Saturday, December 20, 2008

White Hat SEO Techniques

To improve a Web page's position in a SERP, you have to know how search engines work. Search engines categorize Web pages based on keywords -- important terms that are relevant to the content of the page. In our example, the term "skydiving" should be a keyword, but a term like "bungee jumping" wouldn't be relevant.

Most search engines use computer programs called spiders or crawlers to search the Web and analyze individual pages. These programs read Web pages and index them according to the terms that show up often and in important sections of the page. There's no way for a search engine spider to know your page is about skydiving unless you use the right keywords in the right places.

Meta Tags
Meta tags provide information about Web pages to computer programs but aren't visible to humans visiting the page. You can create a meta tag that lists keywords for your site, but many search engines skip meta tags entirely because some people used them to exploit search engines in the past.

Here are some general tips about keyword placement:

One place you should definitely include keywords is in the title of your Web page. You might want to choose something like "Skydiving 101" or "The Art of Skydiving."
Another good place to use keywords is in headers. If your page has several sections, consider using header tags and include important keywords in them. In our example, headers might include "Skydiving Equipment" or "Skydiving Classes."
Most SEO experts recommend that you use important keywords throughout the Web page, particularly at the top, but it's possible to overuse keywords. Your skydiving site would obviously use the word "skydiving" as a keyword, but it might also include other keywords like "base jumping" or "parachute." If you use a keyword too many times, some search engine spiders will flag your page as spam. That's because of a black hat technique called keyword stuffing, but more on that later.
Keywords aren't the only important factor search engines take into account when generating SERPs. Just because a site uses keywords well doesn't mean it's one of the best resources on the Web. To determine the quality of a Web page, most automated search engines use link analysis. Link analysis means the search engine looks to see how many other Web pages link to the page in question.

Going back to our skydiving example, if a search engine sees that hundreds of other Web pages related to skydiving are linking to your Web page, the engine will give your page a higher rank. Search engines like Google weigh the importance of links based on the rank of the linking pages. In other words, if the pages linking to your site are themselves ranked high in Google's system, they boost your page's rank more than lesser-ranked pages.

The Webcrawler search engine spider analyzes Web pages and indexes them according to relevance.

So, how do you get sites to link to your page? That's a tricky task, but make sure your page is a destination people want to link to, and you're halfway there. Another way is to offer link exchanges with other sites that cover material related to your content. You don't want to trade links with just anyone because many search engines look to see how relevant the links to and from your page are to the information within your page. Too many irrelevant links and the search engine will think you're trying to cheat the system.

In the next section, we'll look more closely at ways people try to fool search engines into ranking their pages higher on a SERP.

Monday, December 15, 2008

How Search Engine Optimization Increases Profits

For anyone who is attempting to make money online their website is their livelihood. Therefore, it is important for them to understand that without appropriate search engine optimization (aka SEO) they might just as well be standing in the unemployment line. You see, the majority of people locate the websites they will purchase from through a search engine and they usually only click on a website that shows up in the first page of the search engine results, so any website that isn’t on the first page of the search engine results may as well not even exist. You can’t make sales without getting traffic to your site and you can’t make money without making sales, right?

Although there are many ways to get traffic to your site without high rankings in the search engines, many of these cost many. PPC methods are one such method as is banner advertising. And many other methods will bring in a burst of traffic, but that traffic will fade over time. Sometimes very quickly (like within a day or week). SEO is a long-term traffic building activity that will bring you free traffic so in my opinion it’s one of the best things you can spend your time learning and implementing.

By getting a website properly search engine optimized many more people will visit that website. Depending on how well the site is set up for conversion a website will turn a certain percentage of its visitors into customers. So, the more people that visit a website, the more sales that website will make. If a website is getting a 3% conversion rate (fairly common) that means that 100 people have to visit a website before 3 people will make a purchase. With figures like that you can see why it is essential to drive huge numbers of people to a website in order to make any money.

So, what factors are involved in getting a website search engine optimized? One of the most important parts of search engine optimization is good SEO content. Web “spiders” crawl through a website looking to see what the keywords are and how many times they are used on that site and then report this information back to the search engines. This is one of the main factors in determining a website’s search engine ranking and obviously, in determining how much money that website will make. Good content will not only get a website a good search engine ranking, but it will also inform and entertain the people who come to that website which will make them more likely to stick around and return�the more time they spend on the website the more likely they are to make a purchase.

Getting the right SEO can be tricky, but an abundance of companies offer top-rate SEO service for a nominal fee. Getting the right SEO determines the success or failure of a website and thus their profit, so a small investment now is worth the big payday later to anyone wanting to succeed on the internet.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Social Media Outsourcing

Outsourcing is a business arrangement in which one company provides for another company services that could also be or usually have been provided in-house. Social media outsourcing is a form of business process outsourcing (BPO), the contracting of a specific business task (e.g., payroll), to a third-party service provider. Generally, BPO is implemented as a cost-saving measure for tasks that a company requires but does not depend upon to maintain its position in the marketplace.

BPO is often divided into two categories. "Back office" outsourcing includes internal business functions such as billing or purchasing. "Front office" outsourcing includes customer-related services such as marketing, tech support ... and social media optimization and outreach.

The goals of a social media marketing program are familiar: Establish the company as an industry leader, protect the brand, inspire customer loyalty and repeat business, boost traffic to the Web site, boost sales, etc. The key questions: Should the company outsource its social media marketing work, and can the chosen outsourced service provider deliver on its promises?

AOL Readies High-Stakes Social-Media Debut

In the world of social networking, it's time for AOL's big debut, and there's a lot of money riding on the outcome.

In March, the Time Warner unit said it would plunk down $850 million for Bebo, the No. 3 social-media Web site by unique visitors, which has yet to gain a foothold in the U.S. and has lost share in Britain, its strongest market, to rival Facebook.

Though such sites are exploding in popularity, questions remain about their value as advertising vehicles, leading several analysts to ask whether AOL overpaid for Bebo.

Search And The Presidential Campaign

During the 2008 election, President-Elect Barack Obama and Senator John McCain had successful strategies that included ground-breaking use of online media in a presidential campaign to reach voters and convey their platforms.

Arguably, the popularity of online forums and maximizing the opportunity for consumer engagement through online presence allowed the candidates to be in two places at one time - live, in-market shaking hands while also available 24/7 online -- without collapsing from exhaustion on the campaign trail.

So what should we take away from the use of search and social media in the 2008 presidential election? To help answer that question, I've harvested the insights from a keynote panel at MediaPost's Search Insider Summit in Park City, Utah that discussed the two candidates' online tactics.

Search marketing is a valuable branding tool. Don't underestimate the power of search marketing in building and maintaining your brand. Organic results bring your genuine content to the forefront of the search engine results page (SERP). Those results increase with social media outreach, with consumer-driven content giving you third-party endorsement. Through paid search, you own your message and can adapt it properly -- and frequently - to speak directly with your audience when they raise their hand about subjects related to your brand. If McCain and Obama could do it on a topic like politics, you can, too.

Search serves as a powerful channel for lead generation and direct response. During early campaign efforts, the Obama camp used paid search for list-building and donor acquisition. Later, in general election campaigning, paid search played a role in voter mobilization and driving voter registration. The 2008 presidential election reinforces the valuable role search marketing can play in lead generation or direct response, whether you're looking to build your CRM program or drive your audience to a specific call to action.

