Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 Comments (3)
Every now and then Yahoo does something so incredibly right that it makes you wonder why they ever do anything wrong. Yahoo Search Assist is such a tool. This is a great tool, but you can only use it on Yahoo!’s home page. Yahoo should roll it out so that you can use it on your own My Yahoo! page or even on a Yahoo! Search page. If you’ve performed a couple of searches and want to perform another one you’ll have to back to Yahoo!’s home page to turn on the assist tool. That’s not cool.
Yahoo! has another tool in beta, though. It’s Yahoo! Bookmarks. This should prove very popular among die-hard Yahoo fans. I highly recommend it. It makes you wonder, though, why Yahoo! is just now getting around to this. They’re playing catch up to Google, the front runner in search engines, and because Yahoo! spent way too long shunning the innovation bandwagon they may be catch up mode for a long time – possibly forever. Still, it’s good to see they’ve woke up.
Affordable Internet Marketing Services, including SEO, Pay Per Click, Blog Marketing & More! For More Info Call Expert Nick Stamoulis at: 877-295-0620.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 Comments (1)
Article Marketing defined: (Source) In general, article marketing is where you write an article on a topic that is related to your website topic. Not a promotional article for your website, but an article about something that is informative to the reader. In the article you use keywords and phrases that relate to your topic as well, much like you would optimize a webpage.
Most people don’t really understand article marketing. If you don’t understand it then you shouldn’t do it until you do. Take some time to learn what it is and how to do it before you just jump in and go. You’ll be so much the better for it when you do.
The thing to keep in mind is that article marketing is just as its name implies. You write an article and you use it as a marketing tool for your business or website. First, the article has to be about the same topic that your website is about. It helps if you make a list of topics related to your website theme. They should be items that you can comfortably write 500-700 words on and still have things left to say.
The second thing to remember about article marketing is you are not trying to promote yourself or your business. You are trying to help your readers. You want an article that is helpful to the person reading it and it can’t come across as an advertisement. Think of it like a magazine article. It’s a way to tell people what you know without bragging or sounding like a know-it-all. This establishes you as an expert in that field of knowledge, an important concept if you want people to trust you.
Article Marketing Myth #1:
MYTH: The only way article marketing works is you write an article then submit it to thousands of article submission websites.
This is probably the least effective way to go about article marketing. The object is to reach a targeted audience. You want the readers of the article to be the same people who might buy your products or services. Think about what your customers would want to read. Before you publish any articles you might try giving a copy of them to two or three of your best customers, ones that you think will give you honest answers, and ask them if they would read that article in a magazine and if they did so would they receive a benefit. If they answer yes to both questions then you’ve got a good article.
Writing the article, however, is only part of the equation. With article marketing, your choice of directories you intend to submit your article to is just as important. It could even be more important. There are general directories out there that are good and that have a high PageRank, but that doesn’t mean that your article will get published there. If your articles are geared toward a niche market then try to find an article directory for that marketing. Articles are likely to be picked up by publishers in those directories than in the general directories.
- NOTE: The objective of article marketing is not to get published in the directory. The article directory is a means to an end. You want your articles to be picked up by other websites and newsletters within your field of expertise. When that happens then the result is more credibility for you, links back to your website from relevant websites, and more targeted traffic.
Article Marketing Myth #2:
MYTH: You should always post your article in your website first, then wait to get crawled by the search engines before submitting the article elsewhere.
The problem with publishing articles on your website first is that search engines usually index the first occurrence of content on the web. If it appears on your website first then it will be considered website content on your website. Any article marketing you do with the same content will be diminished and will not have as much value. On the other hand, if your articles appear in article directories first, then no matter where else they appear on the Internet they will be considered articles. If you want to include those articles on your own website then you can publish them the same way every other publisher does – with your bio and links intact, and most article directories now require a link back to the directory where the article was found.
Article marketing is very effective if done the right way. Take some time to learn what it’s all about before you actually jump in and try to do it.
See more article marketing myths here.
Affordable Internet Marketing Services, including SEO, Pay Per Click, Blog Marketing & More! For More Info Call Expert Nick Stamoulis at: 877-295-0620.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Monday, July 30, 2007 Leave a comment
Did we really need a study to tell us PPC is most effective when the keywords match? Why else would they ask you to designate keywords?
But here it is anyway.
Here’s the interesting part:
(Pilgrim’s take) In one study that tested ads for Encyclopedia Brittannica, ad titles that contained both “Encylopedia” and “Brittannica” converted 2.5 times better than ad titles that contained only Brittanica.
