior business and IT strategists from virtually all major industries gathered for the industry's largest conference to gain the latest advice on driving prof? and performance with IT. Attendees rely on the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo for their annual planning and to gain insight into how their organizations can best use IT to address business challenges and improve operational efficiency. Reflecting Gartner's very latest research findings, the analysts projected the 10 technologies likely to play a 'strategic' role in 2008. Gartner defines a strategic technology as one "with the potential for significant impact on the enterprise in the next three years." In addition Gartner also looks at "high potential for disruption to IT or the business, the need for a major dollar ?estment, or the risk of being late to adopt." "Companies should factor these technologies into their strategic planning process by asking key quest?s and making deliberate decisions about them during the next two years," said David Cearley, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "Sometimes the decision will be to do nothing with a particular technology. In other cases it will be to continue investing in the technology at the current rate. In still other cases, the decision may be to test/pilot or more aggressively adopt/deploy the technology. The important thing is to ask the question and proactively plan." Here's a look at the top 10 tech trends, and what... more.. Why Social Bookmarking? Why Social Bookmarking? By Tinu AbayomiPaul (c) 2009 Someone sent me the question "Why Social Bookmarking? " And I thought to myself: "Um. Why not?" Since I'm not really sure what they meant by that, I'm going to assume that this person mean "Why should I use social bookmarking in my business?" - with a full understanding of all the risks associated with "assuming". I figure that if you're reading this, you have that question, or a similar one. There are three reasons:      1 - More links      2 - More traffic      3 - More credibility More links are always a good thing. Think of links as the road traffic that moves through the web. If there are no roads to where your business "lives" online, namely your website, it's far less likely that the visitors you want will end up getting to you. That's true whether you're talking about search engines or links from other sites. Search engines use a mysterious cross between the number and quality of links to your site in their determination of whether you should be number one or number 701 for your desired keyword. In addition, the "nicer" the road, the more traff?will flow through it - think of an authority site linking to your site as a highway that leads directly to your site, and one from a reciprocal link or link exchange scheme as a back street in a sketchy neighborhood full of potholes. Improved traffic, also good. From social bookmarking, this traffic is often targeted. Through tagging, the description someone writes, or the title they assigned to your link, the person who discovers the submitted link on a social bookmarking site knows exactly where they're going, and why they're interested in getting there. It's like seeing the cover of a magazine on a rack.... more.. Link Building Best Practices - A Guide to Effective Link Building Methods Link Building Best Practices - A Guide to Effective Link Building Methods By SEOFocused.com (c) 2010 Just to cover the ground, lets go over what link building is quickly. Link building is the process of building backlinks to your site. The more backlinks (links from other sites to your site) a site has, the higher it ranks on the search engines. Link building therefore is a mission of all money mak? webmasters. Link building methods have changed from time to time and a specific method that worked yesterday may not work today. This is due to changes in the industry over time and in some cases extreme abuse. If a specific link building method has been abused too much, then that method will not work anymore. It is therefore very important to know which link building method works today so that you can spend your time in a most productive way. There are many link building methods out there today that work with some working better than others. Below are some of the today's popular links building methods: Article Submission If you are reading this article, then you know that you can publish your article in article directories. Not only do you gain backlinks to your site from your published articles (see bottom of this article), you will get some traffic as a bonus. Think of you reading this article. There might be many reading your published articles as well. Article submission is a great way of building backlinks as it provides you with 100% relevant contextual backlinks that Google loves. Directory submission used to work lot better before, but it is still a popular link building method that still works if done properly.... more.. The Roller Coaster of Link Popularity The Roller Coaster of Link Popularity By Bill Platt (c) 2007 Most webmasters are in a constant state of confusion about how to create link popularity and how to rank well in the search engine results. Three of the top four search engines, Google, Yahoo and MSN calculate link popularity as one part of their search algorithms. So, for all intents and purposes, building link popularity is an important part of getting recognition and strong placement in the search engine result pages (SERPs). Link popularity, in essence, is a count of how many web pages point to one of your web pages. The Google PageRank Version of Link Popularity PageRank (PR) is a Google tool that expands on the simplest link popularity calculation. PageRank is a value given to every web page on the Internet, with 12 possible rankings. * The Gray Bar in the PageRank tool indicates that a web page has not been added to the Google PageRank database, or Google has banned the website. (If any page on a particular domain has its own PageRank, or if any pages are shown in the Google search results when someone searches "site:www.yourdomainurl.com", then the website in question has not been banned by Google.) * PR0 to PR10. PR0 indicates that the web page has been added to the Google database, but it does not yet have any PageRank assigned to it, generally because there are not any PR value pages that link to it at this time. If one is tracking PageRank from the Google toolbar, then it needs to be understood that the database that stores PageRank values is only updated about once every 3-4... more.. organic cosmetic brushes organic cosmetic brushes Have you heard about the organic cosmetic brushes and its benefits? Do you think that it's just another form of advertising or have you seen some real changes here? The media has its way of influencing the life of many in the tiniest of details. This is why people are a little bit skeptical when they hear something about a new product or type of product. The reality of the organic cosmetic brushes First of all, people should get familiar with the term organic in the matter of cosmetics. Many would say that this is a detail that isn't that important because they aren't interested in the chemistry of the products. Those people need to sit down and listen to what this material has to say because it's really important to understand this aspect. Basic cosmetics are designed to help the skin look better for a limited amount of time. This means that a person can hope for a timeframe of a half a day when it comes to the durability of some products. The organic cosmetic brushes or any of the products that are from the same type are designed a little bit different. This is because of the fact that the primary focus is different. The normal cosmetics focus on making the skin better now and not fixing whatever problems it might have. The mineral foundation products are designed a little bit different. Their primary focus is to identify the problem that the skin has and try to handle it as best as possible. In this way, the skin will be able to look as natural as it can be without having the need to wear makeup on a daily basis. The great... more.. How to Troubleshoot Dropped Search Engine Rankings How to Troubleshoot Dropped Search Engine Rankings By Ross Dunn (c) 2008 Are you baffled about a recent drop in your search engine rankings? Do you know where to start and get a handle on what the problem might be and how to remedy it? One option to consider is using search engine forums as a resource. They are full of questions from people who have experienced similar situations and are great resources for an answer or two. But let's say you really want to get to the bottom of the problem and you want to do it yourself. The following are some of the beginning steps StepForth takes when evaluating dropped rankings. Retrace Your Steps Write a list of everything that anyone has done to your site within the past 3 weeks. Now look for anything that could have negatively impacted your content, site structure, or the reliability of your URLs. Once you write down the course of events the answer might pop right out at you. Here are some common situational culprits: You just moved your website to a different hosting provider: did your site experience much, if any, downtime during the switch over? Quality hosting companies will allow you to setup your site on their servers before the switch takes place so that downtime is minimized if not removed entirely. If a search engine happened to visit your site while it was down, there is a small chance your rankings would be negatively affected, but it will only happen for a short period. Once the search engine re-indexes your website everything should be back in order. The... more.. Gift Ideas great gift ideas When coming across the best gift ideas, many people relate to something more personal rather then something that is material. Sure, you have to spend some money in order to come up with a gift that is suitable to the taste and the style of the receiver, but the amount of money can be far less than expected. The cheapness of the great gift ideas There are some people who still think that by spending a huge sum of money on an item, will surely ensure the success of the gift, but there are a lot of situations that prove otherwise. First of all, people need to take into account that some of the best Gift Ideas are the ones which are handmade. This means that the one who is sending the gift will only need to buy the materials from which the gifts will be created. Many would say that this isn?t something for them as they don?t have any talent in crafting something worth offering. The truth is that many people don?t have the necessary skills to come up with things on their own, but the internet can prove to be a handy tool in this situation. There are millions of handmade Gift Ideas websites that offer tutorials and... more.. Rethinking Website Content Content That Entertains Rethinking Website Content Content That Entertains By Jerry Bader (c) 2007 In case you've missed it, the Web has changed; it seems like just yesterday it was good enough to take all your brochures and advertising collaterals and convert them to digital format, add a little search engine optimization, throw-in a little PHP programming and bingo, you've got a website. And if you wanted to show how cutting edge your company was, maybe you'd add a little dash of Flash animation, or some royalty fr?music. Well here's a bulletin from the frontlines, that isn't going to cut-it in the new multimedia Web-business environment. If you are looking for a mantra to begin any new website initiative or to correct an existing website disaster: Think Audience Not Customers. Almost daily I receive emails from people asking me to review their websites and tell them why they can't convert visitors to customers even when they are attracting significant numbers of visitors on a regular basis to their sites. The answer is both simple and complex: simple, because these websites fail to communicate the company's message in a meaningful manner to their visitors, which means no dialog is opened, and without a dialog, no business can be done; and complex, because the implementation of the solution requires a new way of thinking about communicating with your audience using sophisticated presentation techniques that put a higher premium on creativity than they do on facts, figures and old-school direct marketing tactics. New Words For A New Web-Business Environment In the past while I've run across three newly coined words or phrases (Communitainment, Branded Entertainment, and Snack-o-tainment) that attempt to capture the... more.. Medical Billing Software Medical Billing Software Imagine having to use the pencil and pen to do the entire math that is involved when working with numbers. It might be overwhelming and give you a big headache. That's why the invention of systems like the Medical Billing Software and many more are owed some appreciation. The development of technology has helped people in their daily routines and has changed their lives for the better. The way that the Medical Billing Software works Medical facilities are the ones that need the development of technology the most. This is because of the fact that people's lives are at stake and nobody can play with that. This goes not only for the equipment that is used in surgeries but to the Medical Billing Software and the other systems that are designed to keep track of the patients, their needs and the changes that occurs in their state. Those systems have an important role in the wellbeing of the patient as well. Imagine that you as a doctor are in need of a specific information here and now. It would have taken you a lot of time to find the information, if not for those systems. Your patient's live is involved here and that is one motivator that cannot be ignored. Another issue that can be developed on the matter of the need for Medical Billing Software is related to the idea of drug abusers. There are many people who think that they can fool a computer just by lying about their prescriptions. This system is well organized and it keeps track of everything that has been allowed by a doctor for a patient. In this way, overdoses can be avoided and the ones that have a certain addiction to a pill won't fool the medical facility. Working with... more.. Google Instant Previews - SEO & Marketing  Google Instant Previews - SEO & Marketing Article By Titus Hoskins (c) 2010 Google wasn't satisfied with just having Instant Search, now it has introduced something called Instant Previews. Searchers and web users can now browse a large instant "preview" of a site's content by placing the cursor over the small magnifying glass displayed beside each listing. These previews are large and Google sometimes highlights a major paragraph or quote from each displayed site. Searchers can get a general look at the layout and design of a site, onpage graphics and bold headlines can usually be seen from the preview. However, small print and the general content of the page can't be read, so searchers will have to click through to your site if they want to read your information. Assuming of course, they don't find what they're looking for in the headlines or bold print. Whether searchers will use this new feature remains to be seen, but these instant previews could have some ramifications on who gets the "click through" to their site. One would also reason that getting the top spot in the rankings have diminished somewhat, if searchers can quickly preview all of the top 10 listings and then make their decision. So they might not click the top listing, but decide one lower down is worth clicking. This could make any listing on the first page more worth having, not just the top one. This doesn't really affect any of your SEO strategies and you should be optimizing for the search engines as usual. After all, getting those top rankings for your targeted keywords in the major search engines is what brings in the quality traffic to... more.. Simple Twitter Tips that Attract Clients and Partners Simple Twitter Tips that Attract Clients and Partners By Meredith Liepelt (c) 2009 According to Mashable.com, a leading authority on social media, there are currently over 12 million users on Twitter. Another resource called istrategylabs.com reports that 46% of Twitter users are college grads, and another 17% have post graduate degrees. Furthermore, 47% are between age 18 and 34, and another 31% are between 35 and 49. Males and females are evenly ranked, with women accounting for 53% of users and men 47%. If your target market falls within these demographics, actively participating on Twitter is probably worth your while. Twitter is simply a micro blogging service. What does that mean? It means that you write short updates (140 characters maximum) called "tweets" and send them out to your followers. And it is a marketer's dream come true - it's an easy way to stay in front of your target market and showcase your authority for free. The myth around Twitter is that Twitter users (called tweeple or tweeps) tweet about useless information such as what kind of coffee they had with breakfast. Yes, some of that exists and it is actually important as you'll see below, but once you understand the power of connecting on Twitter, you may become a Twitter convert, just like me. So, if you're on Twitter or considering starting, the question becomes, "what do I tweet about that will make this a useful tool for me?" Here are some categories you can consider for your tweets. There are others but these will get you started: Industry Tips This is a big one. You are on Twitter to showcase your expertise, so industry tips act as your credibility builders. Here's how to do it:... more.. The Death of Google Adsense And Other Myths The Death of Google Adsense And Other Myths By Titus Hoskins (c) 2006 Recent changes in the Google Adsense program has many online website owners and marketers seriously concerned. Many have seen their Adsense prof? and income flatline... seen their four or five figure monthly Adsense income disappear overnight. For many the Google Adsense bubble has burst. What happened? First, Google made a change in its Adsense program, letting advertisers choose between putting their ads in the search results or on the content pages of Adsense publishers. Search won out and started to receive the higher bids. Search results convert better than content ads. Next, Google has cracked down on Junk Adsense sites, like they should. These sites consisted mainly of software generated re-hashed search engine links and were totally annoying to say the least. But Google also cracked down on 'squeeze pages' or 'affil?e landing pages' - a lucrative source of income for many online marketers, mainly because these pages helped marketers build an opt-?list or use permission based email. The results of these changes produced an Adsense meltdown for many online marketers. Some Internet marketers are speculating recent changes could even mean the death of Adsense. One online marketer, Scott Boulch even published a free report entitled 'The Death of Adsense". Many affil?e marketers would agree with Boulch on some of his points, especially the obvious fact that using Adsense on your web content is starting on the bottom rung of the online marketing ladder. Instead of receiving pennies per cl? with Adsense, alert marketers and webmasters have already discovered that by using CPA (Cost-Per-Action) and direct affil?e links, they can produce significantly more... more.. Six Ways Into Yahoo Six Ways Into Yahoo By Kim Roach (c) 2006 Yahoo was started in 1994 by two college students named David Filo and Jerry Yang. They started Yahoo as a way to keep track of their personal interests on the Internet. Nev?did they imagine that their online ventures would turn into one of the most recognized brands on the Internet. The Yahoo directory quickly gained popularity as the hot spot for finding useful Web sites. In the fall of 1994, Yahoo had its first million-hit day, translating to almost 100 thousand unique visitors. Today, Yahoo is one of the top sites on the internet, receiving over 345 million visitors every month. Through the years, Yahoo has gone through a number of facelifts. You can see a visual history using the WayBackMachine. Yahoo has n?xpanded into one of the largest portals online, offering everything from shopping, video, and podcasts to finance, news, real estate and personals. Along with this expansion have come many additional opportunities for webmasters to distribute their content. Many webmasters today are constantly worried about their rankings in Yahoo. However, there are a number of other ways to get into Yahoo besides the Yahoo Search Engine. In this article, we will discuss 6 ways that you can market your content within the Yahoo portal. Mobile Site Submission Podcast Submission Product Submission Yahoo Directory Submission Media RSS Feeds Yahoo Answers Yahoo Mobile Site Submission Yahoo, Google, and MSN n?rovide many options for the mobile browser. With cell-phones far out numbering computers, this user-base is one that is far too lucrative to pass up. It's time we developed our sites for the communication... more.. Does Google Have A Golden Rule? Does Google Have A Golden Rule? By Titus Hoskins (c) 2008 As a full-time webmaster and site owner, figuring out just what Google wants has been the most challenging aspect of running an online business. For many webmasters Google is the eight ton elephant in the room and you only have two options: upset the elephant and get trampled or quickly find out what it likes to consume and try to feed it. In