Always optimize your campaign to better connect with your audience. According to panelist Emily Williams, interactive account executive at MSHC and member of the Obama campaign's interactive marketing team, the economic crisis didn't shift the team's strategy, but there was increased attention paid to "issue" terms. The analysts also focused on the impact of successful paid search strategies that favored the competition versus going against the competition. The reality is, your strategy is built early on, but like a growing plant, should never be left without water or pruning. The nature of business, consumer preference, consumer-driven media and the news media can shift what's important at any time. By keeping your audience in mind every day of your search program, you'll continue to be relevant and reap the benefits of your optimization.

Analyzing search behavior can inform and improve your demographic targeting. One can't help but question whether data from search trends and traffic served as competitive intelligence to guide where the candidates targeted their campaign efforts. Did lagging polls in Ohio drive a targeted search effort? Was the search strategy different to win California versus sustaining voters in another state? Little was disclosed from the Obama camp other than confirmation that there were strict measurements for search marketing and certain silos of focus.

However, analytics looking at this level of behavior is a significant source of information for any advertiser, whether you're a CPG brand that wants to dominate certain markets, an entertainment brand needing to increase ratings in areas with low viewership, or a quick service food restaurant striving to increase market share in a lagging city. And we can certainly expect insights from search behavior to play an increasingly significant role in future political campaigns.

Social media increases visibility. All this talk about search marketing, yet the Obama campaign was sending Facebook updates and messages to 'friends' almost daily. Yes, social media's value in engaging consumers and unveiling its success was only strengthened with the 2008 elections. What the Obama campaign did right was to put their candidate and platform in places where consumers were already spending their time. Williams shared that "the Obama campaign was looking for people who were looking for 'us,' and there's no better place to that than online."

She added, "The strategy of the Obama campaign was to build solid tools and allow people to use it in a way that fits them. Our job was to build it and maintain it so that other people could use it."

And that, alone, is something every brand marketer should be doing.

Using the right channels to effectively reach an audience segment is key, too. As Clickable's Ben Seslija, another panelist, pointed out, Obama's use of social media successfully reached a younger audience.

It all goes back to making sure your company and your brand are visible and a part of the conversation in forums where your potential audience or consumer is spending time. While it's up to you and your planning teams to determine the appropriate weight each channel should carry to fulfill your objectives, advertisers can learn from the Obama and McCain campaigns that peppering yourself traditionally and innovatively across the marketing mix maximizes your potential reach - and return.

It's the entire package that counts for your brand. What the presidential candidates did successfully that every company and marketer can learn from is to look at integration in a broader spectrum than only whether your media is aligned channel by channel. Results and success, as the candidates taught us, comes from the content, the tactic, and the image of the person or brand. You can't rely on a good offer or great pricing to drive your success if your brand perception is weak.

That is where the marketing, PR, image, the quality and value of products or services and the people driving the business play a truly synergized role in delivering the complete package that sways consumers to vote for your brand.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

State of the Search Engine Marketing Industry, 2008: Survey Results

SEM Insights posts results of a survey that included 254 SEM professionals on all levels. Who are our SEM colleagues? How many years of experience do they have? What is their job title and income?

After tallying all the results, it seems that the majority of respondents have the following in common:
* They have beginner knowledge of SEO (1-2 years) - 19%
* Their title is best represented as "search director" - 19%
* Most are making less than $50k/year - 35%
* The majority's highest level of education is Bachelor's Degree - 48%
* Most feel that title tag is the the most important SEO element - 51%
* Most believe that the biggest challenge facing SEOs today from a sales perspective is lack of mainstream knowledge - 41%
* Most believe that the biggest challenge facing SEOs today from a deliverables perspective is undefined expectations - 46%

And there's more. The survey is divided into other categories, including SEO at work, search conferences (83% think it's important to attend them!), SEM and Affiliate Marketing, and the future of SEM. I wouldn't do the survey justice by reposting all the results, so I've given you just a small amount of what you can see if you hop on over to the survey results.

Yahoo! exec! jumps! ship! to! Microsoft!

Microsoft confirmed Thursday that it has tapped former Yahoo executive Qi Lu to run its struggling Online Services Group.

Lu, formerly Yahoo's vice president of engineering for the Search and Advertising Technology Group, will take over as president of Microsoft's Online Services Group on Jan. 5, Microsoft said. Lu left Yahoo in August after 10 years at the company.
...
Lu will have his work cut out for him, as Microsoft has been struggling with its online business for some time. Growth of the OSG, which oversees Microsoft's search and advertising business, has been flat to slow for many years, despite the significant investment Microsoft has poured into the division.

Search Anonymization: More Hot Air from Microsoft

Microsoft announced recently that it is willing to abide by European guidelines that say search engines shouldn't keep personally identifiable search data beyond six months -- as long as other search engines like Google play along too. The announcement got a lot of press, but what's the real news here? Microsoft isn't going to do anything, unless everybody else does. As with a lot of things Microsoft, especially when it comes to the search realm, the news is more marketing hot air than tangible reality.

As it stands today, Microsoft keeps sensitive search data for 18 months, twice as long as Google currently does (although Google's new 9-month rule is also a bit slippery in terms of the actual anonymity it provides). Why didn't Microsoft just agree to meet Google at 9 months, or even to meet Yahoo's 13-month limit, and then have everyone work together to get to the European's stated goal of 6 months? Because it can't. It's still a distant third in the search engine wars, even in Europe, and it can't afford to concede anything that may further erode its position. Although it currently keeps personally identifiable data twice as long as Google, it hasn't been able to leverage that fact to improve its search algorithm and make a stronger run at search leadership. It can hardly retain less data and hope for a better result.

Microsoft has made some smart moves when it comes to search, the most recent of which was last week's hiring of Yahoo search guru Qi Lu to run its Online Services Group. But it's all probably a bit too little, too late.

Search Engine Marketing Solution, Launched by ActivEngage

The ActivEngage provider of proactive live chat for dealer websites, has launched its new low cost laser-targeted search engine marketing for dealerships, with its ActivSEM.

During the current challenging economic period, ActivEngage offers dealers this value-added service to help increase website traffic, lead generation and sales. Dealers can now maximize online search, without any significant increase in spending, and with ongoing analysis to continuously improve results.

Peter Wilson, Owner of Orlando Infiniti remarked, ''We have seen a significant increase in our website traffic and our lead generation since we began using ActivSEM. The boost in traffic and leads couldn't come at a better time. ActivEngage is putting money back into our dealership and the results have been phenomenal. They are genuinely trying to help our dealership, and it's working.''

ActivSEM targets automotive consumers who have the highest conversion rates and tracks the keywords used in automotive searches that end in live chat at the dealership website. Monitoring the search terms used by consumers who ultimately engage in chat is more valuable then merely measuring click-through rates, because site visitors who engage in chat have much higher sales conversion rates. In addition, as many dealerships decrease their online marketing spending, the dealerships who continue search marketing have the advantage of less competition. This special offer will help keep dealers in front of consumers on the Internet at a low cost, only $99 per month plus ad costs. ActivEngage will manage dealerships' SEM budget and make continuous adjustments to increase traffic, leads and sales.