Based on my own PPC campaigns I know this is true. The more targeted your ad the more effective it will be. This has always been an important advertising maxim. It’s even more important now that you can actually track your results. Not only can you track the effectiveness of your PPC ads, but you can track the effectiveness of each keyword in the ad and that is the winning number in this.
(Pilgrim’s take) This study quantified something that any sophisticated PPC advertiser probably already knows–you should try to match your ad titles as closely as possible to the search terms that you are buying. Be as specific as you can, using brand names if possible.
OK, let’s repeat ourselves. Match your keywords as closely as possible. Otherwise, you’ll get fewer click throughs. Be specific. No-brainer, huh?
A little less of a no-brainer, though:
(Pilgrim’s take) Using indirectly related keywords generated traffic but with a much lower click through rate and conversion rate.
Too many PPC advertisers expect great things from mediocre ads. If you have an unrelated keyword you might get a few click throughs. But most of your best click throughs will come from keywords in your PPC ads that match exactly the keywords search for at the search engine. That should go without saying, but not as many people think that way as should. If you are targeting people searching for pink bikinis, for crying out loud, make your PPC headline “Pink Bikinis,” then include that phrase again in one of the two lines of your ad. You’ll be much better for it, I promise.
Affordable Internet Marketing Services, including SEO, Pay Per Click, Blog Marketing & More! For More Info Call Expert Nick Stamoulis at: 877-295-0620.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Monday, July 30, 2007 Leave a comment
When we speak of content development, that could mean a few things, none of them at all unalike. But you don’t have to just think in terms of your website. Here are a few of the many forms your content development strategy could consist of:
- Written content for your website
- Blog content
- SEO content
- Photo and image content
- Video content
- Pod content (also known as audio or podcast)
- Navigation content
- Template content
- Graphic content
- Newsletter content
Essentially, anything you would put on your website to promote or enhance your promotions of your business should be considered content. You can even include off-page content as a part of your overall content development strategy – and you should. Off-page content would be articles, back links, pay-per-click ads and other forms of advertising such as banner ads on related websites. Again, if it drives your online marketing you should consider it as a part of your overall content development plan.
Most of these content categories are self explanatory so I won’t delve into those. But let’s talk about navigation content for a second. This is extremely important.
Navigation content is defined as the content that links your web pages together so that your site visitors can navigate through it easily without a lot of hassle. That includes your navigation bar, of course, but it also includes your contextual links, anchor text, and such. You must put some premium thought into your navigation plan. It is vital that you do so.
You want your visitors to find what they are looking for quickly and easily. But you also want the search engines to find what they need just as quickly and easily, otherwise you could end up in Google’s Sandbox or ignored altogether. Your navigation bar needs to be crawlable. I have actually seen people use Flash navigation bars that are mighty cool and jazzy. You can have the fastest street car in the city, but if it isn’t street legal it won’t matter how cool your friends think it is when you are looking at them from behind bars.
OK, exaggeration aside, a crawlable navigation bar is very important. Search engines won’t crawl Flash files. So if you have a Flash navigation bar, ditch it now and replace it with a navigation bar that uses html and CSS. This is imperative.
Another thing to think about with your navigation bar is what you want your text content to say. When a visitor sees your links they have to know what those links are pointing to. What kind of content will they find when they click on that link? Don’t deceive them. Be clear about it, but do it precisely. You don’t have a lot of space in a navigation bar link. One or two words is enough, but those one or two words must tell your visitors exactly what they expect to find when they click the link.
Think along those same lines when you add your other link content as well. Contextual links get a lot more clicks than any other type of link. So be sure to add links to your internal pages inside the text content of your web pages. Do it naturally, not forced, and put some thought into exactly what the text content of those links will say. They must be descriptive enough that people know exactly what they will find on the other side of that doorway. Unlike navigation bar links, however, content links (or contextual links) can be as long as you want them to be. But don’t overdo it. A text link that is three paragraphs long will look silly. But you can extend it to five or six words, a complete phrase, or sentence if it makes sense to do so.
That’s enough for content development right now. But we’ll revisit this issue in the future. For now, I’ll be happy to entertain your questions.
Affordable Internet Marketing Services, including SEO, Pay Per Click, Blog Marketing & More! For More Info Call Expert Nick Stamoulis at: 877-295-0620.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Sunday, July 29, 2007 Leave a comment
(More wisdom from the Pilgrim) Remember, your social network participation reflects on your reputation. You may be careful about what you post to your online profile, but what your friends do is also reflected on you. If a potential employer sees that a few of your Facebook friends like to ask “how much pot did you smoke over the weekend,” they may conclude you’re of the same caliber.