order to keep Google fed, webmasters have to jump through more than one set of hoops. When it comes to getting top rankings in Google's Index or SERPs, there are 200 of these hoops or ranking factors. And if you want to play in Google's ballpark, you have to try and master the majority of them. For years, frustrated webmasters have been guessing and searching for these ranking factors. Asking what does Google want? How does Google rank pages and keywords? How does Google want you to build your site? Ten years ago it wouldn't have mattered what Google thought of your site for it wasn't even in the picture, but now when it comes to online search, Google is king of the hill. And as we all know, kings get whatever they want. Besides, any webmaster worth his salt, knows Google is what counts when it comes to organic traffic - you can achieve #1 spots for a keyword in all three top search engines (Yahoo and MSN being the other two light-weight contenders) but Google will simply deliver the most traffic to your site. Google doesn't as yet have a monopoly on web search, but it's getting close to... more.. Cracking the Google Adsense Code By Kim Roach Cracking the Google Adsense Code By Kim Roach (c) 2006 Google Adsense has empowered web publishers of all shapes and sizes to make money from their web sites. Whether you own a hobby site that gets 100 visitors per day or a popular finance portal that is flooded with millions of visitors per month, you can benefit from the Google Adsense program. Simply sign up for a free account, grab your Adsense code and paste it up on your website. Well, it sounds good anyway. In reality, that's not the whole story. Maximizing your adsense earnings requires a little more care. Fortunately, you can quickly increase your earnings by reading every word of this article. I will cover the basic necessities and also reveal advanced tips that you won't find on every digital corner. So, if you're looking to put more money in your pocket with a few tweaks of code, I urge you to read on. As you are reading, keep in mind that Google is actually one of the best resources for finding information on Adsense optimization. Think it's hard to believe that Google would give good advice? Well, it makes sense when you think about it. The more you make as a publisher, the more they will make. Google has a big incentive to help you perform well. Not to mention, they have tons of data to research what works best. So, for much of my research, I took quite a few tips from Google. But don't worry, there are also some advanced tips here that Google will probably never reveal to you. Most Effective Ad Formats In general, wider ad formats tend to outperform... more.. Google's New Patent Translated Google's New Patent Translated By Kim Roach (c) 2006 There is always great interest within the search engine marketing community whenever a search engine files for a patent. This is especially true for Google, which just recently released a new patent application - System and method for supporting editorial opinion in the ranking of search results. However, we must keep in mind that just because a patent has been applied for or granted, the search engines may or may not implement the patent within their primary search results. Nevertheless, these patents often do give us clues about what the search engines are looking for in a website. Some of Google's patents have given us insight into the influence of anchor text, fresh content, themes, data history, link popularity, user behavior, and domain-related information. However, Google's most recent patent application shows a shift from focusing on algorithm-based changes to the integration of a human editorial process. Ultimately, Google is striving to create the best possible search results for their visitors. This patent proposes one possible method for doing that. For the most part, search engine algorithms have reached their peak. We've known for quite some time now that an algorithm-based search engine can never permanently deliver excellent results. Why, you might ask. Simply because there will always be people out there trying to reverse-engineer the system. Therefore, a cat and mouse game is created. Out of this problem, a number of solutions have evolved. One of these is social search engines, which rank their results based on the wisdom of crowds. Another solution to arise from this problem is a human editorial process. And now, Google has proposed in their patent application a... more.. Read This Before You Submit to Web Directories Read This Before You Submit to Web Directories By Manish Shah (c) 2010 As the number of websites grow everyday, it is becoming increasingly difficult for a new site to attain good rankings on search engines. Since major search engines factor link popularity heavily into their ranking algorithms, building relevant links to your site is perhaps the single most important component of search engine optimization. For a new site with no, or few inbound links, buying text links on more established related sites could provide a boost to your link popularity. But this strategy could prove prohibitively expensive, especially in a highly competitive market where you'd have to buy lots of links to catch up with the competition. Web directory listings represent a viable alternative to link buying. Apart from driving traffic to your site through direct referrals, web directories provide one-way inbound links to your site, boosting your link popularity and ultimately improving your search rankings. There are thousands of web directories on the net, with dozens sprouting up every day. Some are general directories; others cater to specific niches. Some are free; others charge inclusion fees. Some are free only if you provide a reciprocal link in return. Many feature both free and paid listings. The main advantage of a paid listing is the luxury of having your site listed quickly above everybody else's. Free submissions may take several weeks or months for review. If you work on a limited budget, you may want to submit to a handful of paid directories and a few hundred free ones. Some directories charge inclusion fees that are too high for the listing to be cost effective. When considering a paid listing, look at not only the Google PageRank of the homepage of the directory, but... more.. Making Sense Of Website Statistics Making Sense Of Website Statistics By Paul J Coulter (c) 2007 Every website owner wants lots of traff?directed to their website, but this can sometimes involve spending a lot of time and mon? Fortunately, most website owners can ?rease their return on ?estment simply by paying closer attention to their website log files. Most website host? companies have special software installed that will process these website log files and display the information in an easy to read format. From this information website owners can get an understanding as to how many people are visiting the website, where the visitors are coming from, where they are entering and exiting the website, the average number of page views per visit, and many more interesting facts. These statistics will allow you to better analyze the effectiveness of promotional campaigns and give you some insight as to how you can tweak your website to ?rease your return on ?estment. "Hits" Explained There seems to be some confusion regarding the terms used to describe website visitor traff? We usually hear website owners speak in terms of "hits" to their website. Hits don't accurately describe the number of visitors viewing the website ? they are actually just any sort of HTTP request made to your server. Not only are requests made for website pages, but also for all the images and other files associated with viewing a single page. Therefore, one page view could actually result in dozens of hits, and, if a single user visits many pages on your website, this visit could generate hundreds or even thousands of hits. This can excite some website owners, but this number is not a... more.. Six Quick and Simple Ways to Dominate Google Rankings! Six Quick and Simple Ways to Dominate Google Rankings! By Mike Small (c) 2008 The reason Google is the most successful search engine in the world is because they provide the best search results; pages ranked by tangible value. That tangible value is a combination of content and links, with links being the more important factor (they assume any pages linking in will only link to good content or risk their own ranking.) Here are a few tips that will help you take full advantage of Google's love of linking... 1.) Link Deep and with Relevance So why is deeper better and what's this about relevance? Google figured out that a link to a homepage is only good if that homepage has the information the visitor needs. If a person clicks a link for "amaz? chocolate chip cookie recipe" and ends up on the home page, which has nothing of the sort, Google discounts it as a wasted link. On the other hand, if the link leads to the page containing info on the "Amaz? Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe," even five levels deep, the link has huge value to the visitor and to Google. Want some proof? You already have it if you've ever used Google's AdWords pay per cl? service. They will not even accept PAID links to pages that are not the most relevant for their visitors, regardless of what you are willing to pay per cl?. Now that's saying something! 2.) Use Absolute Links Internally It sounds complicated but it's not. Absolute links are those with a fixed full URL. There's another kind, called "relative" links that skip the... more.. organic makeup organic makeup   There is much to say about the organic makeup and how well it treats the face. Most of the people don't know about it due to the fact that they are too used to what they are frequently using and not on what is the best choice for their skin and bodies. This should be something worth considering as it can work well for one's skin health. The healthy side of the organic makeup Little do people know that the nonorganic makeup is damaging the skin slowly, but surely. This is because of the substances that are being using in their composition. That's why the appearance of side effects is so frequent and that's why more and more people that use such products find themselves in the position of having skin products. The organic makeup brings another side to this issue with the fact that its composition is naturally based. This changes the perspective completely as the organic products have a beneficial touch to the skin Another aspect that should be discussed here refers to the idea of problem solving. Usually the cosmetics are designed to resolve a problem that the skin has and make it better. The nonorganic products are a little bit different from the organic ones, judging from this perspective. They are designed to cover the surface and not take care of the deeper side of the problem. The organic makeupmore.. Your Guide to Top Search Engine Rankings Your Guide to Top Search Engine Rankings By Trent Brownrigg (c) 2006 Does it seem like no matter what you do your website just won't climb up in the search engine rankings? If so, your web site may not be optimized well enough for the search engines to increase your rankings. There are some very important factors that determine where web sites are ranked. These factors are referred to as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques and they can make all the difference in your site's rankings. Here are some of the most important factors that the search engines use in determining your rankings: 1. Web Site Content Content on your site is one of the most important factors for successful search engine optimization. Your web site should provide valuable information on specific subjects relevant to your web site. Furthermore, your content should be updated regularly. It's not enough to just put up a few content pages full of information on your site and then nev?add to it. This is a continuous process that will help your search engine rankings if done correctly. It's also important that you don't try to trick the search engines by flooding them with multiple versions of the same page, repeating the same content over and over. Doing that will not help your rankings and will eventually lead to your site getting banned from the search engines. 2. Link Popularity Inbound links are very important for achieving high search engine rankings. Most of the search engines today regard link popularity as one of the most significant determinants of your website's rankings. Here are some of the best ways... more.. How to Reduce the Pain of Switching Domains How to Reduce the Pain of Switching Domains By Ross Dunn (c) 2007 Transferring traff?and popularity to a new domain is a painstaking process that no one on the web appears to be immune to, or so Topix.net has realized. Topix.net is a leading news aggregation resource that has been in the news lately because they are planning to move their site from Topix.net to Topix.com after purchasing the .com for a cool million from a Canadian animation company. The Wall Street Journal wrote this article explaining how damaging a seemingly simple process of switching from .net to .com could be for Topix LLC. The author goes on to explain such a switch is usually fraught with ranking drops while the major search engines notice and respond to the changeover. The fact that switching addresses will cause problems is not news in the SEO world; however, I thought Topix.net's situation was a great opportun? to review what one might expect when switching domains. Switching Shingles Switching a domain is tantamount to changing physical locations and it should be treated just as seriously. The following are the steps to take and consider when switching domains: 1. You must install a site wide 301 (permanent redirect) on your old domain to forward all human traff?to the new domain and inform search engine spiders that your website has permanently moved to a new location. For information on how to implement a 301 redirect here is a great tutorial. 2. Google is the biggest player and likely the most significant driver of traff?to your website. Keeping that in mind you will want to notify Google of your... more.. Google Caffeine - A Taste Test Google Caffeine - A Taste Test By Kalena Jordan (c) 2009 Earlier this month, Google invited the public to take their next generation of web search, code named Caffeine, for a test drive. The new search infrastructure is the beginning of Google's advance towards improving indexing speed and scale as the size of the web grows increasingly cumbersome. Google is seeking feedback on the changes from experienced users and web developers by making Caffeine available via a web developer preview. From the official blog post: "It's the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions. The new infrastructure sits 'under the hood' of Google's search engine, which means that most users won't notice a difference in search results. But web developers and power searchers might notice a few differences." What Is It? According to Matt Cutts of Google, Caffeine is essentially a rewrite of the search index and it roughly compares with the Big Daddy index of late 2005 / 2006. In other words, it's a BIG change to Google search. Here's a couple of grabs from Mike McDonald's video interview with Matt Cutts on the subject: "We're shooting to get results identical to previous version. We'll open up a few datacenters with it first and then roll it out." "Caffeine will be more powerful, flexible and robust - allowing Google to index faster." "(Caffeine) builds a powerful foundation for including any changes we want to do with indexing. Not so much for taking advantage of semantic, real-time indexing, but for getting good infrastructure in place for growth and unlock more power." "Webmasters shouldn't be concerned. Caffeine does not affect your... more.. How To Tap Into Massive Sources of Traff?With Virtually No Competition! How To Tap Into Massive Sources of Traff?With Virtually No Competition! By Jack Humphrey (c) 2006  Tale Chaser Publishing, Inc. Things haven't been this perfect for a long time. In fact, not since one of the big engines really started to take off, when those who were lucky enough to be already seated firmly in the Top 10 for their keywords, has there been such a plethora of new traff?opportunities. The internet marketing world has become multi-dimensional in ways that are surprising to most people who are still hooked on search engine marketing as their sole website promotion strategy. Here are the new avenues of traff?that most people are NOT taking advantage of outside of the big companies and a handful of savvy marketers: 1. Podcasting While it was "the word of the year" for 2005, most people still have no idea what Podcasting is really about outside of being able to download music at iTunes.com. And, frankly, it's because the... more.. Should Small Businesses Invest In SEO During A Recession? Should Small Businesses Invest In SEO During A Recession? By Mike Tekula (c) 2008 These are tough times, no doubt. The pinch is on every business to cut unnecessary costs and improve efficiency. Those businesses that were squeaking by to begin with are now in danger of closing their doors. Advertising is usually one of the first items on the chopping block (though it shouldn't be). You've got to cut costs, and you certainly don't want to lay off any employees if you can help it, so you start looking a bit more closely at your marketing budget to see where you can rein in ad spending. It's a natural reaction to a tightening budget, and there is a good reason for it. Most business owners know that you need to advertise. Sure, word of mouth is great - there's nothing like a referral from a happy client to instill trust in a prospect - but you still need to be proactive in getting the word out. The trouble with advertising in the traditional sense is that it is difficult to know whether your efforts are working and what is generating the best value for your dollar. The uncertainty makes it hard to keep throwing money into your ad spend. When your budget tightens it is even harder to justify the cost when the benefits are fuzzy at best. But marketing on the web is different. The costs are lower, return on investment can be much higher and traffic data allows you to chop out the dead wood and optimize your budget. Search engines are a primary driver of traffic on the web... more.. 10 Key Tips on Choosing the Best Hosting Package 10 Key Tips on Choosing the Best Hosting Package By Amy Armitage (c) 2008 This is not exactly a "top 10" l?, as all of the following things could easily be listed as the most important consideration. Individuals, small companies and big corporations all need to consider the same things when choosing a hosting package. The overall "tip" here is that you need to get accurate information to make comparisons among hosts. Therefore, each individual tip is another, separate aspect of the hosting relationship that you need to investigate. You should take them all seriously. 1. Traffic ("data transfer" or "bandwidth") - These terms refer to the amount of information, measured in bytes, that is delivered from your website to visitors. Although you will hear about "unl?ted bandwidth", check to see if the same terminology used for marketing purposes is reflected in the contract. In other words, read the contract before signing on the dotted line. Unless you will be uploading photo archives or using your site to swap large files, your small- to mid-size website should normally use no more than 3GB of bandwidth monthly. Watch out for "overage" charges (per additional GB, usually) and consider upgrading your account if the site traffic increases. 