Ted Rubin, co-founder of ActivEngage remarked, ''We are not offering this additional service to make money. We're offering it to help our dealers increase qualified web traffic, which has declined for many dealers in the current economic environment. ActivSEM is available to dealerships at our cost and dealers can be sure that no money is wasted because we track and monitor all results. We want to make sure that our dealers thrive, even during this difficult time and we are committed to doing everything we can to help dealers succeed.''

ActivEngage's proprietary business logic was designed in dealerships to meet the needs of sophisticated automotive shoppers. It laser targets each website visitor with the exact right message at the exact right time to get them to take action. The system has been strenuously tested for every type of dealership. It works because the company founders have over 30 years of retail automotive and technology experience, giving ActivEngage a true 360 degree understanding of the needs of automotive shoppers. Partnering with ActivEngage increases lead generation and offsets the increasing marketing costs associated with the sale of new and pre-owned automobiles. ActivEngage offers three tiers of service to ensure that all website visitors' experiences are enjoyable and uncomplicated, thereby increasing the value of dealership websites through better lead generation.

Performics: 2008 Black Friday Search Engine Marketing Sales Grew Year Over Year and Outpaced Cyber Monday for the First Time

Performics, a leading performance marketing agency, today announced that Black Friday online retail sales driven by search engine marketing programs increased over Black Friday 2007 and outpaced Cyber Monday for the first time on record.
"The economic climate is pushing more bargain shoppers to market this season. Advertisers responded by refocusing scarce resources, making tough decisions about margins, and executing deep online and offline discounts around Black Friday and Cyber Monday," said Nick Beil, CEO for Performics. "Meanwhile, consumers consolidated some of their shopping behavior to capitalize on the deal-intensive period from Black Friday through Cyber Monday."
In addition to outperforming Cyber Monday 2008, Black Friday 2008 retail sales from search engine marketing surpassed the highest single-day sales mark of 2007. Cyber Monday 2008 also generated impressive year over year growth, with retail sales from search engine marketing increasing 43 percent from Cyber Monday 2007.
"What remains to be seen is whether the initial year-over-year growth can be sustained throughout the rest of the season or if consumers consider their shopping to be finished already," said Beil. "Savvy advertisers will focus on 'follow up' or 'don't forget' shopping behavior--appealing to consumers to finish the shopping they have already started."
Performics used sales per advertiser data to determine these growth metrics. Performics figures Sales per Advertiser by taking total sales and dividing by the total number of active retail search engine marketing programs.
Historically, Performics' search programs have experienced their busiest day of online holiday shopping on the second or third Monday after Thanksgiving. Due to the necessary heavy discounting around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, this dynamic may play out differently in 2008. Performics will continue to monitor search data to analyze the impact that the deep discounts and earlier, Black Friday heavy shopping have on sales throughout the remainder of the season.

Pepperjam CEO Kris Jones to Speak on Search Engine and Affiliate Marketing Panels at Search Engine Strategies - Chicago

Pepperjam, the fastest growing full-service internet marketing agency and affiliate network in the United States, announced today that Pepperjam CEO Kristopher Jones will speak on two separate panels (Search and Affiliate Marketing) during Search Engine Strategies (SES) - Chicago. SES Chicago, the premier search-engine marketing conference, is being held at the Chicago Hilton December 8 - 12, 2008.

To learn more about Pepperjam visit www.pepperjam.com or Pepperjam Network visit www.peperjamnetwork.com
Affiliate 2.0: New Distribution Value Using Search & More

"It's an honor to be speaking on several panels at Search-Engine Strategies - Chicago. SES remains the leading conference for search-engine and interactive marketers. During these difficult economic times it's more important than ever for businesses to look to proven experts to help maximize return-on-investment and optimize overall online marketing efforts, said Kristopher B. Jones, President & CEO of Pepperjam.

Jones will speak on two panels.

The first panel is entitled "Ads in a Quality Score World," which will be held from 2:15-3:30pm on Wednesday, December 10, 2008. This panel will focus on strategies for improving the Google AdWords Quality Score.

The second panel is entitled "Affiliate 2.0: New Distribution Value Using Search & More," which will be held from 10:15-11:15am on Thursday, December 11, 2008. This panel will explore strategies for minimizing channel conflict between search and affiliate marketing and will discuss new distribution models.

About Pepperjam Network:
Pepperjam Network is a next generation affiliate marketing network that provides advertisers and publishers with industry leading pay-for-performance tracking, reporting, communication, and payment solutions. Pepperjam Network is a division of Pepperjam, a full-service internet marketing agency recognized by Inc. Magazine for the last three consecutive years as one of the fastest growing businesses in the United States. Learn more at www.pepperjamnetwork.com

About Pepperjam:
Pepperjam offers a full range of professional marketing management services in the areas of pay-per-click, search-engine optimization, affiliate marketing, mobile marketing, and online media planning and buying. Since 1999 Pepperjam has developed a reputation for being one of the most innovative, aggressive, and effective internet marketing agencies in the business

Privacy and Relevance Battle It Out at Search Engine Strategies (SES) Chicago

Privacy protection and collection of user data took center stage on Tuesday at SES Chicago 2008. In Battle of the Browsers: Personalization or Privacy at the digital marketing conference, panelists explored the popularity of certain internet browsers along with the delicate issue of privacy on the Web. The SES event runs through December 11th at the Chicago Hilton.
"Browsers are the new gateway to the next generation of targeting," said moderator Kevin Ryan, SES Advisory Board Chair and CEO, Motivity Marketing. People tend to get upset, however, when they know data about their habits is being collected.
Recent statistics (Hitwise, October 2008) indicate that 69.77 percent of internet users have Microsoft Internet Explorer as their browser. Mozilla Firefox has 20.78 percent of the market while newcomer Google Chrome has just .83 percent.
"For the average person, it is simply bizarre to compare browsers," commented panelist Mike Grehan, Global KDM Officer, Acronym Media.
The discussion focused on a recent plea for transparency to Google by Consumer Watchdog.org, a group concerned with the search giant's data collection. A video shown during the session featured Google CEO Eric Schmidt responding to the group's challenge by saying that performance is of utmost importance.
"It's a tradeoff - privacy versus relevance," noted Grehan.
On the privacy theme, Chris Sherman, Executive Editor, Search Engine Land, said that "the ultimate question is, who are we afraid will get their hands on all of this data?" Government, insurance companies or prospective employers were raised as potentially troubling entities.
The session turned to the increasing usage of social media applications such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, and the tremendous amount of personal information some people choose to reveal. Gary Stein, Director of Strategy, Ammo Marketing, raised the topic of social search and its increasing value as one's networks will help infuse relevance and help personalize one's searches.
For more information on SES Chicago and other shows in the series, see http://searchenginestrategies.com/chicago.
About Incisive Interactive Marketing LLC -- A Division of Incisive Media PLC
Incisive Media's Search Engine Strategies is a leading global conference and training series focused on search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Other Incisive resources for interactive marketers include the ClickZ network for digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion and research and Search Engine Watch which provides news and information about search, analysis of the search engine industry and tools for improving search marketing effectiveness.
Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company's principal markets include financial services, legal services, commercial real estate, marketing services and risk management. Incisive Media's market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, LegalTech, Post, Real Estate Forum, Risk, Search Engine Strategies and The American Lawyer.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Former AOL chief seeks funds to acquire Yahoo


Former America Online CEO Jonathan Miller is trying to arrange funds to attempt either a partial or a total buyout of the internet behemoth, Yahoo Inc. Miller intends to raise $28 billion to $30 billion to acquire the whole company at the rate of $20 to $22 a share.

