Topic Category: Search Engine Marketing
April 15, 2008
Guaranteeing Page 1 Rankings is SEO Malpractice and "SEO" Trademark?
By Scott Goodyear
An SEO firm in Washington state has been sued over it's practices and may face thousands in penalties and fees according to Search Engine Watch. The core issue had been that their services were not clear, that they made inaccurate guarantees, and if their competitor's post is true, called this service a "scam to avoid".
December 27, 2007
Bootstrap SEO: How To Ride A Wave Of Popularity.
By Scott Goodyear
As an internet marketer, it is often easier to look at some one else's site and see opportunity than it is to see opportunities on your own site. In this post I want to give an example of what I would call "bootstrap" SEO. Essentially bootstrap SEO occurs when you see some one else's success, think up ideas on how they might continue to build on their success, but you may instead find a way to build this content for your own site.
November 09, 2007
Where In The World Is (Insert Your Company Name Here)? Are you in Google, Yahoo, or Ask's Maps or Local Databases?
By Scott Goodyear
Does your business fit a local market? How is your local search marketing campaign coming along? Can you be found on a map in Google, Yahoo, or Ask?
September 06, 2007
"Are Paid Links Evil?" from SES San Jose, what you missed...
By Scott Goodyear
I'm back from attending the Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference in San Jose and I'm putting together a few posts about my experience. In the meantime, I'll relate part of my experience from the "Are Paid Links Evil?" session. It was a lively session that was more food for thought than actionable tips...
July 19, 2007
Viral Videos: How Sawdust and $50 Created Marketing Success For Blendtec.com
By Scott Goodyear
Reading through a few blogs and news forums, I came across a crazy video where a man in a lab coat used a blender to "blend" a new Apple iPhone. It was an amazingly simple, short, and funny video from a series called "Will It Blend?" by the Blendtec blender company. Blendtec's marketing director, George Wright, was kind enough to speak with me on how a little bit of sawdust and $50 led to this video and created marketing success for Blendtec.com.
June 28, 2007
Defining Web Analytics and How It Relates To The Bottom Line
By Curtis Friedl
Website developers and those who manage website content need to understand the multitude of information that can be gathered through the Web Analytics process. A good web analytics tool can help you to understand the numbers that affect the bottom line.
June 28, 2007
The Graphic Re-design Process. Little to No Budget? No Problem.
By Scott Goodyear
In life, as in web sites, first impressions can make or break sales, long or short term business relationships, and more. What does your web site say about your business? If you've been wanting to update your site but don't really have deep pockets, you'll find the following post helpful for graphically re-designing or just sprucing up your web even if you have little to no budget to work with.
December 20, 2006
International SEO, A Check List for Improving the Rankings of International Web Sites.
By Scott Goodyear
www.webposition.com
Need to improve a site's rankings in an international search engine? Have you already tried traditional optimization of content and link strategies? What else can an SEO do? Surprisingly, there are a few more steps to be considered in order to improve an international web site which can also prove helpful when pursuing improved international search engine rankings.
November 09, 2006
Research Report Offers Online Retailers Good Advice
by Richard Drawhorn
Akamai and JupiterResearch have recently released the results of a survey in which 1,058 online shoppers participated. Online retailers would be well advised to study this report and take a critical look at their web sites to ensure they are living up to shoppers' surprisingly high quality standards.
October 31, 2006
SEO for Affiliate Programs
by Curtis Friedl
The days of the 'free money' internet are gone. The idea of tossing a website up and watching the money roll in well, that is nothing more then a fairy tale. Today making money in an affiliate program requires some effort on the part of the affiliate. The internet and affiliate programs are not a get rich quick forum any longer.
September 25, 2006
Social Search and RSS/XML features on MarketPosition
By Scott Goodyear
www.marketposition.com
Last month we had a post introducing some of the general features of Social Search like Bookmarking and Tagging. This month we are adding a few links to these sites and services on our article pages.
August 25, 2006
Building Trust Online To Build Sales
Seven elements that improve conversion
By Kent Lewis (Anvil Media, Inc.)
I recently decided to upgrade my digital camera before an upcoming family vacation. I know just enough about digital cameras to be dangerous, and had an idea of which features were important before I went online. From start to finish, I spent 30 minutes researching digital camera models and pricing before making a purchase. Online product reviews in PC World Magazine and in threaded forums were influential in my decision. When it came to purchasing, selecting an online retailer came down to trust. In all successful business relationships, building trust with the customer is essential in converting prospects into customers.