2. Disk space - Apply the same skeptical approach to the "unl?ted disk space" deals, as you did to the claims about traffic above. Again, the majority of small to mid-size sites need 10-20MB of web space at most, so unless 500MB or "unl?ted space" is part of the basic package, don't bite. You can easily determine how much storage you need by... more.. Web Development Los Angeles Web Development Los Angeles Does a 50 year company need a Web Development Los Angeles service in order to expand the approach in the online environment? Or it's a simple fad that has come with the new businesses and the traditional ones don't actually need it? The reality is that the internet opens up a lot of gates and the power that comes with mastering this environment is quite incomparable. There is a need for the Web Development Los Angeles services First of all, let's talk about how a business promotes itself on the internet. It really depends on the business and the profile that it has. Another factor that is of great importance here refers to the idea of reaching out to your potential target without having to go door to door. These are only the basics of the internet and the reasons why a business should choose this environment in order to make real profit. But where does the Web Development Los Angeles services come in? Why do people need them and not handle things on their own? There are still many subtle details that can be handled when promoting a business here. That's why there is need for the expertise of such a service and that's why the new businesses have so much success. They use the knowledge and the resources that they have in order to have a head start and be in the spotlight before the other businesses. People need to take into consideration that if they are able to sell their brand in the online environment they are basically hitting it everywhere. There have been many businesses... more.. Web Development Los Angeles Web Development Los Angeles   What are the Web Development Los Angeles services and how can they help a business in these harsh times that the world is living today. There are many different opinions on this matter, as some agree to the use of such services, others think that it's a waste of time. The reality is that, with the proper knowledge, things can only go up. The rise of the Web Development Los Angeles services First of all, people need to take into consideration two aspects. One refers to the idea that the online environment is one of the most powerful tools there is when it comes to reaching your potential audience. The other one refers to the fact that it's a lot cheaper to invest in this area rather than use any other forms of publicity. These aspects cannot be contested by anyone. This is one of the best arguments in favor of the Web Development Los Angeles services. Another great issue in this matter here is linked with the idea of being unique. Such services encourage their clients to be as unique as possible when it comes to showing off on the market. There are so many competitors available out there, that it makes it hard for one to come up with other concepts in their business. The Web Development Los Angeles services talk about... more.. 25 Ways to Add Quality Content to Your Web Site (Part 1) 25 Ways to Add Quality Content to Your Web Site (Part 1) . . . Using ideas that cover at least 25 different industries! By Robin Nobles We've known for a long time that quality matters to Google. In a post Senior Google Engineer Matt Cutts made to his blog, "quality" was mentioned several times as being important to Google. Quality matters when it comes to content, and it matters when it comes to links. However, building content and links doesn't have to be painful. Web site owners tend to think of content in a very limited way. So, let's open up our creative minds and think of all sorts of ways of adding quality content to a Web site. A few things to remember: You're only confined by the boundaries you set for yourself and your Web site. Allow yourself to think in a totally different way than you've thought before. Your Web site content should be written for your buying customers . . . not for you. Your Web site content should not be written for the search engines. The search engines are not your target audience. Think of the overall picture of your site, as if it were a living, breathing entity. After all, Web sites should continue to grow on a constant basis and nev?be stale or stagnant. Let's Get into the Fun Stuff: Quality Content for Your Target Audience 1. A calendar of events. This is ideal for sites like real estate sites to show upcoming open houses; book stores to promote upcoming book signings or writers' meetings; collectors' sites to show meetings across the country, etc. Be sure to allow visitors... more.. Relationship Marketing for the 21st Century Relationship Marketing for the 21st Century By Karen Saunders (c) 2010 Quick! Answer this question: What do you think of when you hear the term "relationship marketing"? If the only things that came to mind were your local business networking group, local chamber of commerce, or service club, you might not be aware of new strategies in 21st century relationship marketing. There is nothing wrong with any of these organizations, but if your relationship marketing efforts begin and end with them, you are not only operating under the old rules of relationship marketing, you are stuck in the 20th century. 21st century relationship marketing makes active use of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 and Social Media Only a few years ago, social media was something most people thought of as a tool for teenagers and college students. That has changed. Facebook now has more than 80 million active users and the fastest growing demographic of Facebook users is the over-25 age group. If that didn't make you sit up and take note, it should have. Your customers and potential customers probably have a computer and probably have high speed Internet access. And if they are not already using social media of some kind, just give it a few months. They will be. Think you are immune? How did you access this article? There is a good chance you came to it online. The communication mogul of the 21st century is the World Wide Web and the tools that make it work have advanced so much in such a short time that the buzz is now about Web 2.0. What is Web 2.0? No, you don't need to throw out your year-old computer or buy new software. Web... more.. Google Reveals More Linking Secrets To Webmasters Google Reveals More Linking Secrets To Webmasters By Titus Hoskins (c) 2008 One of the most problematic and confusing issues most webmasters have with Google concerns linking. How your links are ranked? How you should link out? How you should construct your internal links? How you should get more inbound links? How many links should you have on a page? And the l? of questions goes on... Perhaps, the most annoying aspect for the struggling webmaster, has been Google's secrecy in how it actually ranks links and pages. Google's whole PageRank and Ranking Algorithm is so complex that no one can fully boast they understand how the whole system works. Google's ranking secrecy and complexity has probably been well-planned mainly because there are mill?s of webmasters who would like to "game" the Google Algorithm and achieve high keyword rankings through manipulation with so-called "black-hat" SEO techniques and reverse engineering. Wouldn't it be ironic if this whole secrecy and complexity is more of a smokescreen rather than an actual deception on Google's part. What if the keys to the kingdom are actually yours for the taking? What if the solution is hiding in plain sight for everyone to see? What if the secret to high rankings in Google is not a secret at all? Wouldn't that be a hoot! Actually, that's not a far-fetched assumption to make, mainly because many of Google's linking policies and recommendations are freely given by Google. Whether you can believe Google is actually giving you the goods is another issue that we'll put on the back-burner for another day; but for now, Google's advice on link building is rather generous... more.. Do You Really Need To Come In First Place? Do You Really Need To Come In First Place? By Erin Ferree (c) 2008 When I was in 6th grade, track and field was all the rage. I've never been particularly athletic. But it was 1984 and everyone in my class was pretty fascinated with the Olympics that year. As you can imagine the school's annual track meet turned into a mini-Olympics. So I surveyed the events and the sign-ups for each one. I decided that the long-distance running events held the most promise for glory. The 2 mile, in particular, only had 2 other girls signed up - so I was pretty much assured a "medal". That sounded pretty exciting. Maybe I could go for the gold! However, watching the other events leading up to the 2-mile, I soon learned that one of the other girls was a seasoned runner. She knew all about pacing, how many minutes she should be able to run a mile in, and all that fancy stuff. At that point, I knew that first place was pretty much done for. I barely knew how many laps around the track I had to run. I ran the race anyway and wound up coming in second - which was just fine by me. It's not all about winn? - a place or a show can be just fine. Whenever I talk to a client about search engine placement, this track meet comes into mind. The client comes to me wanting to be Number 1 for their chosen search term. But for many small businesses, being ranked first is not truly that important - and depending on the search term, being... more.. Current and Future Search Trends: Search Trends, What the Top Internet Search Engines Are Doing By Scott Buresh (c) 2007 Medium Blue 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 frontrunner 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.  Universal Search In May 2007, Google ? the leader among top Internet search engines -- got people talking (again) when it rolled out its latest search concept, Universal Search. Universal Search was Google's attempt to create a single page of search results, rather than separate pages for types of results, such as videos, images, maps, and websites. When it was first introduced, many search engine optimization firms raced around exclaiming that this was one of those search trends that would change everything and that new optimization rules should be created and followed immediately. I published an article in early 2007 in which I noted, "The problem with Universal Search is that it can muddy the results, and it can also introduce irrelevant results that a searcher cannot use."[1] I also wrote, "Clearly, Universal Search will change how an SEO campaign is run if it catches on. But this is a real if - users' search habits are hard to... more.. 10 Great Businesses to Start in 2011 10 Great Businesses to Start in 2011 By Zeke Camusio (c) 2010 Do you want to start a new business but don't have any great ideas? Well, that's great, because I have too many ideas but not enough time to start a business for each idea I have. So, in this blog post I'll share 10 great startup ideas. Just so you know, this is not a l? of "leftover" ideas that I'm giving away because I don't believe in them; I'd start these businesses myself in a blink if I had the time. Unfortunately, I'm involved in five startups at the moment, so these ideas are for you to take. If you start any of these businesses, let me know. I'll be your first customer. A Service that Allows Hotels and Airlines to Sell their Empty Rooms/Seats The Problem: The cost of flying a plane from Denver to New York is almost the same whether the plane is full or there's just one passenger on it. If an airline gets $50 for a seat that was selling for $200 the night before, it's not great for them, but it's a lot better than not getting anything. Same thing for hotels: every night that a hotel has an empty room, that's money that they're leaving on the table. The Solution: What if there was a service that allowed people to place bids on hotel rooms and flights? Airlines and hotels could secr?y accept the bids at the last minute. For example, let's say I want to go to Europe for a month. I'm willing to pay... more.. Social Media Marketing Doesn't Replace SEO Social Media Marketing Doesn't Replace SEO By Jill Whalen (c) 2010 Looking at the latest search marketing conference agendas, articles, and online news in the SEM space, it certainly appears that social media marketing and networking are the wave of the future. To a certain extent, they are. Social media, and social networking in particular, create a back-and-forth conversation with your target audience, so you can virally market your website through the "buzz" that can be created. When something interesting, cool, or unique is being talked about in "all the right places," it can certainly provide a boost in website traffic. We search marketers tend to hang out in numerous online and offline communities where it's easy to promote our own products and services, yet I can't help wondering if our view of Web marketing is skewed because of this. Are potential B2B clients and even B2C customers spending time at Digg? Do they attend SEM conferences in order to hire a company, or are they just trying to learn to do it themselves? And what about other industries? Is there a Sphinn equivalent for developers of product lifecycle management software? Are there groups of people online comparing the various brands of auto parts? Are there really people seeking out articles on these topics? Perhaps. And if so, we'd be remiss not to promote our clients' websites in those spaces. But is this search marketing? Or is it simply marketing? Arguably, it becomes search marketing when it increases link popularity, but surely that should be the secondary goal of this type of marketing campaign. True link popularity comes from having something worth linking to, not something you've asked your insulated circle of cronies to link to. more.. Google: Judge, Jury and Executioner? Google: Judge, Jury and Executioner? By Sasch Mayer (c) 2007 Your website has gone from being in the Google search results for several years to not even being included in Google's index. What Happened to My Site? As another user quite rightly pointed out, this is by far the most commonly asked question in the Google webmaster help group. Which is to say; "My web site was ranking very well up until recently, but has now dropped in the results or disappeared from the Google index altogether." Although the comment about this question's frequency was initially made as part of a post highlighting the need for a properly structured FAQ section, it eventually prompted a heated debate regarding Google's sp@m report and penalty system which raised a few interesting points of its own. What happened? I generally spend a few hours a week taking part in discussions and lending the occasional helping hand at the Google Webmaster Help group, a forum set up to help address the problems and technical queries of frustrated webmasters, designers and SEOs with regards to anything from site verification to indexing & crawling; in fact, just about any Google related issue imaginable. Populated by a colourful mix of regular characters and part-time contributors from across the globe as well as more than a few of Google's own staff, it acts as a kind of front-line support forum which has thus far attracted a membership of over 16,000. Indeed, this article is the result of one particular discussion thread which caught my eye this afternoon. Persecuted by... more.. 7 Words That Will Make Your Website Worth Viewing 7 Words That Will Make Your Website Worth Viewing By Jerry Bader (c) 2009 Seven. It's just a number like any other, but it does seem to come up on a fairly regular basis. There's the Seven Wonders of the World, The Seven Deadly Sins, and the Seven Dwarfs: Happy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful, Doc, Dopey, and my personal favorite, Grumpy. Phone numbers are seven digits, and they say the optimum brand name should be no more than seven letters long. Seven it seems is a magical number, as the average human brain can only grasp seven things at a time. Interesting, my wife says I've got trouble with two, never mind seven, but that's another story. So I've been thinking, what are the seven most important words associated with Web-marketing. I'll give you a hint: Search, Engine, and Optimization don't make the cut. So what words do make the l?? What are the seven words that will make your website worth viewing? Words Can Move You By someone's count there are 171,476 entries in the Oxford English Dictionary, plus another 47,156 words that have fallen out of favor. This of course doesn't count the 9,500 additional permutations, that don't deserve their own special attention. Fifty percent of these words are nouns, twenty-five percent are adjectives, and 14.285% are verbs, with the rest made up of all those other things, the purpose of which most of us have long since forgotten. Others may find fault with these numbers, but no matter what the total, it's a lot of words. Of the several hundred thousand words to choose from, the average person recognizes less... more.. How Marketers Can Use Yahoo Pipes to Increase Their Online Sales How Marketers Can Use Yahoo Pipes to Increase Their Online Sales By Rok Hrastnik While RSS end-user adoption has been relatively slow, marketers have jumped at the chance to use this new internet channel ?rease their online sal? If you're new to the world of RSS --- RSS is a simple technology that allows you to deliver your online content directly to your subscribers, other websites and the search engines. It helps you improve your content delivery, as well as ?rease your online traff?and reach, and even conduct business intelligence more easily. RSS content is delivered through so-called RSS feeds, which are just simple files that carry your online content. Each of these simple files containts multiple "stories" that you may want to deliver to your audiences, called "content items". A content item can be anything ? an article, a blog post, a whole newsletter issue, a sal?letter and so on. But there is more to RSS than simply getting your content out. One of the fields of RSS marketing is also NewsMastering, which allows you to: [a] take multiple third-party RSS feeds, [b] mix them together, [c] filter your new mix using various keywords that you're interested in, [d] use the mix and your filters to create a new stream of content, pulling together all the content items from dozens or hundreds of other RSS feeds ? but only the content items that match your filters. You can now take this stream of content and either subscribe to it yourself, if for example you want to find out immediately what the market is saying about you, what it's saying about your competitors, and what your competitors are doing themselves.... more.. A Perfect Link A Perfect Link By Sharon Housley (c) 2008 Webmasters are given the advice that they must attract links, but the key is not just to attract links... they need to attract good links. But what is the perfect link? The search for the perfect link need not be a quest in vain. Consider the following when attempting to attract links... 1. Related The best links should come from related websites which contain similar and related content but not the same type of material or content. For example: A link for baby clothing would benefit from a link that discusses baby care. 2. Anchor The anchor text (the "text" that is used in the link) should include keywords that relate to the topic covered on the web page that is being linked to. Anchor text should be varied; links that all have the same anchor text will appear manipulated and contrived to the search engines. Therefore, the text links should contain a variety of related words. 3. Deep Link The links should direct visitors to a related page within the website. Do not make the mistake of directing all of the web links to a website's home page. Deep linking, and directing visitors to material that corresponds to content that is closely related to the text link is key. Deep linking appears more natural to search engines, whereas links directing all visitors to a single page or the home page seem unnatural, and could be interpreted as an effort to manipulate search engine ranking. 