The Book: Getting Better International Search Engine Results

Posted by on January 13, 2012 1 comment

It is just over a month until the book I am co-authoring with Anne Kennedy “Global Search Engine Marketing: Getting Better International Search Engine Results” is koing to be published. The publisher Que Biz-Tech is has a D-day in this Paperback next month on the 16th of February and it looks as we are going to make it. Read more »

Majestic releases Majestic Million list under Creative Commons License

Posted by on December 24, 2011 No comments

Back in May this year (back then I palyed with the data and had great fun), Majestic created a new index called “Majestic Million” – a list of the top 1 million websites, ordered based on the number of referring IPs – or more precisely the number of referring class c subdomains.

The data is available for analysis for anyone, but the whole list remained proporieto. Today (Christmas eve), however, majestic plans to release the ENTIRE INDEX in Excel and TXT formats. So that will be an Excel file with 1 million records available for anyone to use in any way they wish! And for data nerds like me this is truly a Christmas gift. Read more »

Global Search Engine Marketing

Posted by on December 8, 2011 2 comments

Looks like we are getting there, finally – The book I am co-authoring with Anne Kennedy is on Amazon and the date is set. The book is published by Que Biz-Tech and is called “Global Search Engine Marketing: Getting Better International Search Engine Results“. The description is as follows: Read more »

Integration of Marketing Channels

Posted by on December 8, 2011 1 comment

I recently wrote a post on State of Search about the Integration of Marketing Channels - Here is a shorter version for you to read over.

With the technology changing by the minute, consumers today have a wide range of options when it comes to gaining information and purchasing the products and services that they need. No doubt the Internet is the latest and at present the most popular and convenient medium for marketing, advertising and even purchasing products. From placing an order for food from a restaurant to booking an airline ticket, there are multifarious products and services that are bought online every day. At the same time there are customers who still prefer more conventional methods when it comes to their purchases. They may prefer to call a company or simply visit a brick and mortar store to buy products. To connect with these characteristically ‘offline customers’ a business may have to use channels such as TV, newspapers, Yellow Pages and direct mail for advertising and marketing. Read more »

Information Filter Bubble – The Limitations for Search Results on the Internet

Posted by on November 22, 2011 No comments

Filter Bubble is a concept developed by Internet activist Eli Pariser in his book by the same name. This was used to describe the phenomenon in which websites use algorithms to selectively guess what information a particular user might like to see based on the information pertaining to the user such as location, past click behavior, and search history.

Facebook displays things you ‘Like’ or prefer to read on friends’ pages, Google personally tailors your search queries, and Yahoo News and Google News customize the news for you. Read more »

Rumor has it that Eli Pariser is speaking at RIMC 2012

Posted by on November 15, 2011 No comments

Rumor has it that Eli Pariser author of “The Filter Bubble” is speaking at the Reykjavik Internet Marketing Conference 2012 – Other speakers include people from the BBC, Microsoft, former head of SEO for the Chicago Tribune, Yahoo! and more. For more information and to monitor progress go to www.rimc.is/en/.

Here you can see Eli Pariser speak at TED.

Trends in Digital Advertising Market

Posted by on November 2, 2011 No comments

The popularity of Internet as a medium of communication and source of information has surged in the recent years and this has also affected the use of digital marketing to woo customers. Businesses today are using a variety of digital distribution channels to reach their customers in a timely, relevant, personal and cost effective manner. Direct emails, Facebook, Twitter, and the apps on smartphone and digital tablets are some of the channels in which brands are effectively connecting with customers. Read more »

BlackBerry’s failure in dealing with their blackout crisis using social media

Posted by on October 31, 2011 1 comment

The BlackBerry messenger crash that lasted for three days attracted a lot criticism on the social media. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter were replete with customer complaints and queries for resolution of the issue.

Millions of BlackBerry users worldwide were left in the dark with prolonged interruptions of their messaging service – the BBM and email capabilities. The problem spread from Europe to Latin America, Africa, Middle East, India and also to North America. The server problems had originated at Research in Motion (RIM)’s UK data center on Monday, October 10.