The CEO is reportedly in talks with private equity and sovereign wealth investors to arrange the finances. As the news broke, Shares of Yahoo increased 11% to $12.50 in mid-day trading.

A circumspect Internet analyst Jim Friedland of Cowen & Co argued that raising funds to the tune of $30 billion in the current environment was an arduous task. He said, "We think potential private equity and sovereign fund investors would be unwilling to pay such a significant premium, given the challenging negative secular trends and Yahoo's current market valuation."

The last three years have seen many unsuccessful merger discussions between Microsoft and Yahoo. Earlier this year, in February Yahoo rebuffed a takeover offer from Microsoft. The protracted merger negotiations that ensued had Microsoft agreeing to pay $33 a share for Yahoo. However, the deal fell apart. To cap a tough year, Yahoo’s search advertising deal with Google Inc also fell through on antitrust concerns.

A Los Angeles-based analyst said, "We’re going into an ad recession, and 90 percent of the company’s revenue is ad-based. Private equity has a lot of options right now -- a lot of things look cheap, and Yahoo has a lot of problems and it’s leaderless."

Headquarted in Sunnyvale, California, Yahoo is best known for its web portal, search engine and mail services. The company was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in January 1994. According to estimates, the domain yahoo.com attracted at least 1.575 billion visitors annually by 2008.

On the other hand, Miller runs the venture capital fund Velocity Interactive Group. Rumors were rife that Miller will be the CEO at Yahoo once co-founder Jerry Yang hangs his boots. The new bid, if successful will surely see Miller at the helm.

Networking glitch knocks Yahoo offline for some

Yahoo Inc.'s Web site unreachable for many users on Wednesday.

The problem, first observed at around 11:40 a.m. Pacific Time, appears to have primarily affected users in the eastern U.S. and Canada who were trying to reach the www.yahoo.com domain.

Network engineers on the NANOG (North American Network Operators Group) discussion list reported that when they tried to reach www.yahoo.com, they were sent on the Internet's version of a wild goose chase. Domain Name System servers redirected traffic to another Yahoo domain, www.wa1.b.yahoo.com, which was not associated with an IP address. In other words, computers trying to find Yahoo's Web site were sent nowhere.

The problem appeared to have been resolved by about 1 p.m. Pacific Time.

Yahoo did not have much to say about the outage. The company confirmed in a statement that it had "a disruption in service earlier today that affected users in some geographic areas."

One NANOG poster, apparently a Yahoo employee named Matthew Petach, reported that the problem was triggered by a Juniper T1600 router that "went kablooie."

"This is primarily affecting traffic coming through Ashburn, Va.," Petach wrote at 1:16 p.m. Pacific Time. "We're aware of the issue and have put work-arounds in place; you should be back up and functional for the moment, though not in an optimal state."

The kind of router failure described by Petach could easily have accounted for the problems reported on NANOG Wednesday, if Yahoo's DNS name servers were behind that faulty router, said Cricket Liu, vice president of architecture at DNS appliance vendor Infoblox Inc.

Yahoo appeared to have fixed the problem by moving some of its DNS services to name servers run by Akamai Technologies Inc., a company that helps sites deliver Web content, Liu said.

"It sounds like maybe they changed ... to Akamai to save their network bacon," he said.

Yahoo Search Still Not Listening to 301 Redirects

We just found out that Yahoo! has indexed a non-canonical version of one of my domains, despite the fact that this non-canonical domain has been 301-redirected to the canonical domain since inception. So, despite a 301 redirect from example.com to www.example.com that actually predates the DNS going live ten years ago, Slurp has "inferred" this non-www domain and is now showing it and linking to it in their search result.
In fact, many sites are suffering from good rankings in Yahoo, because of this canonical domain issue
Generly Canonicalization makes no difference. All this time people are chasing their tails worried about being penalized by the big ‘G’ for canonicalization issues.

They even have some really neat appandments to their search result with other internal pages directly linked from their listing and a ‘more results from this site’ link. Google apparently really likes this site!!

But while we talking about yahoo its totaly diffrent Yahoo Search is not always listening to a simple 301 redirect.

Two very senior members discuss the issue, saying they both have 301 redirects from the non www version to the www version. Because Yahoo indexed both, the site will likely be delisted from the index, according to one senior member.

Monday, December 8, 2008

The Future Of Internet Marketing

Search Personalization, Google’s Search Wiki, and Universal Search results are all things that have led people like Bruce Clay and others to say Rankings are Dead. In response, Matt Cutts says, “2009 is a year in which you can’t just think of your self as an SEO, like my job is to rank one web page for one phrase.”

Social media sites are expanding and are becoming increasingly aware of their networks being exploited for profit and are responding with tightening their networks and pushing highly sophisticated advertising models.

Mobile communication is pushing the expansion of a mobile web with new ad opportunities and content standards. Along with the expansion of the mobile web, micro-blogging has exploded as both an outlet for content and a new communication medium.

New advertising models mean that companies will continue to put advertisers first and thus put more effort into minimizing marketers ability to game the system with strategies like SEO.

All of these changes mean that internet marketers can no longer rely on one strategy to promote themselves and or clients. This is not to say that each individual aspect of internet marketing has lost significance, but rather there is now a need to diversify techniques across all aspects of internet marketing.

Seminar on recent areas of development in SEO/ Search Engine Optimization field

Web Search USA organized a seminar at the company's conference hall last Friday. The forum of discussion headed, 'recent areas of development in the field of SEO (Search Engine Optimization)'. Speakers included top officials of the company as well as upcoming young workforce of the house.

The presiding speaker of the seminar initiated the motion with a brief introduction of SEO services of the company. He said “the prime aim of any Search Engine Optimization exercise is to create and increase traffic and draw maximum visitors with the help of various ethical yet modern strategies”. Subsequently, the theme of latest updates in the world SEO was touched upon.

The speakers, one by one, presented their speeches, with all of them, by and large, agreeing to the fact that the company profile needs to be beefed up by the newest developments in the concerned area. The areas mainly discussed included mostly various Social Media Optimization (SMO) tools. These encompassed areas like blogging, microblogs, wikis, discussion forums, and social networking. A means to increase the linkability of the website, social media stresses on relevant tagging and bookmarking to services like Reddit, Digg, Del.icio.us, etc. Usage of blogs, vblogs, weblogs forums and podcasts in social media can ideally prove helpful to optimize a website.

As the discussion came to a close, the speakers unanimously harped on the fact that these SMO tools are the determining factors in developing the SEO standards of the company. They are necessarily equipped with back links which enable any reader or browser to visit the website, thus increasing the traffic and earning higher SEO rankings in leading search engines.

The seminar was a successful one in terms of a united outlook presented by one and all attendees which would perhaps be hugely helpful in strengthening the SEO prospects of the company.

How to make sure search-engine users find your Web site

Whether your Web site is brand new or 10 years old, managing how it appears to search engines is crucial to its success. The typical Web site gets 61 per cent of its traffic from organic (nonpaid) search engine results, and 41 per cent of all traffic from Google alone.