April 24, 2006
Five Key Elements to Improving Web Site Conversion Rates
A few easy fixes can make a big impact on the bottom line
By Kent Lewis
The primary focus of search engine optimization (SEO) professionals is to generate traffic to a Web site. Some SEO professionals are better than others at achieving that goal via higher rankings in search engines for target keyword phrases. Where the ball often gets dropped is once the visitor actually hits the site, and most likely, leaves. Successful SEO professionals understand the secret is to dial in Web site conversion rates. The following article details some of the most effective and relatively easy steps to take to maximize conversion on your Web site.
February 17, 2006
SEMPO Study Released Predicting 2006 Advertiser/Marketer Trends
by Curtis Friedl
A new research report released late in 2005 from SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) sheds light on what's happening in the search marketing industry today, from the size of the industry to key trends that will shape the year ahead.
February 17, 2006
A Snapshot of Search Visibility for Online Electronics Retailers
by Richard Drawhorn
A study of the search engine visibility for major online electronics retailers reveals that many have low organic search visibility for popular keywords. Data was collected over the Christmas week and into the new year, and another snapshot was taken the first week of February. The data consistently shows that many retailers rely extensively on paid results, and have not taken full advantage of the marketing value of organic search.
March 15, 2005
5 Steps to Top Performing Content
By Kent Lewis, President of Anvil Media Inc.
As a search engine marketing (SEM) professional, I?ve witnessed the dynamic nature of the SEM industry: rapid growth, a constantly changing landscape and evolving strategies. One thing has not changed in search engine optimization (SEO) since I promoted my first site in 1996: good content performs well in search results.
September 15, 2004
Search Engine Marketing & Branding 101
By Deborah Hickey, Brand Marketing Manager, iProspect
What is a brand?
You've probably heard it defined dozens of ways. So what's the real definition? Well - in its most simple terms - it's a word or symbol. Coke is a brand. The Nike "swoosh" is a brand. The city you live in is a brand. Your name is a brand. A brand is simply a word or a symbol in someone's mind.
August 15, 2004
Upcoming Live Webcast: Top 10 Ways to Make Search Engine Marketing Work for You
Most MarketPosition readers realize that there search is critical. And search engine marketing (SEM) is much more than just the latest dazzling trend in on-line advertising. For many companies, it's the difference between winning and losing on-line.
July 15, 2004
How much better is ranking No. 1 versus No. 10? A recent study reveals the truth.
By Brent Winters
Recently, I ran across an interesting study by the Atlas Institute that examined how much traffic a Web site could expect to receive based upon which position your page occupied in the top 10 results. If you ever thought that occupying position 4 was about as good as position 1, then think again.
July 15, 2004
10 Ways to Exceed Your Client's Expectations Every Time!
by John Alexander
The following tips are just a few of the things I do to set my service apart from the crowd. In general, the weakest areas in the Internet marketing and Web development business are "customer communications" and "customer service." Set your effort towards learning to deliver "excellence" in both customer service and communication, and you'll have distinct advantages over many of your competitors. These tips are based on the tried and true philosophy of "under promising and over delivering."
June 15, 2004
What is "organic" search and how can it help your company?
The first time I heard the term "organic search" I immediately thought of organic food at the grocery store. So, is this organic search healthier for me? Will it reduce my chances of getting cancer?
April 15, 2004
How to increase your sales by optimizing for local markets.
According to comScore last month, local search queries now consist of up to 7 percent of all searches within the United States. In addition, in a single month, nearly 36 million Internet users conducted 200 million searches that included keywords designed to localize a query. This number is only going to increase as the search engines add more features to encourage localized searching. In recent months, a number of new and existing search engines have announced local search initiatives.
October 15, 2003
U.S. Bancorp Analyst: "The search market has become the Holy Grail of Internet Marketing."
Big news for the search engine marketing industry: Senior Research Analyst Safa Rashtchy of U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Inc. was recently quoted as saying, "The search market has become the Holy Grail of Internet advertising and continues to grow faster than our expectations."
August 15, 2003
Is Your Web site Attracting the Right Kind of Crowd?
By Brad S. Konia
Building a successful online marketing strategy involves more than simply attracting traffic to your Web site. Online marketing involves three key components:
- Creating the proper selling environment.
- Attracting qualified traffic to your site
- Measuring the results and adjusting as needed
July 15, 2003
How to Market Your Site Before You Submit!
by Brad S. Konia
If there's a marketing mantra of the 21st century, it's "traffic." You hear it everywhere you go -- in business meetings, restaurants, airports and occasionally just walking down the street. And no, I'm not talking about the variety that clogs up the highway on your way to work.