Research in Motion did release a statement blaming a “core switch failure within RIM’s infrastructure” but said nothing further on the continued problems. Read more »

Join SEMPO the Search Engine Marketing Organization and get stuff

Posted by on October 31, 2011 No comments

For those thinking about joining SEMPO, they are giving those that do access to tools and services worth $2000. SEMPO yearly memberships are as low as $125 but you get some of the best tools of the trade as a bonus. Read more »

Basic: More Content Brings More Leads

Posted by on September 5, 2011 No comments

Just checked a recent survey conducted by Hubspot for over 4000 companies!  The results from a marketing perspective make quite a compelling case that more is better when it comes to creation of content for websites. We know that blogs, landing pages and indexed pages are critical pieces of inbound marketing methodologies and Hubspot data shows that the online pages with more content generated more leads and traffic back in return.

Some interesting revelations of the data include these facts:

  • Businesses that blogged 20 or more times in a month got the maximum return in traffic and leads
  • Businesses with more than 400 indexed pages generated the most traffic and leads
  • Businesses with more than 31 landing pages generated the most leads

The obvious conclusion that ‘more is better’ can cause some organizations to think that they should pad up their websites, start splintering the pages and post small blogs 4 times a day! But this notion should be counter balanced by the brawny inbound theory that content has to be unique and valuable to visitors to be truly effective. The ‘return in traffic and leads’ would only be possible for websites that have content worthy of being read. And what does the ‘splinter strategy’ bring for your website? Only some sparse descriptions, inconclusive arguments and vague lead conversion paths!

So how does a business climb uphill for bigger blog, indexed page and landing page totals while also ascertaining that content is fresh, interesting and adequately productive? Let’s check a few points that can be taken care of:

Write about every angle of your business

The topics that are crucial to your business and industry should be talked about as much as possible. The need for a product/service, its uses and advantages, the tips for selecting a certain product or service, latest news and trends in the industry, posts with encouraging questions and comments make your page interesting and provide informative content fodder to the readers. Even the negative angles of your business offerings make an interesting read for some of the online visitors. But why would you include that in your blog? Obviously, to prove the criticism wrong! So write about the perceptible ‘disadvantages of your products/services’ and then subtly spin the content back in your favor with a conclusion that strongly supports their worth and advantages. You can double your blogging output without being trapped in the ‘writers block’.

And remember – do not go for tricky short cuts in order to beef up your content pool. Use of article spinners and duplicating the content will not help. It might also be tempting to split exiting posts into multiple blogs but all you will get in the end is a poor quality, parched website that does not deliver productive user experience.

Use multiple landing pages to let more customers reach you

You do need to have more landing pages to generate more leads – probably a different one for each set of target audience and more landing pages imply that your business has more to offer. The landing pages look livelier when they have meaningful offers for the page visitors. Here are a few tips that can be used to create and add oomph to landing pages:

  • Set the purpose of each landing page before actually developing it. Decide what you want the visitor to do when he/she visits the page
  • Send the user to the pages that load quickly – do not use many pop-ups and do not link to pages that were disabled. Do not make your page visitors wait for too long!
  • On each landing page, highlight the specific benefits that your products/services offer
  • While designing web landing pages, try to enter your prospects’ mind and answer the questions that could be asked by them.

All it takes is to just examine your keywords and adgroups to determine what the user (who uses those search terms) really wants. Then deliver them to the offer page as seamlessly and with as few steps as possible

Sending all the traffic in a campaign to the same landing page is always a big mistake. The keywords that the users employ for a search already describe their aims. Each step in the landing page process can make you lose customers if you do not directly send them to the destination they are searching for. Why bother your customers through a complete website maze when they can take a detour to land on the exact spot?

Get more pages of your website indexed by search engines

Do you have different web pages for all regions, cities, or states that you service or work in? If they are in any way different, shouldn’t they ideally have separate web pages? You do comprehend the significance of product differentiation for marketing success in various areas. A quick audit can help you to discover some opportunities that you may be missing in the online scenario. For increasing your site’s number of indexed pages, take a few minutes to establish an inventory of what you already possess. Read more »

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