Ensuring that the company's site ranks highly in search results is, for most businesses, a make-or-break proposition, which is why search engine optimization (SEO) is now a multibillion-dollar industry.

No one knows exactly what combination of tactics will maximize a Web site's ranking in search results, but a lot of smart people have developed some good approximations based on history and empirical evidence.

I asked three experts--Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz, Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land, and Michael H. Fleischner, author of SEO Made Simple --about what tips and tricks they thought someone just starting out in the SEO game ought to know. The best and brightest of their recommendations follow.

Know What Keywords to Optimize

Search engine optimization is useless if you don't know what you're trying to optimize.

For some businesses, picking appropriate keywords is straightforward: A candy merchant would probably choose candy, chocolate, and similar terms.

But other business sites face more-difficult decisions. What terms should an online store that sells many different products emphasize? And how should a general-interest Web site that covers a wide range of topics determine which search terms to focus on?

For starters, you should base your decisions about which terms relevant to your business to optimize on which terms people are searching for most often.

One way to gauge search term popularity is to use an online keyword tool designed to see measure what general terms are searched for the most. Both the Google Keyword Tool and the SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool can help you get a quick, accurate

sense of the search volume for any term of your choice, and they will recommend related terms that you might not have thought of.

Ultimately it's a numbers game: You need to optimize for terms that drive the highest traffic and are the most relevant to what your Web site offers.

Optimizing your site for terms that no one ever types into a search engine won't generate any traffic for the site, no matter how conscientiously you pursue the optimization. So before you do anything else, carefully select a handful of relevant high-interest terms for optimizing.

Google's Downfall: Search Engine Optimization

Ironically, Google's (GOOG) "Do No Evil" motto has been turned upside down by its own unparalleled success. The story stock introduced itself to Wall Street with a controversial Dutch auction initial public offering at $85 that spurned the conventional blue blood methods of Lower Manhattan. Investors were treated to spectacular price appreciation, rivaling the late nineties tech boom as Google shares skyrocketed to $725 within three years (GOOG has since retreated to $284).

The Mountain View, CA enterprise has emerged to dominate the search market, trouncing all expectations along this great run. The success has in fact, produced a Google trio of billionaires: Co-founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin and steady-hand chief executive officer Eric Schmidt.

The young Giant has expanded its clean, basic search model into a vertically integrated empire of blogs, maps, images, and open source software - all bankrolled by paid online advertisements that generate 97% of GOOG revenue. With a monopoly-like 70% market share of search ad dollars, Google has throttled all comers. The corporation has left Yahoo (YHOO), former tech heavyweight in shambles, continues to instigate the ire of 800-pound gorilla Microsoft (MSFT), and has wreaked havoc throughout the entire publishing industry.

These guys may just be too smart for their own good.

Google's fatal flaw is a business model reliant upon technological kryptonite. Irrespective of Google's powerful Stanford brain trust - the computer cannot think. The artificial intelligence can only be programmed to execute a code-program implemented by the individual that is indeed, fallible. The creator must remain one step ahead of this perpetual cat and mouse duel of fierce competition and a landscape of opportunists - hell bent upon manipulating the automated computer to destroy its own maker. All machines can be Gamed.

Enter Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.).

An entire parasitic, cottage industry has risen in the shadows of Google's prominence to bleed the integrity of Search. S.E.O. revolves around the strategy of rigging the search technology 'crawl' algorithm to prioritize particular websites and articles. Popular keywords and complicated tech geek html script is often installed into e-literature as a means to achieve higher search rankings and drive web traffic to one's website. The scheme has produced a charged atmosphere of suspicion, contempt, and outright fear.

Online advertisers will refuse to remit payment to Google in exchange for bogus search results. Google, in turn will perpetuate the paranoia by diligently screening all cyberspace language. Lastly, cynical web content producers will callously berate their well intentioned brethren as 'meritless writers,' exploiting the system to play up to a pandering readership base and feed into an 'inflated ego.' The finger pointing within this important section of the online community has degenerated into a garish spectacle of blame and mockery that may very well have precipitated Google's shocking demise from a $725 story stock to a decimated $284 fallen angel.

We encourage the intelligent marketing of one's product at all costs. However, the appearance of dead-end, unrelated writings of drivel at the top of Google search rankings is our main cause of concern. The emergence of said rubbish is the mark of a scofflaw, more familiar with computer algorithms than the nuts and bolts operation of creating strong, relevant content.

For example, a Google search of the term 'stock market' lists neopets.com as a foremost authority on this term. A neopet is actually a fairy-tale fantasy stuffed animal of some sort that is more suitable for child's play, rather than the machinations of any serious 'stock market' researcher. We may present no parallel connecting the neopet with any stock market of any kind.

The Search Engine Optimization tactic has been degraded - exploited by opportunistic purveyors of irrelevant material, dubious schemes, and at-worst, malicious viruses and spyware. Rampant, tasteless distortions of the method will effectively destroy the integrity of Web 2.0, if left unchecked.

Interestingly, the awe-inspiring success of Google and its sheer dominance of the search market may have led to its ultimate undoing.

Search Engine Marketing For Non-profits

Non-profit organizations should be exploiting the strategies of online marketers to gain traffic to their websites, raise awareness of their "brand" and its aims and convert visitors into donors, according to a study published in the first 2009 issue of the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) involves focusing on how well a website can attract high ranking in the search engine results pages (SERPs) of the main web search engines, Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft Live Search. The non-profit webmaster should focus on pertinent keywords and relevant generic phrases and then edit website page titles, text and hidden meta text, as well as image tags to accommodate these keywords and phrases. The aim not being to manipulate the search engines illicitly but to ensure that the non-profit's website provides the best answer to a given pertinent search query. Ultimately, this will increase the number of visitors to the site.

Dave McMahon and Charla Griffy-Brown of the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University, Los Angeles, suggest that, unlike conventional advertising and marketing campaigns, which can costs tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, SEM is well within the financial means of most non-profits even during an economic downturn.

By adopting SEM strategies, such as page optimization and building links with other related websites to improve search engine ranking, a non-profit will also be obliged to fine-tune its web presence according to its values and the feedback from its donors, and those who benefit from its existence.

The focus on truly relevant keywords and search terms that potential donors and other interested parties find useful will improve the service to its particular community that any non-profit might offer, the team explains. The researchers also suggest that an SEM approach to marketing will help non-profits answer the call to target potential donors more effectively and differentiate themselves better from other organizations.

McMahon and Griffy-Brown point out that achieving a high ranking in the search engines is a relatively easy goal for a webmaster. However, they point out that while high rankings in search engines is admirable, high rankings for poor search terms will consistently deliver poor results. "The compilation, selection, and evaluation of search engine keywords are vitally important to any search engine marketing campaign," they say. The team concludes that user questionnaires will help an organization find the most effective keywords for an SEM approach.

With a higher ranking for relevant keywords any non-profit will then be able to take best advantage of the highly personalized communication that is afforded by the web and specifically the advent of social media tools such as blogs, citizen journalism sites, online networks and communities, and shared bookmarking and news services.

ExpressIndia.com partners with Sprice.com

IndianExpress.com has partnered with Sprice.com, the travel search engine of the Singapore based Sprice Pte Ltd, to power its travel search.

IndianExpress.com is the consumer portal of the Indian Express Group of Publications.

As part of the partnership, Sprice would provide content to ExpressIndia.com for its “hotel” section. The newly designed section will offer consumers an access to hotels on both domestic and International destinations.

“The partnership with ExpressIndia.com is our first collaboration with an Indian consumer portal. It represents an opportunity for us to extend in the region and get access to a large consumer base,” said Vikas Gulati, Vice President Marketing of Asia Pacific for Sprice.com.

Sprice.com was launched in India in September 2008 and searches about 200 suppliers across the world to display fare information, taxes, surcharges etc.
It operates in Europe through its office in France, while the head office in Singapore serves the markets in Asia-Pacific.

ExpressIndia.com hosts IndianExpress.com, FinancialExpress.com, ScreenIndia.com, Loksatta.com and Lokprabha.com. It also runs news feature sites like ExpressCricket.in and KashmirLive.com.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Microsoft rolls out 'Win with Search' contest

BANGALORE, INDIA: Software giant Microsoft today rolled out a fun way to search for your information online with a new contest on the 'Live' search engine called - "Win with Search".

Every time a user makes a search query, there will be a roll of the dice on the page and the first user to get the number 6 on both die within a 10-minute interval wins mobile talk time worth Rs. 100, said a press release.

As a bonanza, every ten minutes, a random search user who checks out the innovative Live Search experience would be picked and would also win talk time for the same amount. The contest refreshes every 10 minutes, thus ensuring that there is a prize up for grabs throughout the day, it added.

Rashi Srivastava, consumer and online marketing officer, Microsoft India said, "Like most things in life, search is also something we tend to get comfortable doing a certain way. However, given a choice, consumers would like to experiment with a smarter, more fun way to search! 'Win With Search' is intended to do exactly this."

He said it encourages consumers to try a far more personalized, richer Live Search that would greatly improve their search experience, at the same time bringing back the fun quotient.

Live Search aims to bring back the spark to consumer's search experiences and was recently updated with new smart features such as Image Search and Video Search.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Firms 'should invest in search engine optimisation to beat credit crunch'

Small companies struggling to cope in the current economic conditions should invest in search engine optimisation (SEO), an expert has said.

According to Mike Tekula from Build a Skill, while firms may be seeking to reduce their internet marketing budgets, they should not overlook the benefits of SEO.

He stated that putting resources into online marketing, such as SEO, offers a number of advantages, the British Computer Society reports.

Mr Tekula added that it is cheaper than many other strategies and offers a higher return on investment.

The industry practitioner went on to state: "For most small businesses, SEO is new. Some have considered it, perhaps even done a bit of research on the topic, but haven't yet invested in it."

Meanwhile, research recently conducted by Nielsen Online and the Internet Advertising Bureau in Australia suggested that internet marketing contributes to brand building and enhances consumers' intentions to purchase products and services.

Properly Submitting Your Website To Search Engines

If you have a web-based business or if a significant portion of your business is performed on the internet through your website, then the best advertising and marketing is completed by submitting your website to a search engine.

No amount of press releases, newspaper or radio ads, banner ads, spam emails or newsletters will achieve the same results, although it may be effective in a small proportion.

Beware of companies that promise an automatic submission of your website to hundreds of search engines which are most times nothing more than false promises. The best way to submit your website for search engine ranking and inclusion is to do it yourself or to hire an expert to do it manually, by contacting the search engine companies and directories.

As with many things, researching or getting referrals from other companies that have had great success with an SEO company is always the safest way to ensure that your website is going to be in genuinely caring hands. There are so many websites on the internet trying to make a quick buck by any means necessary.

Business dealings with the wrong types of people can be very cut-throat if you're not careful in considering and researching where you decide to go in finding your marketing partners for life.

Before you begin to submit your website to search engines, it is best to ensure that your websites are thoroughly designed to a professional quality using the right key words, good graphics and pictures and appropriate, relevant content. Don't submit websites that are incomplete.

While submitting to a search engine, make sure to provide information about your website, keywords and any other information that may be pertinent, including the name and contact information of your business.

The creation and growing life of your website in the infancy stages are always going to come with many great challenges. But once you have overcome those challenges and beaten the odds, you will most likely be able to repeat this pattern over and over if you wanted to do so.

You could also decide to become a consultant and help others to become better with their dealings online. They could learn from your mistakes and discoveries just as you had with your wonderful mentors.

Mere submissions alone to search engine companies will not guarantee that your site would be immediately listed and the ranking will be at the very top. Because there are thousands of new websites coming up every day and it may take quite some time before they take up your site for review by human editors.

One important factor to remember while submitting your website is to include a site map of your website which makes the crawling easy for the web robots. Search engines like Google hardly consider submissions without sitemaps.

It just makes sense to do everything that you can think of to make the robot's job in crawling your website as easy as it can possibly be from your end. It can also be referred to as optimizing your website to just flow very smoothly without hardly any interruption at all from the search engine programs that hit all kinds of dead ends and errors as people place businesses online.

There are many online companies that accept search engine submission services. You can choose to do it yourself with software packages available all over on the internet.

The best way, as with anything, is to get to know your prospective source of help and information as much as you can. Over some time this will develop in your mind as a trustworthy source that you can always depend on for a very long time, you hope.

You will hear from many users online that you should stay as far away as you can get from these automatic submission companies. This is very much the case in most of what you may stumble onto online.

I repeat that there are a few good, solid and dependable companies that you can find by knowing the right people and being associated with a good network of business minded people.

Ritesh Jha

Friday, December 5, 2008

Rosetta Search Engine Optimization Experts to Speak at Search Engine Strategies (SES) Conference

Rosetta, one of the country's leading interactive marketing agencies, is sending two nationally-recognized search marketing experts to speak at this year's Search Engine Strategies (SES) Conference in Chicago.
Paul Elliott, partner and head of Rosetta's Acquisition Marketing Practice, and Chris Boggs, manager of Search Engine Optimization, will serve on five panels throughout the four-day event. Now in its 10th year, the global SES Conference and Exposition Series educates marketers on search marketing tactics. SES Chicago is the only major search marketing conference in the Midwest, holding over 60 sessions December 8-12 at the Chicago Hilton.
Rosetta will participate in the following panels:
-- Measuring Success in a 2.0 World (Monday, Dec. 8 at 11:45 a.m.)
-- Why Does Search Get All the Credit? (Monday, Dec. 8 at 4:30 p.m.)
-- Advanced Link Building (Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 4:15 p.m.)
-- eCommerce 101: Optimizing Your Shopping Cart for Search and Conversion
(Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 4 p.m.)
-- How to Speak Geek: Working Collaboratively With Your IT Department to
Get Stuff Done (Thursday, Dec. 11 at 9 a.m.)


Elliott has nearly 10 years of experience in Internet marketing, with a focus on organic search engine optimization and paid search engine marketing. He has extensive experience in designing and executing integrated online marketing programs for mid to large sized companies.
Boggs has over eight years of experience in search marketing programs, notably as a certified Google(TM) AdWords(TM) Professional, a Yahoo! Search Marketing Ambassador, and an early participant in the MSN AdCenter release in 2005. He is a moderator within the Search Engine Watch (SEW) forums, the associate editor of the Search Engine Roundtable Blog, and has served on the SEMPO Board of Directors since 2006.
"We are excited to participate so actively in this year's conference," says Elliott. "The event is always full of valuable strategies for all disciplines of search marketing, including paid search, organic optimization and online reputation management. We're honored to be a part of such distinguished panels and a world-class event."