There is perhaps no truer statement about social networking that you should write down and memorize. When it comes to expanding your network of friends, it may be cool and all, but the bottom line is you will be judged by who you run with. When you establish your profiles on the many networking sites (and I highly recommend you set up profiles on more than just one) then you will be judged by the caliber of the people you hang around. Just because you are doing business online doesn’t mean that you won’t be judged by the same standards as you are offline. Keep that in mind when out networking. If you wouldn’t pick them as a friend or business associate in your “real” world then don’t pick them as your friend or associate in the cyber world either.
Affordable Internet Marketing Services, including SEO, Pay Per Click, Blog Marketing & More! For More Info Call Expert Nick Stamoulis at: 877-295-0620.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Thursday, July 26, 2007 Comments (2)
Funny story. Google banned this guy for buying links so instead of owning up and asking for absolution he decides he doesn’t need Google. So he starts buying sponsored ads – paying for links! I’m anxious to see how he does.
But it does bring up an interesting question that the pilgrims have offered an answer for:
Most of the comments on Naylor’s blog and people I have discussed this post with seem to be of the opinion that the client should bow down and ask for forgiveness. Organic Google traffic is needed too much to survive without it. I completely disagree.
Do website owners really need Google? Many people believe so. Organic SEO, as a matter of fact, does deliver more traffic to websites than any other source. In fact, about 80% of all traffic on any given website comes from organic search listings. Ahhh, but here’s the rub, about 80% of all traffic on most websites bounce in and bounce out without sticking around too long. But is it the same 80%? Not likely.
Where is the other 20% coming from? Click-throughs from other websites, directories, blogs, article marketing, banner ads, and sponsored listings on SERPs and other content network websites. Most of that 20% is targeted traffic. Just about every one of those sources delivers targeted traffic, which is more likely to buy or take the desired action simply because they were looking for your stuff. Well, maybe not quite 20%, but most of that 20% any way. The question is, can a website survive financially from that 20%?
I see no reason why not. Click-throughs from articles, blogs, and directories are free. If you don’t pay too much for other forms of advertising then it is feasible that you can earn a profit from the traffic you get from those sources and not need the organic traffic. The bottom line for any business is ROI. You want to earn more than you spend. The reason most of us like organic traffic is because it is free. And if you do it right then it is targeted traffic. But there’s the hitch: It is hard to do it right. That’s why the SEO industry is such a hot item right now.
I think, personally, if you hire an SEO firm to push your website up in the organic rankings that you will probably spend more in the long run than you will if you run a pay-per-click campaign. If that is the case then would the money you spend on SEO be better utilized on PPC? It bears some consideration, don’t you think?
Affordable Internet Marketing Services, including SEO, Pay Per Click, Blog Marketing & More! For More Info Call Expert Nick Stamoulis at: 877-295-0620.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Thursday, July 26, 2007 Leave a comment
There is a great discussion going on about yesterday’s post on blog comment spam. I’m very appreciative of those who have left their comments and continue to monitor the discussion. I hope others will join in. I believe this is a worthy topic of discussion no matter which side of the fence you fall on.
That said, I’d like to discuss how you can encourage blog comments on your blog. Some people can write for months, or even years, and never receive a comment. How do you do it? Believe me, it isn’t easy. However, there are some things you can do to encourage comments on your blog. Here are a few ideas:
- Spark a little controversy by playing devil’s advocate to a popular issue
- Post a survey or take a poll
- Trackback to other blogs, and do it often
- Leave comments on other blogs
- Join a few forums and be a regular contributor
- Join some blog communities and be an active member
- Do some reciprocal linking with other blogs in your field
- List your blog in blog directories
- Market your blog through a weekly newsletter that summarizes each blog post for the week
- Offer a free download for your readers if they leave a comment (or leave a minimum number of comments)
These are just a few ideas. There is no limit really to the things you can do to encourage blog comments on your blog. One of the most important things you can do is to write to your blog as often as you can. Daily if you can. Two or three times a day is even better. The more often you blog the more likely you are to gain readers and if your blog posts are interesting then you’ll attract a loyal following. Interesting, useful blog content is perhaps the most important aspect toward gaining a loyal readership that participates in the conversation. People will respond if you make it easy for them to do and you address issues they care about. Encourage comments on your blog and give people a reason to join the conversation and they will.
Affordable Internet Marketing Services, including SEO, Pay Per Click, Blog Marketing & More! For More Info Call Expert Nick Stamoulis at: 877-295-0620.
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