May 15, 2003
Study: 40% Change Brands After Researching Online
A recent study by The Dieringer Research Group reported that 40 percent of Internet users in the US changed their opinions of brands due to information they gathered online. That means it's more important than ever to expand the presence of your business on the Web if you wish to influence discerning buyers. It's also just as important to build an effective Web site that educates and sells consumers on the products and services you offer.
January 15, 2003
Search Engine Marketing 102: Boosting Prominence
by Matt Paolini
Robin Nobles wrote an article entitled "Search Engine Marketing 101: What Search Engines See When They Visit Your Web Site" in our October issue. Robin did a wonderful job at stressing the importance of building simple pages and the positive effect that simplicity can have on a page's ranking.
November 15, 2002
Ten Ways to Gain More SEO Clients: Beginning with your local market
by Robin Nobles
If you're a professional search engine optimizer, or are thinking of starting a business offering such services, the field is wide open. Most businesses are still in the dark as to how to tune their sites to appeal to the search engines, or they simply don't have the time. Countless individuals have turned search engine optimization into a thriving business. Many start out part time and grow it to a full-time business that can be run from their home or office.
July 15, 2002
Search Engine Marketing: Optional or Essential?
If your search engine marketing efforts have been put on hold or on the backburner, you may want to reconsider your priorities. Mounting evidence points to the rapidly growing importance of search engines to online businesses:
July 15, 2001
The Top 5 Tips and the Top 5 Mistakes of Search Engine Marketing
Being the editor of the largest search engine marketing newsletter in the world, I've been asked on several occasions what my top five marketing tips would be. That's a tough question to answer since there are so MANY tips and techniques I've discovered over the years that work exceptionally well. It's difficult to boil it down to just five. However, before the drum roll starts for my top 5 SE marketing tips of all time, let's start with something easier...
January 15, 2001
StatMarket Study: Are Search Engine Referrals Really Declining?
I've witnessed a bit of controversy surrounding a recent study released by Web Side Story more commonly known as StatMarket. In the December 19th study, StatMarket makes the surprising claim that "Search sites accounted for only 6.86 percent of global referrals...Direct navigation and bookmarks together accounted for the largest percentage of referrals, with 47.01 percent as of the same date. Internet links accounted for 46.13 percent."
August 15, 2000
CASE STUDY: Is Search Engine Positioning Really Worthwhile?
Here are some very serious questions that I've been asked about search engine positioning. How much traffic can search engine positioning generate? Is search engine optimization worth my time to pursue? Is it cost-effective? These are legitimate questions that our subscribers have asked about this popular marketing practice.
October 15, 1999
New Study: Search Engine Positioning Rated #1
A new survey was released on September 8th by ActivMedia Research that found search engine positioning was rated the #1 Website promotional method by Web site owners. This continues the trend first identified in the July 1998 survey by WebCMO. The WebCMO study also noted that search engines were the most favored method for driving traffic to a Web site.
October 15, 1999
REVIEW: The Insider Secrets to Marketing your Business on the Internet by Cory Rudl
Search engine positioning has been voted the most successful way to promote an online business. However, any smart business should implement a mix of solid marketing strategies to be successful. Even though we are considered the "experts" in search engine marketing, we still utilize many other strategies to promote ourselves online such as banner ads, newsletters, affiliates, etc.
August 15, 1999
Only 16% of the Web Indexed. What does this mean to you?
A popular study recently released by Steve Lawrence and Lee Giles estimates that the largest search engine database encompasses just 16% of all the pages on the Web.
October 15, 1998
What Advertising Really Works?
According to a July study by WebCMO, guess what the most effective advertising strategy is for Web marketers?
January 15, 1998
Why Your Positions Matter - Seventh WWW User Survey October 1997
You want to grow quality traffic to your Website - okay, okay, you're greedy and just want gobs of new visitors who show up with credit card in hand, right?
October 15, 1997
How Much is Your Traffic Really Worth?
Another interesting study I found demonstrated that not all the different Search Engine's visitors are worth the same amount of money to you in terms of sales they generate. A recent study from ViaWeb tracked actual sales from visitors to 132 web sites who originated from one of the top 7 search engines. What they found was that the value of each visitor varied widely:
October 15, 1997
Which Engines Do I Target
With thousands of search engines on the Web today, it's obviously impossible to achieve good search positions on all your keywords across all these engines. Traditional thinking on the web is "The more engines you submit to, the more traffic you get. This simply isn't true. In reality, there are several critical factors which affect your search engine traffic including:
