For businesses that use their blog primarily as a sales tool, a lack of traffic (and conversions) can be discouraging--particularly if the Webmaster has been blogging consistently. But before writing the effort off as a failure, bloggers should check to make sure that they're not committing one of a dozen conversion-averse blunders. For example, using extremely technical or "academic" language may alienate potential readers--even if the blog is in a niche vertical. "All too often bloggers try to impress others with their vocabulary, and lose their readers as a result," says Jeff Quipp. "It's also common to see …

If a client is shilling electric scooters, does it make sense to develop multiple content pages devoted to variations on the term "electric scooters"? Rand Fishkin says most likely not, but it's a dilemma that many newcomers to SEO struggle with. So he suggests asking a few questions to help decide whether to use one page to target a specific keyword (and its variants), or to split those variants up onto other pages. First, can the variants be logically targeted on the same page, or are they unique enough to warrant substantially different content? Would you send PPC …

Google continues to create new tools that allow marketers to tap into the wealth of data that arises from the billions of searches users conduct each month. This time it's Insights for Search, a tool that compares search trends across categories, time frames and geographies, allowing for a more comprehensive view of searcher behavior. Insights for Search users can drill down to examine searches on a city level, refine data based on particular verticals (i.e. food and drink for the term "apple," as opposed to technology), as well as see news items that are relevant to spikes in …

Craig Danuloff argues that despite the wealth of analytics tools out there, paid search practitioners are still at a disadvantage when it comes to obtaining real insights on campaign performance. For example, much of the emphasis stems from analyzing clicks--but how much info does your PPC management software, or even the engines themselves provide about the clicks you didn't get? There are two kinds of missed clicks, Danuloff says: clicks you didn't get because your ad didn't run (i.e. missed impressions) and those you didn't get when your ad ran (users just didn't click). While Google …

The phrase "local search" can be used to describe both on- and offline searches, and according to recent reports, the categories local users search within online tend to mirror the categories of offline yellow pages. For example, the top two headings in terms of volume for on- and offline local searches were "restaurants" and "physicians & surgeons." And the similarities continue through the top 10. But there are some difference between on- and offline local searches. "Offline searches are more often conducted for service-oriented businesses, such as Plumbers and Veterinarians, while online searches are typically a superior vehicle …

TrafficMarks is a free, Web-based application that helps Webmasters locate high authority sites that would likely be a good place to try to acquire links from. Enter a keyword and TrafficMark goes to the Top 10 sites that rank for it in Google, and then crawls their first 100 or so backlinks to find the sites that link to them most often. The tool offers link details down to the page level, for example, highlighting the fact that a personal electronics site always links to mp3 player refurbishers from www.electronicsforyou.com/page17 as opposed to www.electronicsforyou.com/page3. "After taking …

It seems that Big G faces a continual spate of lawsuits, whether in mega-cases like its war with Viacom over pirated content on YouTube, or smaller fights like trademark infringement suits with individual businesses. The latest suit stems from the way Google tracks and reports the ads served via AdSense. According to Daniel Wexler and Web Tracking Solutions, the method the giant uses to account for ads served violates a patent Wexler was granted in 1999. "Google has long been a foe of frivolous patents and last year backed calls for patent reform," says Thomas Claburn. And recently, …

Jackie Baker critiques AlaskaStock.com, a stock photography site, for its overall usability and search-friendliness. "AlaskaStock.com has a great product to sell, and a decent process for doing it," she says. "However, the site design and usability could use a little work prior to taking the next step in online marketing." One design factor that's affecting AlaskaStock.com's usability is the Webmaster's use of dull blue and gray text on top of a gray background. The lack of visual contrast will make the text harder to see on certain monitors. Meanwhile, there are too many navigational choices--including a search …