Conversation Marketing
"I used to tell clients 'Hey, we'll do SEO, and if you pay us extra we'll execute a nice social media marketing campaign, too,'" Ian Lurie says. "Truth is, though, you can't do a good job in SEO any more without social media marketing. And you sure as heck won't succeed in social media marketing if you ignore SEO." Lurie explains that since building up a site's relevance and authority are the mainstays of SEO, the links that come from social sites like Digg and StumbleUpon are invaluable. On the other hand, "your success in social media will …
More Visibility
Cultivating an influx of links from local businesses and organizations is a highly effective way to build local relevance for a Web site. "This establishes keyword relevance for your site, for the name of your region and, if these sites are hosted in your area as well, establishes that your website is well-linked physically to that region," says Marjory Meechan. She serves up some examples of how to grow these geotargeted links. One way is to run searches for "your location" and "business" across the three big engines (as well as niche engines in your vertical). For example, …
StraightUpSearch
AdWords allows companies to bid on their competitor's branded keywords, and a number of companies (most notably the American Blinds & Wallpaper Co. and American Airlines) have either sued Google or their competitors for doing so. But OneUpWeb's Vern argues that marketers shouldn't just shy away from bidding on others' trademarked terms for fear of legal liability. "It's a waste of money!" Vern says. "When someone searches 'American Airlines' in Google are they likely to click on an ad for Southwest Airlines? I argue - NO! Southwest Airlines is not what the searcher is looking for, so why …
Search Engine People
On the heels of Ann Smarty's list of free SEO and link building tools comes Paul's post, which covers Google's newly enhanced keyword research tool, an HTML shortcut creator, as well as a number of extensions for Firefox. HTML Playground is likely a must for search pros with limited coding experience that have to tackle on-page optimization and Webmastering themselves. "It has a list of all the most popular tags," Paul says. "Simply click on the tag, customize the parameters and colours you desire and the HTML code is ready to go!" The tool also has a preview …
Alt Search Engines
Dmitri Soubbotin, CEO of Semantic Engines poses a question with his post--namely, are the standard "10 blue links" search results we've all become accustomed to, really effective for every query? "Looking at the search market share, it may seem that most people are content with Google or Yahoo or Microsoft," Soubbotin says. "However, various satisfaction surveys indicate that users spend too much time searching and not always finding. That's why dozens of 'alternative' search engines create a more efficient way of searching. Among these, there are a number of 'semantic' search engines." SenseBot, a service …
Solas Web Design
With Google Maps, the search giant is clearly trying to muscle in on the Yellow Pages market for local business owner dollars. But as Miriam Ellis notes, many bloggers and business owners themselves have publicly called Google out for its lax (some say nonexistent) customer service when it comes to getting Google Maps business listings corrected, uploaded and kept free of spam. Still, Ellis notes that perhaps the industry is a bit unfair in comparing the personalized service often provided by YP companies in the past with Google's automated offering. "Google Maps and traditional YPs are …
DM News
Ellen Keohane digs into the story of Reliant Energy, a Houston-based energy provider, and how the company tapped the power of geotargeted search marketing to woo (and keep) customers after deregulation sharply increased competition in the energy space. "For companies like Reliant, which are limited to servicing specific areas, geo-targeting clearly makes sense," Keohane says. "Movers, for example, are one of the biggest target audiences for Reliant." So the company runs PPC ads against keywords like "moving to Houston," as well as ads for "real estate agent" that are targeted to a specific ZIP code. These geotargeted ads …
PrecisionMarketing
Search Engine Journal
How do you explain your firm's value proposition to potential search clients? If you use statements like "our world-class customer service," "a customized, effective SEO/SEM methodology," or "an experienced team of industry thought-leaders," chances are, your possible client has heard some of the same things from the other firm pitching them. Ken Clark offers a different set of benchmarks, or differentiators to help explain why a client should work with (or stick with) your firm, called the Net Promoter Score (NPS). The system, as developed by Fred Reichfeld, is determined by the ratio of promoters (or customers …
ViperChill
Glen Allsop gives the rundown on a host of online marketing disciplines and the various sources of free info available to help a search specialist, for example, learn more about affiliate marketing, copywriting or social media. He outlines the basics of PPC and SEO, and offers links to forums like Cre8asitePPC and SEORefugee, respectively, for newcomers to search. For affiliate marketing, Allsop says it "combines many things you don't see that often elsewhere such as landing page optimization, persuasive copy and email marketing." He lists blogs like Affiliate Tip and UberAffliate, as well as forums like eWealth and …