4. Domain And Page Authority Search engines trust some websites more than others. Links from "authority" websites... more.. Google Sitemaps Explained - How To Use Google Sitemaps Google Sitemaps Explained - How To Use Google Sitemaps By Titus Hoskins (c) 2006 Three Ways To Index Your Site With Google Sitemaps [Difficult, Hard, And Easy] Google has recently implemented a program where any webmaster can create a Sitemap of their Site and submit it for indexing by Google. It is a quick and easy way for you to keep your site constantly indexed and updated in Google. The program is appropriately called Google Sitemaps. In order for you to best use Sitemaps, you must have an XML generated file on your site that will transmit or send any updates, changes, and data to Google. XML (Extensible Markup Language) is everywhere these days, you have probably seen the orange XML logo on many web sites and its often associated with Blogging because Blogs use XML/RSS feeds to syndicate their content. Today RSS is known mostly as 'Really Simple Syndication' but its original acronym stood for 'Rich Site Summary'. XML is only simple code like HTML and it is used to syndicate your content to all interested parties. And the interested party in this case is Google. By creating Sitemaps Google is really asking webmasters to take charge of the indexing and updating of their sites. Basically, doing the Googlebot's job! This is a 'Good' thing! With the steady influx of new web sites growing rapidly, indexing all this material will become a challenge, even with the resources of Google. With Sitemaps, webmasters can now take charge and make sure their site is crawled and indexed. Please note, indexing your site with Sitemaps WON'T improve your rankings in Google. You will still be competing with the other sites... more.. Getting Your Site's SEO Right Getting Your Site's SEO Right By Titus Hoskins (c) 2010 You simply must get the SEO part right. Mainly because proper SEO (Search Engine Optimization) will boost your chances of obtaining those all important top rankings in the search engines. Besides, a well optimized site or page, will go a long way in weathering any abrupt changes on the web. Google Instant is a perfect example of how things can change overnight. While it didn't change SEO per se, it did change how people use Google and how the results are shown. Searchers don't get the same chance to type in their long-tail keyword phrases because they are constantly and instantly being bombarded by suggested links... so much so that getting those top positions for shorter root keywords has gotten more important and this has increased everybody's competition because those popular shorter keywords have always been the most competitive. Probably every webmaster or online marketer knows that in order to get top rankings in the search engines you have to have quality one-way backlinks from other high ranked keyword-related sites. This will more than likely be the main determining ranking factor for most search engines, especially the all important Google. You simply need good quality one-way links and plenty of them to rank high. However, there are many more SEO factors which come into play, especially if you're in a very competitive niche and targeting highly cherished lucrative keyword phrases which bring in the revenue. Then in these competitive situations, you must get all your SEO ducks lined up proper, if you want to be a player. Some of... more.. RTA Cabinets Ventura RTA Cabinets Ventura What are the RTA Cabinets Ventura services and why is it important for home owners to be aware of them? The answer to these questions lies in the need that people have to search for kitchen furniture. There are many choices that are available out there and some of these choices are designed to be in the best interest of the customer. The interest of the RTA Cabinets Ventura services First of all, people need to get acquainted with what RTA means. It is an acronym for the words: ready to assemble. This means that the RTA cabinets Ventura models are designed to help the client with the order that he has placed and not waste valuable time on crafting the cabinets on his own. The process is quite simple and it takes a small amount of time for a client to admire the newly bought cabinets in his own kitchen. The very first thing that one should do if interested in the RTA cabinets Ventura models is to log online and find the best model that suits his needs, his style and taste and his pockets. There are models which are designed to go with futuristic styles and there are some which are available for the houses that have a more antique design. It really depends on the tastes of the clients and on what he or she wants for his home. After figuring out which is the best choice for his kitchen, the client needs to... more.. Google Algorithm Changes, Some Farm Aid for the Afflicted Google Algorithm Changes, Some Farm Aid for the Afflicted By Jill Whalen (c) 2011 By now you've surely heard of the recent Google algorithm changes dubbed the "Farmer Update." According to Google, about 12% of search queries were impacted by this update. The SISTRIX blog provided additional insight by posting the top 25 websites that overnight stopped showing up inGoogle for numerous keywords. I was interested in learning about this update, and SISTRIX was kind enough to share their big list of over 300 sites that have had deep traff?losses. In addition, I've had various people send me their sites to look at. I hoped to analyze the data to spot similarities between the sites that got hit so that I could understand the specific factors Google used when deciding which pages to nuke. As you can imagine, there was a lot of data to sort through and I feel as if I've only just gotten started. However, I do have some preliminary findings to share with you as quickly as possible. Please note that just because I noticed similar things on sites that got hit, it doesn't mean those things were the cause of the loss of Google traffic. It's far too easy to make assumptions and mix up cause and effect in nearly every aspect of SEO. So I caution you to treat the information I'm providing, as what it is -- preliminary findings that make me go "Hmmm." Also note that I've barely had enough time to look at the potential on-page factors that might be causing issues,... more.. 20 Simple Ways To Get Massive Traffic To Your Web Site 20 Simple Ways To Get Massive Traffic To Your Web Site By Penny Sansevieri (c) 2008 Embarking on an Internet marketing campaign doesn't have to be difficult, tricky, or complicated. Here are a few simple ways (twenty in fact) that you can easily implement to get tons of traffic to your site right now! 1) Write articles: believe it or not this is an incredible tool for driving traffic. Well-written, relevant articles can net quite a bit of activity to your web site. Don't forget to add your URL in your byline. Articles should be 500 to 2,000 words in length. You can send articles to sites like: Article City, GoArticles, Submit Your Articles and Ezine Articles. 2) Social bookmark *everything* - and I do mean everything - you can bookmark each page of your site and each blog entry you post. While this might seem tedious, it's worth it. You'll see a strong increase in traffic if you social bookmark each page on your site and each of your blog entries. 3) List yourself in the best directories ? you'll have to pay for this but since most people don't do this (since everyone's looking for a freebie) you could really enhance your traffic by getting a listing: dir dot yahoo dot com, business dot org, botw dot org. 4) Get yourself listed at: DMOZ dot org ? it's not easy to get listed there, but worth the effort. 5) Review: if you can review hot new products or books within your market, head on over to Amazon and start positioning yourself as an... more.. SEO Tips: Get More Traffic with these 10 Important Inbound Links SEO Tips: Get More Traffic with these 10 Important Inbound Links By Donna Gunter (c) 2010 Don't overlook your inbound linking strategy as you think about search engine optimization for your site. An inbound link is a hyperlink back to your site from another web site. The one constant and reliable strategy in search engine optimization is that sites with a variety of high quality backlinks rank higher in the search engine results pages. Why are these links to your site important? They can can...     ? bring potential customers to your site when they click on the link     ? boost the number of visitors to your web site     ? dramatically improve your search engine rankings Even though there are software packages on the market that help automate the linking process, use them sparingly, if at all. The only way to succeed in linking strategies is (aside from creating useful content that will encourage inbound links) by manually creating the links. That's a hard fact to swallow, given how I like to automate as much of my marketing as I can. Here are the 10 most important inbound links you must have to your site: 1. Directory Links Directories are indexes of online sites, typically organized by category. Links back to your site from directories like Yahoo Directory and DMOZ.org are very valuable. DMOZ.org is edited by human editors, and while it's free, it may take awhile for your site to be added. Getting added to Yahoo's Directory costs $299/year. 2. Press Releases If you're writing press releases, make sure they are optimized for keywords that someone would use to find a business like yours and include links back to your site, as well. Once written, you can have your press... more.. Your Website Does not Need A Traditional Call To Action Your Website Does not Need A Traditional Call To Action By Jerry Bader (c) 2008 The other day I received two emails, both with the same question, why didn't we have a direct call to action on our website? Sales people are taught, you always need 'a call to action,' a request to act or lose the opportun? of a lifetime. I'm sure you've seen the infomercials, website presentations, online direct market? come-ons, and even high-pressure seminar and tradeshow presentations that will never be repeated, so you better act now. You're familiar with the language used: "act now and we'll send you two pieces of junk you don't need, but wait there's more, call in the next ten minutes and we'll add a third useless item." Does any intelligent person really respond to this kind of pitch, and what self-respecting business would actually behave in this manner? The fact is, if you sell something of value at a reasonable price, and you treat your customers with some respect, you will get your share of business. You may not get all the business, nobody does, but the business you do get, will result in more satisfied customers, more word-of-mouth referrals, and ultimately more sales. High-pressure tactics, and demands for instant commitment, frighten off as many potential clients as they ensnare. Lies and Statistics Statistically it may be true that if someone leaves your website without ordering, the chances of them returning to order are low, but as Shakespeare's Cassius said, "the fault, dear Brutus lies not in the stars, but in ourselves." The problem is NOT the customer; it's what you're saying, how... more.. Twitter Demystified for Business Users Twitter Demystified for Business Users By Nancy McCord (c) 2009 Twitter is the current top "hot property" on the Web, but its popularity and how to use it has mystified many business owners. Many people think that they want to, or should be using Twitter, but simply do not understand the platform, its use, or its place in building web exposure. This article will demystify Twitter and help you to learn how to use it in the workplace and to promote your business. First, I have to say that I had been confused on how to use Twitter to benefit my own business until I downloaded TweetDeck. TweetDeck is a desktop application that allows you to review and post status updates on Twitter and Facebook simultaneously. I consider it a "must have" application for anyone who wants to make sense of Twitter. TweetDeck allows you to sort the people you follow on Twitter into groups, allows you to limit the number of Tweets (Twitter micro posts) to be shown at any time, and also allows you to discard all Tweets you have seen with one click. Additionally, using TweetDeck, finally a Twitter search on a topic makes sense. Since using TweetDeck, I have had a much better Twitter experience. As a Twitter newbie, visiting your Twitter home page is intimidating; it consists of post after post from people who you are following, who you may not know much about, and it just seems like a huge volume of content. To get started effectively first group the people who actually have something interesting to say on TweetDeck and voila, you have a powerful tool that keeps you at the forefront... more.. Social Media Optimization -Shifting the Landscape of Search Engine Marketing Social Media Optimization -Shifting the Landscape of Search Engine Marketing By Julie Ann Ross (c) 2009 Social media optimization (SMO) is an important ingredient within your SEO and SEM campaigns. In the past, social networking sites were not much more than an oddity. Today, many have received enormous ranking authority from top search engines. If you are not leveraging these sites to improve your exposure and communicate with your niche consumer, your search engine positions are vulnerable to your competitors. In this article, we will describe the influence that SMO currently has on search engine marketing. We will also give you the rules of engagement for executing an effective social media optimization campaign. We'll explain what SEO social media is, and the advantages of hiring an experienced SEO consultant to spearhead your social media optimization efforts. The Influence Of Social Media Optimization On Search Marketing Search marketing has always relied upon exposure in the search engines to drive targeted traff? For years, gaining that exposure was based solely upon the development of your site and generating links pointing to your site. Both are still important today. However, social media optimization has shifted the landscape of search marketing. Google once maintained several disparate search platforms for blogs, videos, news, and similar types of "social" content. Each functioned as a separate search engine with its own set of organic listings. A few years ago, Google blended the listings from each platform into a system called Universal Search. Bing and Yahoo have since incorporated similar systems. Universal Search is now used as the primary index. That means blogs, videos, and news have been incorporated into the natural listings, pushing many sites off the first page. This is... more.. ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles   There are many different opinions regarding the ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles models and how they are or aren't beneficial to the people. Some say that it's great to have things done and ready at your doorstep, but others contradict with the idea that the possibilities from which you can choose are quite limited. There are still other details that should be highlighted here in order to determine which side is right. The right side of the ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles services First of all, the matter of tastes cannot be discussed: if someone likes something, he or she cannot be argued about his choice. It's just how the way things are and that's that. But the relevant part here is the fact that the ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles models are designed to satisfy even the most extravagant of tastes. There are so many models, textures and colors that can be chosen for a kitchen, that it takes some serious hours to pick something up. Another great aspect about the ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles models and its diversities is that they suite almost any style that the other side of the house might have. This means that if you have a futuristic influenced home, you can choose something that best fits with... more.. Advertising in RSS Feeds Advertising in RSS Feeds By Sharon Housley   As publishers have moved towards monetizing RSS feeds, there have been vibrant discussions as to whether advertisements in feeds are viable or whether they will drive subscribers away. At the end of the day while it appears that many are discussing the philosophical approaches to ads in RSS feeds few are taking the time to examine the options available for inserting advertisements in feeds. Ultimately the advertisements served are going to determine the success of RSS as an advertising medium. The ads served must be related to the content contained in the feed. If the RSS feed contains quality content, the ads are relevant, and the volume of ads is in balance with the volume of content served, advertising in RSS feeds will succeed. Take a closer look at some of the ad serving options currently available for RSS feeds. Review of Current Options Google AdSense for Feeds Google's AdSense for Feeds offers contextually targeted advertisements, with a wide selection of advertisers. Google chooses not to divulge the percentage of revenue that is shared with the publisher, so it is... more.. Medical Billing Software Medical Billing Software What are the benefits of a Medical Billing Software? When trying to answer this question, we can come across various aspects of why a medical facility or hospital should have such a system implemented in their networks. Trying to understand the Medical Billing Software First of all, people should take into consideration the fact that time is of the essence here. Imagine a critical situation when a doctor needs the information on a patient in a very small amount of time. A Medical Billing Software will give the doctor the possibility to get to the needed information in time. This is possible because the system has a number of filters available, making it possible for the needed information to be reached in time. Secondly, we should surely talk about the amount of space that is speared when using the Medical Billing Software. Here you should take into consideration the fact that the old system was based on drawers and files. It took a lot of time to search for the desired information and as proven above time is of the essence. Imagine a situation when a doctor needs to administrate a substance to a patient in a critical situation and he needs to find out if he or she is allergic to such a substance. This is where the efficiency of the Medical Billing Software system: it takes a small amount of time to access the data for a... more.. Does Your Website Need a Magic Act? Does Your Website Need a Magic Act? By Jerry Bader (c) 2008 In preparation for an initial meeting with a new client, we were asked to preview their website to see if we could come-up with some ideas for re-branding the company, and invigorating product sales. The client was suitably impressed with our thoughts but there was one problem, the product line that we stressed was not the focus of the company. The client explained that despite the fact most of their current website was devoted to a particular product line, it was not the product that differentiated them from the competition, nor was it the product that made them the most money. Once this was explained our entire focus shifted, and we were able to develop a website concept, and webmedia presentation that focused attention where it belonged. The experience drove home the fact that many websites confuse potential customers by inadvertently leading audiences down the wrong path, hindering profitable sales rather than promoting them. Pick A Card, Any Card Most companies sell a variety of products or services, but they are not all created equal, some are more important, and more profitable than others. At the heart of any website design project is the underlying goal of attracting attention, and directing that attention to the product, service, or concept that is being marketed. In that regard, an effective website sales presentation is a lot like a magic act. The PsyBlog, Understand Your Mind, recently published an article entitled, "Psychology of Magic: 3 Critical Techniques," in which they reported that the Association for Scientific Study of Consciousness held a conference called... more.. kitchen cabinets Los Angeles kitchen cabinets Los Angeles The kitchen cabinets Los Angeles service has become quite famous for the way it approaches their potential clients and the way it provides the service. Many companies are interested into catching their clients in a net, but there are others who are interested into building up a relationship with their clients in order for both to best benefit from this relationship. What's new with the kitchen cabinets Los Angeles services? People are always comfortable with their lives and that is why many companies and businesses develop services and items that don't take the clients out of their comfort zone. In this way, both sides are quite happy. When talking about the kitchen cabinets Los Angeles services and why are they so famous, this is the most relevant argument that comes to mind: the fact that the cabinets are designed and transported right at the doorstep of the client. This means that he or she won't lose much of his time running around from store to store in order to find what is needed. Furthermore, the service is designed in such a way, that the user can place the order on the internet and simply wait for the magic to take place. It might seem a little bit ordinary for a company to be in the online environment alongside with the "offline" one. This is because of the fact that many businesses have discovered the benefits of using the internet for their business. Why are the kitchen cabinets Los Angeles services so special? They answer to the needs of the clients as they bring the products right at their homes. This means that all the worries, frustrations and the stress is... more.. Texas Ranches for Sale Texas Ranches for Sale When trying to understand why many people choose to invest in the Texas Ranches For Sale opportunities, there are a lot of aspects that can be considered as great arguments. The best one of all refers to the idea that the real estate industry is one of the best opportunities to use your money in the current time. Investing in the Texas Ranches for Sale opportunities First of all, people need to take into consideration a very important detail here. The value of the land has changed considerable in the last couple of years due to the recession and all the transformations that the world had during the last couple of years. This means that if a person decides to take up one of the Texas Ranches For Sale offers, he or she will basically save a lot of money now then ever. The upside here is the fact that the recession is soon coming to an end and that is what makes this aspect very important. The prices will begin to rise as corporations and businesses will want to expand and invest in order to extend their branches. This is the perfect place where you... more.. BigDaddy Means Big Changes at Google BigDaddy Means Big Changes at Google Jan 25, 2006 11:19 AM , By Brian Quinton   One of the most popular forms of exercise among many search engine optimizers?both the third-party firms that do it for others and the advertisers who spiff up their own Web pages for better natural search rankings?is a periodic workout called ?chasing the algorithm?. The race begins when Google or Yahoo! updates some portion of the software that determines how they look at Web pages and decide which are most relevant and valuable to a searcher. The engine makes that change; Web operators see their rankings rise or fall as a result; and they, or their outside search engine optimization (SEO) firm, scramble to get back the old rank by providing the new elements the search engine now needs. After a few months, the engines make another change, and it?s off to the races again. Well, optimizers on Google are lacing up their running shoes for another race. Only this one promises to be more a marathon than the usual sprint. Google is testing a new data center infrastructure, a feat much bigger and comprehensive than an algorithm change. Dubbed ?Big Daddy? both in the search marketing blogs and forums and by the friendly folks at Google, this new data center?still in shakedown mode?will reportedly add new ground-level capabilities into the Google search function and drive those powers deep into all the algorithms with which Google searches, studies and indexes the Web. First, a bit of big-picture talk. Google?s examination of the Web relies on a global network of data centers with different IP addresses. These decentralized servers speed the job of sending specialized Google services to users in different regions; they also share the workload of spidering the Web and... more.. Web Site Makeover Live Checklist Web Site Makeover Live Checklist By Marcia Yudkin (c) 2009 The web designer shows you her final version of your long-in-the- making revamped site. You cl? around and can hardly believe how gorgeous and rich it is. "Love it! Launch it!" Oops, not so fast. Too many times I've seen that sentiment lead to frantic scrambling, even to disaster. Before making your revamped site live, use this checklist to make sure you've caught or prevented horrible new-site glitches. 