Preparing Our Clients for the Yahoo/Bing Search Alliance
20 Aug 2010 1 Comment
in Search Marketing Strategies
As some of you may (or may not) know, by late August/early September the Search Alliance between Yahoo! and Microsoft will take place. For those of you who receive a decent portion of traffic from Yahoo organic or who run paid ads in Yahoo, this change is significant.
This month, we have been solely focused on further optimizing websites for Bing and transitioning Yahoo paid search accounts to Bing’s adCenter. This is a very important merger and since most of you do have a significant portion of traffic coming to your site from Yahoo, we need to plan accordingly.
Here is what this transition means from both an organic (SEO) and PPC (paid ad) perspective.
Link Building Tip Basics
19 Aug 2010 1 Comment
in Link Building, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Marketing Strategies Tags: back links, inbound links, internal links, link exchange, link farms, one way links, PageRank, PR, reciprocal links
Beginner Level
Inbound links to your site can help increase Google Page Rank and are a VERY important cornerstone to your SEO strategy. Simply put, the more websites that link to ou the higher your organic rank can be. However, these links should always reflect quality, not quantity.
There are two primary types of inbound links:
Reciprocal Links: Reciprocal links are simply links you are exchanging with other websites. Think of it as a you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours philosophy. Just be careful not to get carried away. Once you begin, you will be getting tons of link exchange solicitations. Carefully choose link partners who have a good website whose content and audience are relevant to your own.
One-Way Links: one-way links are just as they sound, one website which links to your site without you having to post a link in exchange. These are often considered more “valuable”. The trick to one-way links is creating insightful content on your site that other sites will want to link to. You can also achieve these by linking from blog posts, press releases and even placing links on social media sites and in online directories.
So now you know what inbound links are here are a few tips to define your strategy:
SEO 101: Back To Basics
18 Aug 2010 3 Comments
in Office Products Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Marketing Strategies Tags: meta tags, natural search, organic search, search optimization, seo, title tags
Beginner Level
If one of your goals is to be found on search engines, then your website better be search engine friendly. Of course, websites should always be designed with the end user in mind first, but there are certain things you can do to make your site more apt to be crawled, indexed and displayed in search results. These techniques are commonly known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Over the course of time, we will dedicate many newsletters to SEO and further define topics like how to sculpt page rank and build more “link juice” into your site. However, before we move onto these advanced topics, it is important we go back to the basics.
SEO is all about how you build your site, how often you update it and how relevant and timely the content on your site is. The techniques mentioned below will assist you in kicking off SEO efforts for your site.
Tips for Successful E-mail Marketing
18 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in Email Marketing Tags: can spam, email
Beginner Level
E-mail marketing is still a very powerful medium to promote your company, but you need to make your message stand out in the crowd. You can develop and grow your E-mail marketing campaigns successfully, if you follow a few simple guidelines.
Create a Promotional Strategy: Coupons and promotions are great, but E-mail can be used in many other ways that offer your customers a little bit of variety. Use E-mail to share information, promote local events in your community, enter contests or even participate in surveys. Show your clients there is more to your business than just discounts and special offers.
Make Your Call to Action Clear : You have a purpose when you send an E-mail to a customer. It could be anything from placing an order for your weekly sale item or encouraging them to check out your new product line. Whatever it is, make it clear, easy to find and place it within several areas of the E-mail.
Timing is Everything : Monitor your opt-outs with every send. If you experience increasing opt-out rates, consider sending your E-mail less frequently, or take a more advanced approach and allow your customers to decide how often they want to receive emails by adjusting their profile settings on your website.
PPC: Do’s & Do Not’s for Successful Campaigns
18 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Search Marketing Strategies Tags: paid campaigns, pay-per-click, ppc, search engine marketing
Intermediate Level
“Our company has launched pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns on search engines in the past, but we spent so much money and got very little return.” Yep, we hear it all the time. Granted, there is almost always a significant cost involved to launch PPC campaigns, especially if you are new player in the paid ad arena, but with a little thought your campaigns can be a success and show a positive ROI. It’s all about how you structure, setup and monitor your PPC campaigns. The following tips should help you get off on the right foot (and trust us, you don’t want to start off on the wrong foot as it could mean lots of money down the drain)! 
Choosing the Right Domain
18 Aug 2010 1 Comment
in Local Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Marketing Strategies, Web Design & Usability Tags: keyword rich domains, online marketing, searh engine marketing, seo, URLs, web design
Beginner Level
We get asked this question all the time:
“Our company is launching a new website, do you have any advice about choosing a domain name?”
As a matter of fact we do….so here’s our advice (take it for what it’s worth)!
Google’s Changing Search Results
18 Aug 2010 2 Comments
in Local Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Marketing Strategies Tags: local search, page load time, seach results, search, search engine marketing, sem, seo, serps, social
Intermediate Level
Over the years you probably have noticed changes to Google’s Search Engine Results Pages. Also known as SERPs, these are the page that display your results each time you perform a search. We are now used to seeing images and videos embedded in our search results. News & blog posts usually show up fairly high on a SERP as well. All in all, there has been a lot more content included in results over time, instead of just the same basic listings. Well, Google is at it again. Some of their recent SERP changes can present issues for companies looking to rank high organically, while others present great opportunities. Here are a few to look out for.