Microsoft snags former Yahoo search-technology whiz to lead online division

Microsoft has picked a top search technologist and former senior Yahoo executive to run the struggling division that battles Google most directly.

Qi Lu, a 47-year-old computer scientist who left Yahoo in August after a decade there, will be president of the Online Services Group, a high-profile position vacant since July.

It's another in a string of significant Microsoft hires from Yahoo, which the Redmond company was willing to buy for $47.5 billion earlier this year in a bid to quickly gain ground on Google in the online search and advertising businesses.

Lu, who was executive vice president of engineering at Yahoo's Search and Advertising Technology Group, takes the helm Jan. 5 of a major division that includes Microsoft's efforts in Internet search, digital advertising and MSN content.

"It's an unusually technical hire for that group," said Matt Rosoff, analyst at Directions on Microsoft. "The last few leaders have been business leaders from a sales and marketing background."

Kevin Johnson, who oversaw this business before leaving Microsoft in September, earlier headed worldwide sales at the company.

The selection of a technical leader like Lu underscores Microsoft's focus on "building a solid first-party search and advertising platform," Rosoff said.

In a statement, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer praised Lu's "deep technical expertise, leadership capabilities and hardworking mentality."

At the same time, Microsoft announced the departure of Brian McAndrews, a senior vice president who joined the company from aQuantive, the Seattle digital-ad company Microsoft acquired in 2007.

McAndrews, who comes from a business and media background, was reportedly an internal candidate for the online job.

Observers differed on what the move indicates about Microsoft's appetite for Yahoo's search business. Some think it makes an ideal precursor to a deal, while others say it looks like Microsoft is focusing on its own efforts.

Ballmer has been clear that Microsoft is no longer interested in buying all of Yahoo, whose stock closed Thursday at the bargain basement price of $11.05. But the chief executive said as recently as Nov. 19 that a collaboration on Internet search remained "an interesting possibility."

Sid Parakh, a McAdams Wright Ragen analyst, said the collection of former Yahoo search talent at Microsoft could suggest the company has shifted back to a strategy of build rather than buy.

"Google is the technology leader in the industry, and to catch up with them there is clearly a lot of technology development that Microsoft is undertaking at this point," he said.

In October, Google had 63.1 percent of the U.S. search market. Yahoo had 20.5 percent and Microsoft had 8.5 percent, according to comScore.

A primary reason Microsoft sought to acquire Yahoo was to quickly gain a significant chunk of search-market share, but both companies have seen their share deteriorate as Google's continues to grow.

Parakh speculated Microsoft may be planning to chip away at Google over a longer period of time without having to spend several billion dollars on Yahoo's search business.

The addition of Lu could help attract even more former Yahoo employees.

Yahoo recognized Lu as a magnet for top computer scientists. "Qi has attracted some of the best and brightest talent, amassing a world-class team of search engineers," Yahoo Chief Technology Officer Farzad Nazem said in a news release in 2006, when Lu was promoted.

On the other hand, if Microsoft were to pursue a search deal, it could have no better guide than Lu.

"It appears from this appointment that Microsoft is setting the table for a partnership or acquisition of Yahoo's search business," Mark Simon, vice president of industry relations at Didit, a New York search-engine marketing firm, said via e-mail.

"Qi Lu could be the key component in the successful integration of a platform that he knows blindfolded."

At Microsoft, Lu will oversee several groups under the broad Online Services umbrella, one of two divisions created in July from the 14,000-employee Platforms and Services Division. The other is the hugely profitable Windows group.

The revamp occurred when longtime division President Kevin Johnson abruptly left to become Juniper Networks' CEO.

Groups reporting to Lu include:

• Advertiser and Publisher Solutions, previously run by McAndrews and now led by Scott Howe, another former aQuantive executive, who was promoted to corporate vice president;

• Online Audience, led by Yusuf Mehdi, a senior vice president who has been an active digital-deal maker and strategist at Microsoft;

• Online Services Research and Development, led by Senior Vice President Satya Nadella.

• Online Services Finance, led by Rik van der Kooi, who was promoted to corporate vice president.

Yahoo, searching for a new CEO to replace co-founder Jerry Yang and regrouping after the disintegration of an advertising deal with Google, "remains committed to algorithmic and sponsored search, with a strong search-technology team that includes some of the industry's brightest engineers," spokeswoman Kim Rubey said via e-mail.

She said Lu "was a valued Yahoo who made important contributions during his time with us. We wish him every success in his career."

Thursday, December 4, 2008

InsWeb Partners with ClearGauge to Improve Accessibility to Insurance Quote Comparisons via Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Chicago, IL (PRWEB) December 3, 2008 -- InsWeb, a leading online insurance marketplace, has partnered with ClearGauge, an online marketing and Web analytics firm, to help consumers find InsWeb’s expansive insurance product resources via Google™, Yahoo™, and other search engines. ClearGauge will focus on optimizing InsWeb’s two primary websites -- insweb.com, and agentinsider.com.

InsWeb provides consumers with the ability to compare auto, term life and homeowners insurance rates from some of the most respected insurance companies in the industry. InsWeb also provides an extensive knowledgebase of insurance information through its online Learning Center.

“InsWeb has helped millions of consumers compare insurance quotes from multiple companies since our founding in 1995,” says Brad Cooper, SVP of Marketing at InsWeb. “Partnering with ClearGauge to optimize our website for search is the next step in reaching out to a broader audience and helping even more consumers save money.”

ClearGauge will customize and implement their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) program for InsWeb’s websites. In addition, ClearGauge web analysts will use their expertise to implement and closely measure user experience and overall website performance through the use of web analytics in order to continuously improve visitor success rates and satisfaction. By properly combining SEO and web analytics, ClearGauge helps companies attract the most relevant buyers and influencers and provide their visitors with a successful web experience.

“We are delighted to have been given an opportunity to team with InsWeb, a clear leader in the online insurance space, on such an important initiative for their company,” states Karen Breen Vogel, President & CEO of ClearGauge. “SEO is a critical way to connect a company’s offerings and value to people searching for those solutions on the Internet. If a company wants to be competitive and attract the people who need them, they need to engage themselves with experienced professionals such as those at ClearGauge who continue to advance their knowledge of search engine algorithms and best practices for optimization.”

About ClearGauge
ClearGauge is an online marketing services and consulting firm that has improved business results for many leading companies such as GE Commercial Finance, Dow Chemical, and Sage Software Healthcare by increasing their visibility on the major search engines.

