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.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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
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.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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