1. Timing. Never, never launch your new web site on a holiday, weekend or even on a Friday. Why? Because chances are high you'll discover something weirdly wrong with your shopping cart, images, blog or regular web pages, and the tech support you need will be closed down or just skeletally staffed. Likewise, make sure your web designer or developer will be on hand for the next day or two to quickly fix any problems that become evident. 2. Test on as many computers as you can, and request feedback with the site parked in a test location. A colleague of mine (whose experience inspired this article) replaced her old site with the new one, then asked for feedback on a discussion board. Several people reported pages looking peculiar in their browsers or receiving an obnoxious warning message instead of simply seeing the home page. Too late, she learned she should have asked for this feedback before the site went public. What looked great and worked fine in her office had not-so-positive results in various browser and monitor combinations no one had tested the site on. 3. Match the new file... more.. Postup.com: Sorting Through the Noise of Social Networks  Postup.com: Sorting Through the Noise of Social Networks By Merle (c) 2010 MerlesWorld.com Long before there was Google Adwords it was Overture, and before pay-per-click search engine marketing was even born, there was a website called Goto.com. If you've been marketing products/services online for more than 10 years, you might remember that Goto.com was the original and one-of-a-kind when it came to bidding on keywords and ranking for them in search results. Fast forward to today, and the same man responsible for Goto, Bill Gross, the team at Idealab and other investors, are attempting to repeat that success with the invention of Postup.com - a concept very similar to Google Adwords, but this time for Twitter and other social networking platforms. When first launched, they were called Tweetup and were just for Twitter, but they've since changed the name and included other social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn. It is a self service bid-based marketplace that runs on a patent-pending platform. At the time of this writing, it's just available to those in the U.S. but eventually plans to go international. The concept is simple really. You sign up, bid on keywords and your posts will appear in Postup's sponsored results when a search is done for that phrase. They'll also appear on a number of particular sites and other Twitter third party apps, such as Twitterfeed and Tweetdeck. Partners also include Answers.com, Seesmic, Popurls, TechCrunch and more. They've also recently purchased Twitdroid, a Twitter app for Android phones. With the help of multiple distribution channels, Postup's search results will be widespread and viewed by millions. This is a great way to not just display... more.. 9 Steps to Diagnosing Lost Search Engine Traffic 9 Steps to Diagnosing Lost Search Engine Traffic By Jill Whalen (c) 2010 For the past few weeks I've been tasked with reviewing a few different sites that have seen a loss in traffic - their owners hoped to find out why. I love these kinds of reviews because it's like solving a mystery or figuring out a puzzle. While it's not always possible to determine the exact cause for the traffic loss, I can usually make some educated guesses based on what I dig up in Google Analytics. Here are 9 steps you can take to diagnose the cause of lost search engine traffic: 1. Determine what type of traffic loss you're dealing with. Many people look at Google's overview page, see a loss of overall traffic to their website, and assume that they must have lost their rankings in Google and the target?traffic that comes with it. This may or may not be the case. Be sure to check for search engine traffic, and even more specifically Google non-paid traffic. 2. Look at the extent of the traffic loss. Your research will be very different depending on whether there was a gradual decline in traffic or a sudden, drastic drop. I reviewed a site last week that lost all of their Google unpaid traffic overnight! This sort of loss is typically a technical issue such as a robots.txt file or a nofollow directive that keeps search engine spiders from indexing your pages. Sometimes it's not actually a loss of traffic at all - your analytics code could have been inadvertently removed from all or most of the pages, making it appear like a traffic loss. I have seen all of... more.. The A to Z Guide to Getting Website Traffic The A to Z Guide to Getting Website Traffic By Shawn Campbell In September of 1999, Brett Tabke wrote "26 Steps to 15k a Day" in the Webmaster World forum. A lot has changed since then, and now is the time to consider a new 26-step plan that meets the current needs of webmasters in 2006. Some of the old ones still apply (writing new content everyday, for example), and some don't (submitting to the search engines is no longer necessary), and we're here to tell you which is which! As you probably already know, bringing in traff?is not easy - it takes hard work, determination and lots of elbow grease. So if you're ready, roll up your sleeves and follow these 26 simple steps, and within just one year you will generate enough traff?to keep you busy for a long, long time! A) Keyword Research Before you do anything else, use a keyword research tool and do an extensive job researching the right keyphrases to use for your site. What keyphrases are your direct competitors using? Are there any keyphrases that create a potential for market entry? Are there any that you can put a spin on and create a whole new niche with? B) Domain Namemore.. What Does the Google +1 Button Mean for SEO What Does the Google +1 Button Mean for SEO By Rich McPharlin (c) 2011 Google, the internet giant based in California, has had a strangle hold on much of the online market for the past decade. Most would struggle to find a single person in the Western World who is not yet familiar with the Google Search Engine. In fact the search engine is so popular that the phrase 'Google it' has been adopted by many Gen-Yers. In addition to their massive presence in the search marketplace, Google also commands a large percentage of the online advertising industry, generating revenues in the region of US$35 billion per annum.   Facebook, a relatively new comer to the internet, and center of popular film The Social Network, is quickly closing on Google's market. Currently Facebook ranks as the 2nd most visited website online globally and holds over 750 million member accounts. Facebook is beginning to threaten Google's market dominance in online advertising due to the huge volume of data that the social network holds about its members. While Google's advertising model focuses around what people are looking for, specifically using search queries, Facebook's model allows advertisers to utilize behavioural targeting. A Facebook advertiser can select very precise advertising audiences by focusing on: - Age - Gender - Location - Employment Type - Education Level - Likes and Dislikes By selecting a narrow cross section of the global audience by one or all of the above variables, an advertiser can see significant improvement in their ROI when compared with search or conventional marketing. This is where Google Plus enters the scene. In May Google released a limited Beta of... more.. 10 Questions for New SEO Clients  10 Questions for New SEO Clients By Jill Whalen (c) 2011 Hello Jill, If you could only ask 10 general (non-industry-specific) questions of your new SEO customers, what would they be and why would their answers help you help them? Thank you, Andrew ++Jill's Response++ Hi Andrew, Great question! I have a variety of different questionnaires that I send to clients, depending on the type of 'SEO consulting' (http://www.highrankings.com/seo-services) that I'll be doing with them. For any SEO service, the more information I get from the client about their business and website, the better I can help them with their SEO. Here's a selection of some of the questions I ask and why they're important to the overall SEO process: 1. What Web Analytics Program Do You Use, and Can We Have Access to It? Web analytics are the key to measuring the current level of SEO success (or lack thereof). They're also the key to determining whether any future SEO implementation is helping to bring more targ?d traffic. Therefore, it's critical for me to have access to this information regardless of the level of SEO service I'm providing. If you use Google Analytics (GoAn), it's very simple to add new users to the account and in most cases it's fine to provide report-only access (rather than admin). Along with GoAn, I also ask for access to the client's Google Webmaster Tools (GWMT) account. These days, if you have GoAn access, you can usually add the same website to your GWMT account as well, which makes the process easier. 2. What's the Purpose of Your Site and who is Your Target Audience? This is a seemingly simple question, yet... more.. Almost There - YouTube and Social Networking Almost There - YouTube and Social Networking By Enzo F. Cesario (c) 2010 BrandSplat Innovation doesn't wait for anybody. It's a constant, vital force, thriving on new ideas, new interpretations of old ideas, and a deep desire to understand the next important step. This generation has been defined by its technological advances, and the creation of a global society on the Web. This society is as complex and dynamic as any physical city or province, and has become the important battleground of ideas for the foreseeable future. YouTube has played a vital part in this process virtually since its inception. In less than a decade it has grown into a tool for political discourse, a venue for amateur filmmakers and artists to showcase their talents, and a means by which the common citizen opposes tyranny by posting film of those abusing their station and authority. Without a doubt, it is one of the major forces in modern innovation. Part of innovation is of course the combination of ideas. The telephone wasn't strictly a new concept; electrical transmission of messages existed in the telegraph, and the transmission of recorded sound existed in the phonograph. Combining these two technologies is what led to the telephone. This is also the path much of the Web seems bent on taking, combining and integrating services, and YouTube seems to be no exception. YouTube's designers have, for example, pledged to implement more Social Networking functionality in future versions of the site. They also set up a new interface that focuses on Playlist content rather than individual videos. What other ideas may be unveiled is a mystery, but while the Web is waiting for more concrete... more.. How SPNbabble Can Help Web Professionals How SPNbabble Can Help Web Professionals By Titus Hoskins (c) 2009 SiteProNews, a well established website geared towards webmasters, has recently introduced a new micro-blogging service called SPNbabble. Describing itself as "Micro-Blogging For Web Professionals" - SPNbabble.com lets you share your ideas with friends and colleagues. It also incorporates such popular services as Twitter and Facebook. To find out more about this interesting new platform, Bizwaremagic.com did an interview with Mel Strocen, CEO of the Jayde Online Network, which runs numerous websites, including SiteProNews and SPNbabble. 1. Lets cut to the chase, why should anyone use your micro-blogging program, SPNbabble? The main reason, and the reason we created SPNBabble, is that it provides social media marketers with a means to post to multiple micro-blogging sites simultaneously. Currently, SPNbabble members can configure their accounts so that a post on SPNbabble will also appear on Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, Plurk, Tumblr and 5 other micro-blogging sites. If time is a factor in your marketing endeavors, then using SPNbabble is a no-brainer. 2. Not everyone is familiar with micro-blogging, could you go into more detail and fully explain how your program works or functions? Well, anyone who uses Twitter will find SPNbabble very similar in features and functionality. For those unfamiliar with micro-blogging, it's basically a concise form of blogging. Most micro-blogging sites, including SPNbabble, restrict blog posts to 140 characters. It takes some practice to get your message across in shortened form, but for busy web professionals less is more. Micro-blogging is ideal for getting short snippets of useful information out to a potential audience of millions of micro-bloggers. Short blog posts can be about news, articles, products, services, programs, links to interesting sites, what... more.. Search Engine Optimization Four Vital Steps for Optimizing Your Website Search Engine Optimization Four Vital Steps for Optimizing Your Website By Donald Nelson (c) 2006 There is a bit of confusion about search engine optimization. Some people think that SEO (the abbreviated form) is nothing more than tricking search engines into giving a high ranking for a particular site. Others think that search engine optimization is so complex that they could not possibly understand it. Neither of these views are correct. Search engine optimization is best defined as the art and science of building web pages that are both search engine friendly and user friendly. Below are four basic steps that you should take when optimizing your web pages. 1. Your Web Design Should Emphasize Text and Not Graphics "Search engine friendly" means that search engines should be able to find data on your site that they can put in their data bases. While a picture may be worth a thousand words, a search engine is trying to classify pages by text and not by images. If you have an opening page with a beautiful picture of the sea and only two words of text saying "enter here" then this page will not rank high in searches for Florida Vacations. Similarly, if you have a headline with important... more.. The SEO's Toolkit: Tools The SEO's Toolkit: Tools By Dave Davies (c) 2009 Welcome to part two of this three part series on SEO tools and resources. In the last article we discussed the variety of Firefox extensions used for SEO. In this article we'll discuss some of the free and affordable tools you can use to better your organic optimization efforts. By affordable I mean for virtually everybody so I'm going to set the bar at $100/yr or ownership. Admittedly, we use tools that cost more than this but many of those tools will be out of some people's price range. Here are some of the key tools you need to use to help insure the successful optimization of your website. Google Keyword Tool Many of you are likely familiar with Google's keyword tool, but it needs to be noted. This is a great resource for researching keywords. As with all keyword tools, it has its limitations and most would agree that it seems to overestimate search volume but nonetheless it is probably the best of the keyword tools out there, especially at the price. Keyword Discovery No individual set of data is perfect and no stage of the SEO process is more important than keyword research and selection. Keyword Discovery is a great tool to compare with the Google keyword data. Where you find commonalities you know that 2 independent sets of data agree. With a free tr? that may itself work for many - it's certainly worth looking into. Keyword Spy While the paid version of this tool is more than the $100/yr. max I noted previously - the free version provides some great data. Simply enter... more.. Using Social Media Marketing to Promote Your Specialist Information Website Using Social Media Marketing to Promote Your Specialist Information Website By Miles Galliford (c) 2007 Before I get started, it is worth defining social media. It has become a widely used and abused term that means different things to different people. My definition of social media is: 'online technologies and practices that people use to share their opinions, insights and experiences with each other. Information can be shared as text, images, audio or video via blogs, message boards, wikis, RSS, podcasts and social networking sites'. At the heart of social media is the ability of individuals to interact with other people so that they feel involved and part of a community. A big part of this phenomenon is the activity of finding, sharing and recommending products, services, events and experiences to like-minded people. This is where social media crosses over with marketing. Social media can be a great way to have your website promoted by word-of-mouth. If you can get people to talk about and recommend your services to their peers, it is more powerful than any marketing you can buy. So how can you get started? How Can You Make Social Media Work for You? The good news is it is easy to start the process of using social media to promote your website. 1) Create a MySpace Page MySpace (www.myspace.com) is the largest and best-known social network. Individuals create profiles about themselves and then invite similarly minded people to become their online friends. When someone becomes a friend, you can communicate with them and subtly direct them towards your own website. Setting up your own page is simple and fr?... more.. 5 Best Practices of Content Distribution 5 Best Practices of Content Distribution By Bradley Hess (c) 2010 Creating excellent content is a key element of optimizing your online presence, but once you have created fantastic information you need to disseminate it. You may be one fantastic source of information, but if nobody hears you, does it matter? Make sure that you aren't leaving out the step that will get you heard. We have compiled a list of the 5 best practices for content distribution: 1. Blogger Connections: You aren't the only blogger out there. This may seem like a bad thing sometimes when there are so many other blogs to read. How will your blog get read if there are so many others that have equally great content? The trick is to get your content on blogs that are already being read. There are many wonderful blogs that get a lot of their content from guest bloggers. You can submit articles that you have already published on your own blog or create something new that you think the particular blogger would like for their blog. They may even have a request for a specific kind of content they would like from those interested in guest blogging. Along with contributing to blogs that you are following already, make sure that you are also using services that will connect you with other bloggers. These are great for not only getting your content posted elsewhere but also for getting guest bloggers on your blog. These blogger connection services already have a great network of bloggers who would love to share content. It would be a waste of a resource if you didn't use something like this. Getting others' guest content on your blog... more.. Kitchen Cabinets Ventura kitchen cabinets Ventura The kitchen cabinets Ventura services are one of those services that are designed to really satisfy the customers and help them with their needs. Those services are really helpful when it comes to solutions that need to be implemented so that the kitchen will look as appealing as the rest of the house. The appealing side of the kitchen cabinets Ventura services First of all, people are always concerned with certain qualities when they contact various services or businesses for the problems or needs that they have. In order to see a firm as reputable or very professional, it needs to be able to satisfy its customers with a high personal approach towards the job that it performs, an efficient manner when it comes to time and most importantly a great customer care. The kitchen cabinets Ventura services come with the best customer care there is as the cabinets that I brings to the table are already assembled. This is considered to be one of the best things about this industry as the client won't lose some of the precious time that he has on putting items together in order to form the cabinets that he needs. The service provides him or her with whatever it was ordered and the only requirement there is refers to patience in order for things to be done quickly. At the end of the day, the client will be relieved to see that the cabinets are in their place and everything is in perfect harmony. There are many different models that are available here, so that the user can pick something that he likes and fits with the other features of his home. In this way, everything will look as part of the big picture. That is one of the best aspects when it... more.. Marketing in Turbulent Times  Marketing in Turbulent Times By George Torok (c) 2010 May you live in interesting times. Is that ancient expression a curse or a blessing? I think it depends on how you define "interesting" and more importantly how you adapt to it. If you define interesting to mean unpredictable, challenging and threatening then clearly we are living in interesting times. Business these days is more like shooting the rapids in a rubber raft than canoeing in a duck pond. It's too easy to be mesmerized by the danger of capsizing. If you focus on the rocks, that's where you will go. The secret is to look for and steer to the high water and paddle like a fiend. Survival is Not the Goal If you set your sights on surviving you could slip and sink. If you set your target as thriving then you might flourish. How do you thrive in these turbulent waters? Marketing is the result of all the messages that you and your staff send. In fact, your staff sends more powerful marketing messages than all the advertising you ever do. Therefore, marketing becomes the end result of almost every business decision you make. Think Long Term Don't make knee-jerk decisions especially about business strategy. Gather as much relevant information as you can. Seek the advice of people you respect. Be clear on your purpose. Examine both the short term and long term effects of major decisions. Once you decide, act quickly and confidently. Your staff will be looking to you for leadership and hope. Be open to course corrections when and as needed while clearly focused on the... more.. Texas Hill Country Land for Sale Texas Hill Country Land for Sale The Texas Hill Country Land for Sale offers come for the ones that really have a thing for making a smart investment. There are so many things that one can do with the real estate industry as it's a matter of time to actually earn real money from this investment. The single rule there is here refers to having a little bit of patience. The golden rule of the Texas Hill Country Land for Sale opportunities Firstly, people find it very interesting that now is the perfect time to make an investment here, rather than waiting fir the recession to pass. Many would take up the second choice as it is much safer and it is much comfortable for them. The first one implies making a risk, but so do the businesses and the investments that bring money to the table. The only difference there is when it comes to the Texas Hill Country Land for Sale opportunities and how they bring a certain amount of profit to the investor and other types of investments is based in simple logic. The recession is currently making some devastation in most of the fields of the world, leading to some dramatic changes in the homes of many. But the recession is the one factor that has helped the value of the land to drop considerably in the last couple of years. This means that the ones that are interested in buying a piece of land now, should follow their instinct and go for it. The second point of view here refers to how much one is willing to make out of the investment in the real estate industry. There are some who are... more.. Social Media the Instant Brand Killer Social Media - the Instant Brand Killer By Kalena Jordan (c) 2007 With the increasing uptake of social media sites such as Digg, Technorati, Slashdot, YouTube and MySpace, together with community bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us, Reddit and Ma.gnolia, companies the world over can reach their target markets via a whole new channel. Social networking is like viral marketing on steroids. Companies can release a new product in the morning and have it talked about by mill?s of users on thousands of sites by the afternoon. The good news is that social media is user driven. The bad news is that social media is user driven. Yes, there's the rub. Users are fickle creatures - they can love a product one minute and then drop it like a lead balloon the next, depending on their experience with the product, a rumor, or whether they have had their morning coffee yet. And if their experience is bad, the noise is generally louder. To protect their reputations it's not just journalists that companies have to impress these days. It's anyone with a computer and an Internet connection. Love it or hate it, the user community now has enormous power over the online reputation of a company or brand. Not surprisingly, businesses and individuals alike clamor for the attention and mostly enjoy the limelight that social media can bring. Others hate the intense scrutiny that often accompanies the popularity. An example is usability blogger Kim Krause Berg's unpleasant first experience of Digg - I Don't Digg Being Dugg. Online communities can even bring a site to its knees. Marketers are calling it the "Digg Effect" or the "Slashdot Effect". Buzz for a site... more.. Correcting Common Usability Mistakes Correcting Common Usability Mistakes By Mark Johnstone, Senior Web Developer, StepForth Placement Inc. Each day at StepForth Placement we view dozens of websites that request a SEO Review and a vast majority of these sites have fundamental usability problems. Often times neglecting this important element of a website can lead online visitors to become lost, frustrated and/or confused. All it takes for a visitor to decide to stay, explore or leave a site is 0.4 of a second. Attracting visitors to your website is a formidable challenge; it is yet another to build a fast connection with them and keep them there. With this in mind, here are some simple measures that can be taken to remedy these mistakes and help promote your online conversions. Having great search engine placements is one thing but to create a usable website environment is just as important. What good can come from "being found" if users quickly exit your site? A solid search engine friendly and usable website should be your answer to both of these major components for your online success. There are a variety of standards still in place when it comes to designing a usable website. This is not to say that the uniqueness and creativity of your website has to suffer, rather by following some simple guidelines visitors know where to go to find the information they need. The process of developing a usable interface can be a balancing act. Some core elements need to be assessed prior to any actual design work being done. Attention to content creation, search engine friendly design tactics, and the face you put on your design each have to be blended into this usable... more.. Caffeine, Google's Mild Stimulus Caffeine, Google's Mild Stimulus By John Sylvester (c) 2009 Although denying it has anything to do with the recent launch of Bing, Google's Matt Cutts unveiled their "secret project", one of the biggest behind-the-scenes updates to Google search in three years and is now testing the next-generation architecture of web search, called Caffeine. In fairness to Matt Cutts, he said changes to Google search have been in progress for a number of months and hence, by implication, that the launch of Bing had nothing to do with the development of Caffeine. Moreover, I would hesitate to guess, it has far more to do with speed in real-time, so as to address its place in step with the social networking giants. Although initially unavailable for testing because of "system maintenance", Matt Cutts, Google's enforcer of the Google Webmaster Guidelines and the man who cracked down on link spam, has invited us all to test it. He said Google hasn't made an update of this magnitude since 2006 and that it will make internet search much faster and more accurate than ever before, although "currently, even power users won't notice much of a difference at all". He went on to say: "The new infrastructure sits 'under the hood' of Google's search engine, which means that most users won't notice a difference in search results. But web developers and power searchers might notice a few differences, so we're opening up a web developer preview to collect feedback." The new architecture is said to include size, indexing, speed, accuracy and ranking changes and Google is asking searchers to give it a try it and report their feedback. While the version is still a pre-beta release at http://www2.sandbox.google.com, you... more.. Improved Search Engine Rank and Google Page Rank Misconceptions Improved Search Engine Rank and Google Page Rank Misconceptions By Peter Nisbet (c) 2007 Improved search engine rank is attainable through good search engine optimization, part of which is the maximizing of your Google Page Rank through intelligent linking with other web pages. In this first part of 2 on the subject of Google Page Rank, we will look at the argument for attaining high listings through a linking strategy. Google Page Rank is a buzz term at the moment since many believe it to be more important to your search engine listing than search engine optimization. If we ignore for the moment the fact that Page Rank is, in itself, a f?of SEO, then there are arguments for and against that belief. Before we investigate these arguments, let's understand some fundamentals of search engine listings. First, most search engines l? web pages, not domains (websites). What that means is that every web page in a domain has to be relevant to a specific search term if it is to be listed. Secondly, a search engine customer is the person who is using that engine to seek information. It is not an advertiser or the owner of a website. It is the user seeking information. The f?of words that is used by that customer is called a 'search term'. This becomes a 'keyword' when applied to a webmaster trying to anticipate the f?of words that a user will employ to search for their information. A search engine works by analyzing the semantic content of a web page and determining the relative importance of the vocabulary used, taking into account the title tags, the heading tags and the first text it... more.. Reaping the Rewards of Google's Latest Algorithm Update Reaping the Rewards of Google's Latest Algorithm Update By San Coils (c) 2011 Now that the dust has settled a little around Google's latest 'farmer' update, I thought it time to post up how article marketers can take advantage of it. Yes, there are lots of folks out there proclaiming it is the end of article marketing, but let's be honest, people have been saying that for years. In fact, article marketing was dead when I first started but it doesn't seem to have stopped it working for me. First off, it's worth noting that the whole purpose of the Farmer update was to enable searchers to find more high quality sites when searching for something. (You can read the official blog by clicking here. Yep, Google figured its primary users (searchers, NOT webmasters) deserved a better user experience. And can you blame them? Personally, I hate searching for anything that really matters because I have so little faith in what I know is going to come up. Crappy, spammy websites designed to boost revenue for the owner, not provide me with the information I need. Therein lies the problem folks. People don't want to read crap so if Google wants to stay in the game it has to quit serving it up. Can you imagine how long a restaurant would stay in business if the food it served was inedible? If folks are hitting the back button every time they click on one of Google's results, that's a powerful message that can't be ignored. Would you ignore it if it was happening on your... more.. How search engine marketing tools can work for you: or, searching is really all about finding How search engine marketing tools can work for you: or, searching is really all about finding Summary This is the second of three articles. Part 1 appeared in the August issue of Information Outlook. Search engine optimization and marketing covers a wide range of activities, many of which are similar to what a reference librarian, systems librarian, or market researcher does. Although the focus is the World Wide Web, many of the tools that are used have broader applications for special librarians. Internal corporate processes. Web analytics tools measure and analyze corporate sales, customer preferences and problems, viable products and channels, and other issues that may provide answers for questions received by special librarians. Competitive intelligence/market research. Keyword research, Web site saturation and popularity tools can provide information on a company's competitors: how they are marketing on the Internet, what they are spending on online marketing campaigns, how they are pricing their products. Legal issues. Who Is tools can provide valuable information relating to copyright and trademark issues. Link Popularity tools can show who is deep-linking to your site. Log files, in conjunction with Who Is tools, can tell you who may be committing click fraud on your paid placement campaigns or spamming your e-mail servers. Back end knowledge of how Web sites work. These tools can show you what may be keeping search engines from indexing your site and can highlight customer service issues. SECOND OF THREE ARTICLES Web site saturation and popularity tools show how much presence a Web site has on search engines through the number of pages of the site that are indexed on each search engine (saturation) and how many times the site is linked to by other sites (popularity). more.. Landing Page Usability: More Than Just The Curiosity Factor Landing Page Usability: More Than Just The Curiosity Factor By Frederick Townes A landing page is the page that visitors first see after becoming curious enough to cl? on a link to your site. The link may be found on search engine results pages, within a specifically target?email, on the site's navigation toolbar or within another website. In many cases, these are links you pay for. The organic results delivered by SERPs are free, but, unless your site appears on the first two pages, it's unlikely that visitors will connect. In many cases, the landing page is the site's home page - but not always, even within SERPs. Landing pages can appear anywhere within a web site. Paid Links Demand ROI If your landing page receives prominent display within search engine results pages, congratulations. Upward of 50% of visitor traff?found that landing page through an SE query. However, only 20 to 25 sites can appear on page one of Google's SERPs. What about the other 10,000 links Google delivers to its users? Often, smaller sites employ paid links to drive site traff? Google Adwords, for example, is a PPC (pay per cl?) means of building business. The important point is this: PPC programs have to more than pay for themselves in order for your site to remain a viable business. Any form of paid linkage to one of your landing pages must deliver a nice ROI. And to do that, you need a fully-usable, engaging landing page. Otherwise, visitors won't stick around long enough to read about your low prices and free shipping. The Purpose of the Landing Page While all... more.. How to Hard-Wire Your Site to Google How to Hard-Wire Your Site to Google By Titus Hoskins (c) 2010 Until Bing turns into David and slays Goliath, the only search engine game in town is Google. While the other search engines can't be ignored or forgotten, when it comes to online search, Google will deliver the majority of your quality organic traffic. For webmasters and especially for online marketers, having your website virtually hard-wired to Google is a marketing Must-Do. We are strictly talking about white hat stuff here. If you're seeking the opposite color, look elsewhere. As a full-time search engine marketer, I have learned a few things over the 10 years or so I have been working on the web. One of the most significant factors running constantly in the background has been Google. And, the underlying fact is that the more I intertwined my sites and content with Google, the more success I achieved. There seemed to be a direct correlation between the two, making it a little more than ironic that the original name for Google was BackRub. But this is not exactly rocket science territory here. Google is the biggest entity on the web, especially if you go the free organic traffic route. There are tons of ways to market online which don't involve Google at all, but for the purposes of this piece, I will be discussing ways any webmaster or marketer can better connect their site and content with Google. Plus, I'll (if it's not already obvious) also give you some reasons why this is a smart marketing strategy on your part. The first technique you must perfect is how to get your new content into Google's Index within minutes, if not seconds.... more.. Google's New Page Layout Algorithm Penalizes  Google's New Page Layout Algorithm Penalizes "Above-The-Fold" Advertising A SPN Exclusive Article By David Jackson (c) 2012 On Wednesday, February 23, 2011, a category 5 hurricane named "Panda" swept through the Gulf of Google devastating businesses large and small alike. The hurricane was reportedly named after one of Google's engineers. So what was the reason for this catastrophic and "game-changing" update? Well, according to Google: "This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites - sites which are low-value, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites - sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on. It is important for high-quality sites to be rewarded, and that's exactly what this change does." (Source: Google Blog) Mission accomplished. Anyway, in the aftermath of the Panda update, there are 11 important SEO facts I've learned based on my own personal experiences, the experiences of my clients, and from listening to top SEO professionals across the Internet. The above passages are from an article I wrote last July titled, Google Panda Update: 11 Important SEO Facts You Should Know. In item #7 of the 11 SEO facts I wrote: 7. Avoid Excessive Advertisements or Images "Be mindful of having too many advertisements on any of your pages, in relation to "meaningful" content. There seems to be a direct correlation between the number of advertisements on a page (especially above the fold advertising), and the overall ranking of a page. Make sure you have plenty of... more.. Video Search Engine Optimization Video Search Engine Optimization By Randy Zlobec (c) 2008 Most of us know that a site that's well configured for search engine access is a major part of getting high traffic levels. However, you might not have thought about optimizing your video as well as the rest of your site. Since multimedia content is becoming a much more popular way of distributing information, correct video search engine optimization is important. For instance, on YouTube alone (which accounts for more than ninety-eight percent of the videos viewed via Google), more than eighty-two million people watched over four billion videos last year. That makes YouTube both the top video sharing site and the top video search engine. YouTube receives as much as thirteen hours of new user-submitted video every minute, and more than fifty percent of the people watching videos online share links with other people. So, getting a good YouTube ranking could be an important way to bring people to your site. For owners of video content, video search engine optimization is a good way to get exposure, ad income, and free traffic. Being discovered by the viewers has to happen before you can get lots of views. That means making sure that your data is rich in meta information, and that you use quality RSS or MRSS feeds that you update on a regular basis. Make sure that your meta data is well placed and relevant to the topic. A cleaner can help you remove distracting or irrelevant meta information from the file. Only after you produce well optimized content should you contact the search engines and submit your video. This places you in the... more.. ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles People might think that the ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles models are just another thing on the market. This can be true due to the fact that many of the markets are very diverse and there are many great names in an businesses, but there is an aspect that needs to be considered here: the speed that the service has. The ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles service handles their clients with speed First of all, people need to take into consideration that speed is not the dominant quality of the ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles services. There are many other qualities that matter in this industry, like: durability, professionalism, time of response and so on. But, as we are livening in a world where everything goes at a very high speed rate, it surely does matter how fast the service is provided. Let's take an example of a regular order and see how things are going. The client can easily access the internet, right from the comfort of his home, log on to the website and start browsing throughout the ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles models that are displayed there. He can take as long as he or she wants, until a decision is made. The great part of the internet here is that the browsing can be done quietly and without being disturbed by any shop supervisors that are constantly watching your every move. This is the perfect way to shop and take your time while doing it. The next step of the process is finalizing your order and waiting for the team that does the measurements to arrive. You need to point out where you want the ready to assemble cabinets Los Angeles to be placed and after that part... more.. 10 Super Tips for Choosing the Right Web Hosting Company 10 Super Tips for Choosing the Right Web Hosting Company By Amy Armitage (c) 2008 The Web hosting firm you choose can make or break your small business. Good ones can run things smoothly, are easy to reach, and fix problems efficiently. But bad ones can have more problems than they are worth, be unreachable at critical times, and bring your business to a screeching halt. Finding a good one is crucial to your success. Here are some tried and true ideas for how to select a host that will save you money, avoid technical snafus, and build your online platform for the future. 1. Choose a Service that Primarily Does Hosting Although it might be tempting to sign-up with a firm that provides an umbrella of services in addition to website hosting, a good rule of thumb is that if a company overly-diversifies its services, it won't deliver top quality in any of them (e.g. tech support, updates, maintenance, etc.) 2. Choose a Host with a Great Record for Online Security Most secure hosts will provide SSL Certificates to guarantee your security. Without an SSL Certificate on your site, visitors may come and go without identifying themselves, and this could put your site at risk. Make sure your host implements best practices when it comes to maintaining security architecture, updating security software, and responding effectively to breaches if and when they do occur. 3.Excellent Technical and Customer Service Support via Phone Does the host provide phone support around the clock? Or can you only email for help during non-business hours? You definitely want the option to call a staffer. Studies... more.. Web Directories for SEO Web Directories for SEO by Adrian Lawrence If you are looking for ways to promote your website, then web directories should definitely be considered a big part of your promotional plan. Web directories provide web visitors with a one-stop destination on the web to find the information they are looking for. Further, in using web directories, you can increase the visibility of your website and derive myriad benefits offered by web directories. Let's take a look at the benefits that webmasters derive from web directories: 1. Some webmasters might wonder why they should bother to submit to web directories when 80% of all website traffic comes from search engines. The answer is simple when you consider the following: what about the other 20%? When you are attempting to maximize the traffic that comes to your website, every little bit of promotion helps and web directories can help you gain a big chuck of that 20% of web traffic you have been missing out on. 2. Did you know that a key factor in the ranking algorithm of search engines is link popularity? By using web directories you will be creating more links that point directly to your site and the raising your ranking in various search engines across the Internet. Further, everyone knows that a higher search engine ranking is equivalent to easier accessibility... more.. Google Everflux: Just What We Needed, Google on Speed Google Everflux: Just What We Needed, Google on Speed By Titus Hoskins (c) 2008 Is it just me or has Google gone into overdrive? As a professional full-time online marketer I have to keep my mind firmly placed on what Google is doing. As much as I try not to because Google has probably driven more people around the bend than Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz put together. Like any professional marketer, I monitor my numerous keywords on a daily basis - especially my major targeted keyword phrases that bring in the most sales and subscribers. For years now, I have had top rankings in Google for my chosen phrases; they move up and down, but mostly they don't leave the first page. However, lately I have been noticing a lot of jumping in the top listings. Links out of nowhere are appearing, links being dropped and my own links moving up and down much too quickly for my comfort. Even six months ago the Google main index seemed to be a whole lot more stable than it is now. Within the past months, rankings within Google have become more dynamic, more fluid. They can change from day to day, what some people are calling Google Everflux. This is very similar to the old Google Dance we used to have a few years ago...when Google would update or refresh its index about once a month. Now Google is stepping out on that dance floor every day. Once upon a time, your keyword rankings in Google didn't change that much. Every four or five months Google would do major updates where your keywords and your site's PageRank... more.. What's Wrong With E-Commerce Websites? What's Wrong With E-Commerce Websites? By Jerry Bader (c) 2008 What is going on with e-commerce websites? It appears that online entrepreneurs spend so much time worrying about website traffic that they ignore the customers who actually want to buy something. Recently, I tried to order a product we spotted at a trade show. It was perfect for our application so we did a Google search to find the manufacturer and a l? of dealers who sold the item. Almost all the websites that distributed the product had proper contact information and invited people to call, which we did. After six frustrating phone calls to dealers we still hadn't found anyone willing to answer the telephone. Since we had to leave a message almost everywhere we called, we decided to try California even though we are located in the east, and it was far too early for any reasonable person to be at work. We finally got in touch with a friendly salesperson in Boston, who was very helpful but unfortunately the company was out of stock. Despite not being able to fill the order, we kept their information on file because they were friendly, accommodating, and dealt with all our questions. They tried their best to meet our needs but if we would have ordered using their online system and found out later that the product was back-ordered we would have been very upset since we had a deadline to meet. Next we reached the manufacturer who told us he was too busy to check if he had any stock, and maybe he could get back to us by four o'clock. Just as... more.. EMR EMR The EMR system is one the greatest achievements in the field of medicine not because it brings some great adjustments in the surgical area, but it is something that has revolutionized the front desks of the hospitals. Many people aren't that aware of how important it is to have a system that is extremely efficient especially in cases of high pressure. EMR The Greatest Achievement One of the first aspects that are worth highlighting here refers to the idea of the space that is being saved with the EMR system. Imagine how the system used to work somewhere in the past decade. There were rooms filled with drawers that had files and files stored inside of them. The clerk had to search through all the files in order to reach the desired information and that took a lot of time as well. Additionally, there were cases when the clerk was in a hurry and he or she didn't have time to arrange the files in the order that they were before. This has generated some real problems when there were other files needed. The current system has some very efficient features and has the capability to store a great deal of patients without having the worry to actually be overwhelmed with files. Furthermore the EMR system gives the user the possibility to insert certain filters in order to be able to reach the desired information without having to lose precious time in the process. This is quite relevant when a doctor... more.. Birthday gift ideas Birthday gift ideas One of the biggest issues when it comes to someone's birthday is the Birthday gift ideas. This is one of the main concerns when kids have a birthday and their friends need to find a gift that is best suitable for that occasion. Of course, there are some classic things that can be bought, which will save the day, but a birthday is much more personal than the first thing that comes to hand in a shopping mall. The great things about Birthday gift ideas A first idea here refers to the aspect of being personal. One of the greatest Birthday gift ideas were the ones that sent a message to the receiver. Those are the gifts that really matter and those are the ones that will be remembered in the years that will come. This should be the main target of people when they are planning to hand out a gift. In this way, it will have the impact that they've planned and the receiver will be happy. A second idea here, is linked to creativity. People don't let their imagination flow as often as you might think. There are so many things that can be done if some friends put their heads together, they only need to have a little bit of courage to actually do what they think. Of course, this refers to the interesting and great Birthday gift ideas and not the craziest of ones. Jumping from a roof top into the swimming pool can be a... more.. Social Networking with Training Wheels Social Networking with Training Wheels By John Jantsch (c) 2008 Look, I don't really think that the mySpaces and Facebooks of the world are that important for the typical small business as they stand today. There may be very practical business reasons for some to actually use these and other, what are called social networks, for business gain, but most people that have jumped on the social network bandwagon have found themselves left with a "is this all there is" kind of feeling. To those, I say this, the value of the current public social networks for business folks is not what you can get out of them for gain today, but what you can learn by using them for practical gain tomorrow. That's why SpacebookedIn makes sense for you now. The Facebooks of the world are busy teaching millions and millions of business folks how social networks work, how social networking works, how shared applications can be viral and ever-present. The real payoff in my opinion is that the wave to come after the Facebook bubble bursts is the "personalized business network." Once everyone of your customers and prospects knows how to use what are easily replicatable social networking tools, like building profiles, sharing video and connecting based on mutual interests, your job of building your own social business network around your own very specific community of niche will get a whole lot easier. 2008 will be the year of the personalized social business network. So, if you've decided to take a pass on the whole social networking trend, I would suggest that you use this handy list to start learning... more.. Ten Ways To Clear Bad Press From Search Engine Results Ten Ways To Clear Bad Press From Search Engine Results By Linda Bustos (c) 2006 What do you see when you search for your company or brand name? Is there anything on the first page of the search engine results that you wouldn't be proud to display on your home page? Consumer review sites, blogs and forums have made it easy for anyone to say whatever they want about your company, whether they be disgruntled customers or competitors who like to play dirty. If you're in a situation where negative publicity is front and center in search results, there are ways you can reclaim search engine real estate for your corporate identity. Though you can't make negative results disappear from the search engine indexes entirely, the following strategies can help them slip off the first few pages of search engine results. 1. Good Old Fashioned Networking The first thing you should do is contact the webmasters of the sites in question with a polite request for removal of negative comments. There's a good chance they'll be willing to co-operate. Note that, even if they do remove the listing, the cached pages may remain in the search engine indexes for some time. But users who cl? through the search engine results will land on a page with the comments removed. Ch? out some of the sites that already have something good to say about you. Send them an appreciation note, and offer them a link back from your site. You could even create a special page called "Gary's Garage On The Web" (if that's the name of your business) or "Press Room." 2. Tap... more.. Signs It's TimeTo Redesign Your Website Signs It's TimeTo Redesign Your Website By Erin Ferree (c) 2007 Designing your first website is a stressful undertaking. It requires you to dig deep into your business in order to write the copy for your site. You need to work with a designer and go through the process of creating a site that looks unique and works well. Plus you'll end up investing a lot of time, energy and money. And finally, after all that, you're finished and it's time for the site to go live. What a relief! Many business owners go through this same process. By the time the process is finished, many entrepreneurs are very glad that it's over - and don't want to do it again anytime soon. Unfortunately, websites don't last forever. Even if you plan your site to work for the current vision for your business, you can't accurately account for the entire future of your business. Eventually you'll have to make some changes to your website. Some of these changes can be accomplished with simple maintenance, and by making updates to your site. But there's only so far that patching and revising your current site can go. If your site is particularly outdated, or if it's not working well for you, it's probably time to consider a full-scale site redesign. Some signs that it's time to redesign your site include: Your Business Has Changed or Grown If your business is no longer the same as it was when you designed your site, chances are that you should redesign your website to reflect that. If you've only had a few small changes, you might be able to just update your current website. But, if... more.. Web 2.0: Way of the Future or Marketing Gimmick? Web 2.0: Way of the Future or Marketing Gimmick? By Mikhail Tuknov (c) 2007 The term Web 2.0 has come to dramatically increased usage over the past few years. Many people have since begun to appropriate this hot new buzzword for their own websites while others are not quite so eager to embrace this new concept, considering it little more than an inappropriately named web-marketing gimmick. It has clearly polarized the web into two opposing camps, of adherents on the one hand and skeptics on the other. Yet in spite of all this - or perhaps because of this - there is still plenty of confusion and controversy surrounding Web 2.0. What is it exactly? And are the changes to the way the Internet has come to be used in recent years really significant enough to warrant this name? The phrase itself is attributed to O'Reilly media, the company who coined it in 2003. Subsequently, the first Web 2.0 conference, which was held in 2004, brought it into widespread public consciousness. A series of conferences hosted by O'Reilly media has made the term even more popular than ever and facilitated the adoption of it by many industry pundits. The term as it has come to be used by O'Reilly media, refers to what many in the Internet industry perceive to be the second wave of Web-based communities and hosted services, following the first wave of communities which flourished during the initial Internet boom. These web sites encompass social networking sites, wiki sites and folksonomies - all of which share the trait of encouraging and facilitating content collaboration and sharing among its many users. Perhaps some of the confusion surrounding the use of the... more.. Bingoo! Assault Heats Up - Google to Retaliate with Operation Chrome Bingoo! Assault Heats Up - Google to Retaliate with Operation Chrome By John Sylvester (c) 2009 Finally, a 10-year deal has been struck between Microsoft and Yahoo! Last week it attracted global media coverage, which said it was intended to create a stronger rival to the powerhouse of Google search, but perhaps the counter-offensive with the launch of Chrome OS next year will be the real bullet in the gun? Media reports on the Battle of the Bing mostly dealt with the facts of the agreement but fell way short of any concrete projections as to what web users will be searching with in the future. Yahoo!, it seems, with Carol Bartz at the helm, is busy refocusing the company on being a producer of media sites and a marketer of online display advertising. It will also receive 88% of the search-generated ad revenues from its own sites for the first five years of the deal. But a hint at the real story came from an unlikely source. This week's Economist also ran a factual piece titled Bingoo! on the Microsoft-Yahoo! deal, but its cartoon in The World This Week section went somewhat further. It showed an outraged Yahoo! sitting atop the shoulders of a belligerent Bing, both cudgel-bearing and incensed, standing on the palm of a club-wielding Neanderthal-like titan Microsoft, shouting, "We think it is wrong to have a market dominated by one giant!", to which the finger-pointing Palaeolithic Google responds, "Do a web search for 'operating system'..." Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010 and is open source, which is appealing. It is also a "lightweight" operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. It is... more.. Click Fraud: A Guide To Protecting Your Pay-Per-Click Campaign Click Fraud: A Guide To Protecting Your Pay-Per-Click Campaign By John Hill   Spending on Internet advertising is growing faster than any other sector of the advertising industry and is expected to surge from $12.5 billion last year to $29 billion by 2010 in the U.S. alone, according to the researcher eMarketer Inc., with around 50% of this spending being spent on pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. Click fraud is the latest 'hot topic' circulating the online marketing arena, but what is it? And how does it affect you as a merchant running a pay-per-click campaign? Here we offer you a complete guide as to what this phenomenon is, who is likely to commit such an act, how to identify & prevent click fraud and how to best report instances of suspected click fraud on your PPC campaign. What is Click Fraud? According to Wikipedia "Click fraud is a type of internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in the target of the ad's link" Click Fraud is estimated to range from 5% - 15% of pay-per-click traffic (some estimates are as high as 20% - 35%) although Google estimates click fraud at only 2% due to the rigorous detection methods they claim are in place. In a recent study by Click Forensics, click fraud reached a new high of 14.2% in the last quarter of 2006 with the average... more.. Simple SEO Page Optimization Guidelines Simple SEO Page Optimization Guidelines By Greg Schipper, fast seo ranking   Most people make on site optimization very complex. I want to set a simple guideline for on-page optimization that anyone can adapt into their pages and website.   1) Determine the page topic, and use 2 to 4 keyword phrases to accurately describe your page topic. 2) Place those keyword phrases in the Page Title tag, and only those. Don?t waste the most valuable page component on promoting your company, brand, or domain name. Example: ?<title>Wedding dresses, discount wedding dresses, designer wedding dresses</title>?. 3) The second most important tag on the page is the ?<H1>? tag. Use this for paragraph headings and subtitles on your page. Since H1 is large and ugly, simply redefine in CSS to your specs. Also, these H1 tagged content titles should have 1 keyword phrases in each. It is not uncommon to have 2 to 5 section titles using H1 tags. 4) When you write your page copy, make liberal, but sensible use of your keyword phrases. This is the 3rd most important page component; content. 