Search Engine Optimization Company Submit Express Hires New Vice President of Sales and Marketing

BURBANK, Calif., Dec 02, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Submit Express is pleased to announce that Allen Horwitz has joined the company as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Submit Express has been in the vanguard of the search engine optimization (SEO) industry since its founding ten years ago. As a proven leader of technology sales and marketing teams with more than 20 years of IT experience, Horwitz will significantly enhance the company's position as a search engine marketing (SEM) innovator.
As the Submit Express Sales and Marketing VP, Horwitz will play a leading role in iClimber, a division of Submit Express which provides premier search engine marketing services such as social media marketing, video optimization, blogging, and content writing.
"I'm excited to be involved with a company that can offer both industry-leading SEO services via Submit Express and cutting-edge SEM services via iClimber," Horwitz said. "I'm also eager to accelerate the revenue growth that has earned Submit Express a spot on the Inc. 5000 list and the Deloitte Technology Fast 500."
As a Senior Area Manager promoting voice and data integration products at Nortel, Horwitz began establishing an impressive track record of marketing success, increasing sales volume on one product from $500,000 to $3.5 million in just six months. After five years at Nortel, Horwitz accepted a position at PCC Network Solutions, and in less than three years had added $4 million in incremental revenues, eventually becoming the company's Vice President of Business Development.
Before embarking on the sales and marketing portion of his career, Horwitz was a network engineer. He transitioned to sales and marketing when one of his projects became the focus of a marketing campaign at ADC Telecommunications. He has worked extensively with a variety of telecommunications technologies, including the design, installation, and maintenance of voice/data networks and fiber optics-based systems.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Whether you are a sole trader or a big business, SEO can boost traffic on your website. With SEO you can get free clicks to your site from customers who are looking for your product or service. So, instead of you pushing your product using Mass Advertising, here prospective customers come to you after having found you. Done the right way you can transition from “Push” to "Pull Marketing". We all know what works better.
Arrow Marketing provides you the best SEO services.
We are a search engine optimization company with a strong track record of getting
• Top rankings on Google, with many of our clients on the #1 ranking in their chosen category
• Multiplying the targeted traffic to our clients website
• Increasing qualified leads
• Increasing sales to online stores
• Better quality customers who are profitable for your business
SEO is a systematic, scientific and measurable method which starts with the analysis of your target market and their demographics e.g., age, sex, language and geographical concentration. Once the demographics are identified, the next step is to identify their buying behavior. For example, is Google the most important search engine for them or do they use Vertical Searches more often. Do they respond more favorably to image advertisements or videos or is text based advertising the key.
We feel very passionate about Internet and its impact on businesses. We love what we do. It is not unusual to find our people burning mid night oil to continue providing our customers with consistent results. Integrity, Innovation, Excellence and Passion. For us these are not just words used to impress. It means that we do what is ethically right and consistently endeavour to add value. Our shared culture is about creating high standards of service delivery.

Being early players in this domain, right from the days when it was still in the experimental stage, we are excited by the enormous possibilities that Internet now presents for people. It has created myriads of ways in which people find each other, interact and transact. Today as Internet penetration has increased, it has become a popular medium for people to choose products and services.

For more details visit our site:

Search Engine Optimization

http://www.searchenginerankings.com.au

Monday, December 1, 2008

What does one in this industry do when they find out that one of their own is out of a job? In most industries, everyone just says "sorry" and then they go on about their day. But not on Cyberframe Solutions. Long-standing member is about to close a door on a job he's had for awhile but web designing company members are keeping his spirits up. Even AdWordsRep has recounted memories of a not-so-plentiful past where the job market wasn't really working out for him either. The words of encouragement, however, were to keep his head held up high.


It's great to see how this industry actually cares about each other and how it's a community and a family.

Cyberframe Solutions a Web designing company.

Search Engine Strategies (SES) Training Provides Intensive SEO, SEM Training for Chicago Marketers

Learning new search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) techniques that are cost-effective is at the heart of Search Engine Strategies Training ( http://www.SearchEngineStrategies.com/chicago/training.html) slated for December 12, 2008, at the Chicago Hilton. The day of thorough, hands-on training with six sessions to choose from is designed to put theory into practice in a highly interactive environment. The SEM/SEO training immediately follows the Search Engine Strategies (SES) Chicago conference, running December 8-11, 2008, also at the Hilton.
Aimed at consultants, site designers, website owners, in-house marketing professionals, among others, this in-depth training occurs in a small class setting so that instructors are readily accessible for informal one-on-one or small group discussions.
"Regardless of skill level in SEO and SEM, people will come away from this intensive training with techniques that they can immediately implement," said Matt McGowan, Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media's Interactive Marketing Group, including Search Engine Strategies, SearchEngineWatch.com and the ClickZ Network. "Expert search engine marketers Jennifer Laycock, Matt Bailey, Debra Mastaler, Greg Jarboe, Amanda Watlington Brad Geddes and Shari Thurow who are leading the sessions live and breathe SEO and SEM. They'll ensure that participants leave with the latest knowledge and action plans for real-world applications."
Training sessions include:
-- Search & Analytics Workshop: Using Analytics to Increase Search Effectiveness -- Analytics are a gold mine of information, just waiting to be uncovered. The results of campaigns, effectiveness of the website, and the efficiency of your rankings can all be measured with a good analytics program. Unfortunately, many site managers do not make changes to the website without prior measurement, nor do they measure after the changes. As a result, there are many changes to sites that are not based on facts, merely assumptions. Similarly, if changes are not analyzed, then there can be no clear understanding of whether or not improvements made a difference on the site or to the bottom line.
-- Viral Marketing & Link Baiting -- Attendees will gain a better understanding of the concepts, ideas and implementations that are required to launch a viral marketing or link baiting campaign. They will learn why the Internet has created a unique environment that allows for rapid, inexpensive word of mouth marketing and how they can harness that environment to promote their own products and services. The workshop will give real life examples of both good and bad viral marketing campaigns and will share insight on how your business can capitalize on your competitor's viral disasters. This workshop will also focus on how you can make use of consumer generated media environments like social media outlets, blog marketing, discussion forums and more to both monitor and expand your company's online persona. Consumer generated media (the very core of viral marketing) is the fastest growing form of media online today. It's only a matter of time until someone online talks about your business. This course will not only help prepare you in the ways to respond to the conversation, it will help you learn how to shape that conversation to your advantage.
-- Link Building Tactics, Tools & Techniques -- Need links? In order to rank well and successfully promote your online business, you need an effective link building program as part of your overall SEO strategy. This link building workshop will help you to better understand and manage your link building campaigns by providing you with the knowledge to create proven, practical and creative link marketing campaigns. You'll walk away understanding why you need certain links, how to find them, and how to effectively use links to promote your brand and your search engines rankings.
-- Advanced AdWords -- This session is broken down into two sections. The first section examines how to effectively use keywords, ad copy, landing pages, and the search and content networks to effectively reach your target audience based upon where consumers are in the buying cycle. The second section will examine different bidding strategies you can employ to maximize your campaign's goals.
-- Search Engine Optimization Workshop -- A search-engine friendly Web site is a user-friendly, search-friendly, and persuasive site that converts visitors into buyers. In order for a site to be search-engine friendly, it must meet the terms and conditions set forth by the search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN Search, Ask, etc). Additionally, the site must satisfy the needs of site visitors. Ultimately, the site must be profitable for the Web site owner. Can a single site satisfy all of these groups? This workshop will demonstrate that these skills are essential for building a user-friendly, search-friendly, and persuasive site that converts visitors into buyers.
-- Optimizing for Universal Search -- Universal search changes everything! The advent of Google's Universal Search has been called "the most radical change to its search results ever." So, how do you take advantage of Google's new approach that blends listings from news, maps, video, and image search among those it gathers from web search? This training session will help you get found in all the right places.