5) When you insert images, use alt text to include some of your page keyword phrases for... more.. Court Orders Google to Turn Over YouTube Data Court Orders Google to Turn Over YouTube Data By Donald P. Schweitzer (c) 2008 A federal court has ordered the giant of all Internet companies - Google, to hand over documents concerning YouTube's viewing data to another media monster - Viacom. Viacom and Google are currently entangled in a no-holds barred lawsuit, concerning allegations of infringement of intellectual property rights. Viacom wanted the viewing data to help it determine the extent to which YouTube's success was built on the popularity of copyrighted clips that were illegally posted to the site. Google contended that YouTube's viewing data should be kept from Viacom to protect the privacy of its users. Unfortunately for the millions of people who view YouTube videos, the judge granted Viacom's request. The court's ruling has caused many advocates of privacy rights to cry foul. For the following reasons, I believe the federal judge was correct in ruling against Google. The Court's Powers To Access Records Cannot Be Denied Like millions of Americans and other people around the world I love Google. I can say without a doubt that Google has been very good to me and my family law practice. And if Google wants to be viewed by it's customers as the champion of privacy rights, so be it. But, let's get real... , the court's access to private records under appropriate circumstances cannot be denied. We cannot let people hide behind their computers to commit crimes or torts. It would be absurd, for example, to give a child molester safe haven to either post or view child pornography. It would be equally absurd to give a person safe... more.. 5 Google Tools For Researching Your Market 5 Google Tools For Researching Your Market By Pete Moore (c) 2009 Internet marketers and webmasters have always had a love/ hate relationship with Google. Whatever you think of them they do provide website owners with some great market research tools. No matter what market you are in or plan to be in, you will find these free tools provided by Google very useful when researching your market. You should be researching your market constantly, NOT just when setting up your site. The internet is ever changing and, if you're not keeping up with those changes, you will be left behind. Market Research Tool 1 - Related Searches And Wonder Wheel When you start typing in the main Google search box you should see a drop down box appear giving you some alternative search terms related to the word you typed. Note these phrases down in a notepad file or write them on a piece of paper. They will be useful as part of your keyword list used in the next tool. You will also see more related search phrases after you click search. Scroll to the bottom of the results page and you will see "searches related to:" Note down any new phrases shown there. Recently Google has released Wonder Wheel which is also a related keywords tool but is shown in a mind map format. You can also click on the related phrases to find more useful search terms. To access wonder wheel: enter your keyword in the standard search screen, then at the top of the results on the left you should see a show options link. Select that and it will reveal a menu. Near the bottom of the menu you should see wonder... more.. Is Your Business Website Old School - 5 Reasons To Redesign With CSS Is Your Business Website Old School - 5 Reasons To Redesign With CSS By Linda Bustos Many small business owners have a hard time seeing the value of a website redesign. They believe "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." And this is understandable. Unless you are eating, breathing and sleeping technology and staying up to date with the moving target of Internet business, you're not likely to know intuitively if your site needs a redesign. And as a small business owner, you may be concerned about the up-front costs of a website redesign. But once you understand how a redesign can help you drive traff?to your site, convert more users and even save mon? you'll feel more positive about making the ?estment in your business. Old School Web Design - Tables-Based HTML Not long ago, fax machines were the best way to deliver business documents fast. But now it's so easy to scan and email documents, and even capture digital signatures through email, the fax machine is quickly going the way of the typewriter. With email, recipients can choose to read and archive the message online, or print it out themselves on their own desktop printer. No need for individual telephone lines for the fax machine, taking up desk space, replacing toner, uncurling fax paper and listening to screeching fax machine tones! Tables-based HTML websites are like the fax machine. At one time tables were the best way to render information on the Web. But like curled paper and fading ink, tables left something to be desired. Designers were constrained by tables that allowed data to be rendered only in tabular f? The clean, professional and... more.. How to Build a Better Website Without Building a Website How to Build a Better Website Without Building a Website By Richard D S Hill (c) 2007 The most important thing to consider, when first thinking about any website, is the user. Like so much marketing, websites are, unfortunately, too often developed 'inside out' (company focused) rather than 'outside in' (customer focused). All website users have their own reasons and objectives for visiting a site. No matter how targeted, any website has to communicate with a wide range of individual users. To be successful, therefore, every site has to give each and every user a thorough but simple presentation of the site's content so that the site achieves your objectives e.g. registrations, leads, sales. To do this successfully, users want: Simple Navigation Navigation that is clear and consistent. Probably the worst issue is 'lost visitors' ? those who are in a maze and don't know where they are in the site. The site should always allow users to easily return to the home page and preferably get to any page with one cl?. Studies have shown that users want to find things fast, and this means that they prefer menus with intuitive ranking, organization and multiple choices to many layers of simplified menus. The menu links should be placed in a consistent position on every page. Clarity Users do not appreciate an over-designed site. A website should be consistent and predictable. For maximum clarity, your site design should be built on a consistent pattern of modular units that all share the same basic layout, graphics etc. Designing Websites That Meet Their Objectives Everything above... more.. Google Place Search Changes How Local Searches are Displayed Google Place Search Changes How Local Searches are Displayed By Peter Bowen (c) 2010 Google Local and Map have become a big influence on how people search and get results. We can demonstrate this by searching for 'accountant' and the search result returns a broad list of 'accountants', but perhaps too broad so we tend to search again by narrowing the result - adding a location to the search - 'accountant in city' and the results we see are now closer to home. So it's no surprise that Google should be taking a closer look at how we search and attempt to refine the process and provide a more meaningful search result by changing the Google Local search algorithm to make it easier for us to find what or who we are searching for locally. Today, November 8, 2010 we see searches that reference local business and all the relevant places in that location in a new clustered visual display located in the upper right corner of a search result page. The now familiar map displays each business with red lettered pins, and links to each business. And as you scroll down the page the Google Places Map will scroll with the page so that it is always visible. In addition to the way we see businesses displayed on Google Places, a new product is being launched - Google Boost. Google Boost is a Google AdWords product that allows local businesses to feature more prominently in local searches. It allows small to medium size businesses the ability to feature more highly in searches, and concentrates much more on the... more.. A Beginner's Guide to Google Website Optimizer A Beginner's Guide to Google Website Optimizer By Kalena Jordan (c) 2008 We all know that the most effective Pay Per Click advertising campaigns use landing pages that are matched perfectly to your target search keywords and designed to follow through with the idea or theme that your PPC ad has hinted at. But how do you determine the effectiveness of those landing pages? How do you know what design or page features will trigger a better response in your audience and lead to more conversions? The answer is that you don't, unless you test. Benefits of Landing Page Testing Whether they are a part of a PPC campaign or not, there are countless benefits to testing your web site pages, including: Improve the effectiveness of landing pages Increase conversions / sales Attract more leads / sign-ups Increase time spent on your site by visitors Reduce the Cost Per Acquisition of new customers Eliminate guesswork. Improve your site design via information from your site's end users Avoid staff disputes ? let your customers decide what design elements should be changed Google Website Optimizer The Website Optimizer is a tool that allows marketers and webmasters to test variations of pages on site visitors automatically, to see which pages or variations of pages perform the best (i.e. lead to the most conversions). In April 2007, Google took their Website Optimizer tool out of BETA and made it available to the general public. I had been wanting to use Google Website Optimizer to test our landing pages on Search Engine College for some... more.. 10 Secrets to Using Twitter to Attract More Followers and Get More Clients 10 Secrets to Using Twitter to Attract More Followers and Get More Clients By Donna Gunter (c) 2008 I do wonder at times if some Twitter users have any time to get any work done. Several of the more prolific ones that I follow swear they spend no more than 30 minutes a day on Twitter, but I really find that hard to believe. Many times it seems they are twittering just to say something, like "Good morning Twitterverse" when they begin their day, give more details than I want to know about what they had for lunch, what their children said to them, or when they take a nap. I realize that this is part of the "like, know, and trust" process that enables people to get to know each other, but sometimes it's simply too much information..LOL. I'm Twittering primarily to market my business. Consequently, I try and limit my personal twitters to no more than 2 per day. My clients, who create Twitter accounts for marketing, as well, tell me, "I'm signed up. Now what in the world do I Twitter about? How do I market my business with this tool?" Here are 10 strategies that I use regularly to market my business and my expertise via Twitter. Remember, you have only 140 characters for your tweet (Twitter post). 1. How you're helping clients. Talk about specific ways that your business helps clients and use their Twitter ID if you have their permission, i.e. "Just finished @clientname brainstorm great Internet marketing plan for 2009" or "Finally finished setting up Quickbooks for local hardware store -- now they can... more.. Top 5 Signs That Your Website Sucks Top 5 Signs That Your Website Sucks By John Metzler (c) 2009   Small business owners may not have the resources to invest heavily in their web presence and finding solutions to problems can be like finding a needle in a haystack. You know something's wrong but don't have the faintest idea how to fix it. Is it a technical issue? Are your ads not performing well? Don't know what kind of traffic you're getting? Website problems can fall into a myriad of categories. So if you think your website sucks, a) it probably does, and b) you should read on. 1. You Aren't Getting Traffic You're excited about the big, expensive job the design team just finished on your site. It looks like a million bucks! Well it's a shame it isn't making you a darn cent. Just because it exists doesn't mean people know about it. Announce it to the world by submitt? it to reputable directories and sharing your useful content with others on social bookmarking sites (you do have useful content, don't you? If not, I'll cover this later). You can even do some link exchanges -- provided the sites you exchange with are reputable -- just to get your site crawled early on. Further optimize it for search engines by following good SEO practices, building quality content and generating inbound links from other sites. Once you do that, you'll need to monitor progress with web analytics software. Google Analytics is free and it has a slick interface. And we know you like pretty things seeing as how you broke the bank on your web site design. If you're looking for high ROI, invest your time in learning search engine marketing. Better... more.. How to Find Free Content for your Web Site How to Find Free Content for your Web Site By Kalena Jordan (c) 2007 I see a lot of webmasters complain in forums and chat rooms that they don't have enough content on their web sites, but they don't have the means or the knowledge to find more. There are actually many ways to obtain more web site content. You could hire someone to write it for you. You could purchase some ready made content about your site topic or you could spend some time and write content yourself. But did you know that there is a way you can get hundreds of pages worth of high quality, fresh content every day without paying a cent? There is. It's called article syndication. Article Syndication Articles relating to thousands of topics are freely available for syndication on web sites. Authors provide them for this purpose to gain a wider audience and achieve more back links. Generally, the only requirement for webmasters is that the author's by-line, resource box and link are included with the published article. In terms of copyright, you simply need to follow the author's publishing guidelines when republishing their article. This usually involves an "About the Author" paragraph at the bottom of each article with a sentence and link to the author's site. These syndication requirements are generally specified in the article itself. How to do it: 1) Browse the Internet to find articles you can syndicate. I use the article announcement groups at Yahoo Groups, but you can also find them at sources such as Submit Your Articles. 2) View the articles being distributed by the group and review their freshness and... more.. Size Really Does Matter - At Least When it Comes to Twitter Size Really Does Matter - At Least When it Comes to Twitter By Merle (c) 2009 MerlesWorld.com Back in the days when newsletters first hit the Internet, they were usually published in text format because many email clients did not support HTML email just yet. One of the problems many publishers faced was long URL's being split in half and not being clickable to the reader. To solve this problem, shortening services started to spring up that would take a long URL and cut it down to a reasonable size. With the popularity of Twitter and the confines of 140 characters, URL (link) shortening services are in high demand once again. When you have such a small amount of space to work with, no one wants a long URL cutting into that precious real estate. There are a variety of shortening services to choose from, each having their own specific features and benefits. Most of them do work hand in hand with Twitter, allowing you to Tweet the link once it's been shortened. If you're an avid Twitter user this is a useful feature to have. Some only provide a basic shortening service, but many allow you to view stats and metrics on your newly shortened links if you register. If you're doing any form of social media marketing, it's nice to be able to see if anyone's actually clicking on all the links you're sending out to the "Twitosphere", or posting on Facebook and other sites. Tracking will give you an indication that you're being heard and that people are actually paying attention to what you have to say. Another important thing to look for is whether or not the shortening service uses... more.. A Pretty Face is Not Enough A Pretty Face is Not Enough (When It Comes to Your Website) By Ivana Katz (c) 2009 Imagine meeting someone new ... they have a beautiful face, lovely hair, stunning smile, drop dead gorgeous body and are dressed in designer clothes. Naturally you are attracted to their striking appearance, so you start talking to them. After a few minutes you realize this person has no personality, only talks about himself/herself and has no interest in finding out about you. Any attempt on your part to speak gets shut down and if you do manage to ask a question their answer is usually "Yes, but ... let's get back to me". How long do you think you would stay and chat to this person? Do you think you would want to become friends? Probably not. And the same goes for your website! You can create the most stunning website, with flash animations, video or audio features, rotating logos etc but the truth is, if your website doesn't have any depth, no amount of "pretty" will get visitors to come back, let alone purchase anything! Just as Dr Phil warns against spending your entire time planning a wedding (and spending thousands of dollars on it), instead of preparing for a lifelong marriage, many first time entrepreneurs become absorbed by the visual aspects of their website. They spend hours agonizing over colour schemes and designs (and then spend thousands of dollars having special effects added), but sadly don't give any priority or time to the content of their website. Every month millions of new websites are being added... more.. Today's Google Bots and What They Do Today's Google Bots and What They Do By Kim Roach (c) 2006 Google currently indexes over 8 billion web pages. However, before these pages were placed in the index, they were each crawled by a special spider known as the GoogleBot. Unfortunately, many web masters do not know about the internal workings of this virtual robot. In fact, Google actually uses a number of spiders to crawl the Web. You can catch these spiders by examining your log files. This article will attempt to reveal some of the most important Google spiders, their function, and how they affect you as a web master. We'll start with the well-known GoogleBot. GoogleBot Googlebot, as you probably know, is the search bot used by Google to scour the web for new pages. Googlebot has two versions, deepbot and freshbot. Deepbot is a deep crawler that tries to folow every link on the web and download as many pages as it can for the Google index. It also examines the internal structure of a site, giving a complete picture for the index. Freshbot, on the other hand, is a newer bot that crawls the web looking for fresh content. The Google freshbot was implemented to take some of the pressure off of the GoogleBot. The freshbot recalls pages already in the index and then crawls them for new, modified, or updated pages. In this way, Google is better equipped to keep up with the ever-changing Web. This means that the more you update your web site with new, quality content, the more the Googlebot will come by to check you out. If you'd like to see the Googlebot crawling around your... more.. Web Design 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Designing a Website Web Design 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Designing a Website By Herman Drost (c) 2010 Many site owners make the mistake of building a website without laying out a clear plan for their online business. This is a sure set-up for failure. There are 1000s of abandoned sites on the web due to lack of careful planning. Before designing your website you should ask yourself some questions to avoid making mistakes down the road. 10 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Designing a Website 1. What Are Your Business Goals? It's easy to say, "I want to make mon?" however, this is not a great motivator. Think of a deeper motivation that you feel passionate about e.g. "I want to have the financ? freedom to spend more time with my kids as they are growing up." 2. What's the Purpose of Your Website? This is the question most visitors will ask when accessing your website. Your home page must clearly explain the purpose and benefits of the products and/or services you are offering. 3. What Type of Products or Services Will You Sell? Research the marketability of your products or services by doing keyword research. Use the Google Keyword Tool to find out how many searches your main keywords receive every month. If there are no searches, it means there is not much demand and therefore not worth marketing. If it is a very competitive market (millions of searches per month), it may be difficult to stand out from your competitors and create a profitable online business. 4. How Many Products Will You Sell From Your Website? This will determine how many pages your website will have. If you're only selling one product or service, you may only need 4 web pages... more.. Websites, It's the Experience Stupid Websites, It's the Experience Stupid By Jerry Bader (c) 2007 The other day I picked up a book that was sitting on my night table for over a year. It's just a small book and seemed like an easy read, perfect for falling sleep. It was called, "The Invisible Touch" by Harry Beckwith. Mr. Beckwith has written several books and is an expert on positioning, branding, and client relations. I wasn't sure if I was going to bother reading it or not, but after looking at the introduction I was hooked. This guy knew what he was talking about; he must because I agreed with most everything he said. That surely makes him an expert, at least in my eyes. Anyway, he tells a story about going to a concert for one of his favorite artists, a Laura Nyro. He purchased her recordings and loved them for their exquisite sound and her technical playing ability but the concert was a disaster. Ms. Nyro performed with her usual skill and precision, but she nev?once looked at the audience, preferring instead to sit at the piano staring offstage while she played. Each song was preceded by a perfunctory introduction that was barely addressed to the audience. Needless to say, Harry was disappointed, as you can imagine anyone would be.   The Difference Between Products and Services The point of the story Harry Beckwith was making was that there is a big difference between products and services. To quote from his book, "Products are made; services are delivered. Products are used; services are experienced." In this case, recordings are products and concerts are services. This got me thinking of my own experience, perhaps not... more.. Website Traff?and Search Engine Optimization: The Domain Name Website Traff?and Search Engine Optimization: The Domain Name By Donovan Baldwin Whether for business or personal use, before there can be a website, there must be a domain name, and one of the most important steps of a search engine optimization plan is to pick the right one. So what IS a domain name? A domain name is that thing that people give you when you ask for their website. anything.com, for example, is a domain name. Some things to consider in choosing a domain name are: 1. Keep it short and simple. If your website is for your business, a short domain name has its advantages. Whether you want to print it on business cards or display it on a billboard, making the domain too long or too complicated may make it too hard for potential customers to catch in one reading or recall later, if they did not have a chance to write it down. An exception to this is if you can get a phrase which will be remembered into the domain name (Example: buytwogetonefree.com) ...which leads us to point number two. 2. Make it easy to remember. Your custo