Archive for the ‘Search Engine Marketing (SEM)’ Category
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
When was the last time you bought a can of cola online? A television? Signed up for legal representation? While internet marketing is a great way to drive traffic to your website to generate sales or leads, there are still many people who either won’t or can’t purchase online. However, many of these people will do research online before going a bricks and mortar store to make their purchase or before picking up the phone to make an appointment. That is one reason why more and more businesses are actively using the internet to get their brand in front of a growing number of targeted eyeballs.
Branding helps because:
- It is your identity
- It communicates your message to others
- It builds reputation and trust
- It separates you from your competitors
Your online brand should be aimed at your target audience and be consistent with your offline brand profile.
Keep in mind that your brand is more than just your website. Consider all the other online avenues that your company and others use to publish information about your brand. Information within your control such as press releases, company blogs, articles, etc., can all find their way into search engine results. Information out of your control such as product reviews and customer opinions can also find their way into the results. Because there are external factors involved, many organizations are now monitoring what people are saying online about their brands.
A growing group of brand advocates – individuals who are inspired spokespersons on behalf of a brand, are rapidly gaining the attention and consideration of many businesses. Businesses are learning to nurture these advocates by feeding them the latest news, providing advance knowledge of updates, and most of all, listening to their opinions and ideas regarding products, services, advertising, and other aspects of the company-client relationship. These brand advocates can make or break the success of online brands.
The development of advocacy creates increased opportunities for the branding message to be passed on virally or by word-of-mouth. Web 2.0 or social networking sites play a pivotal role in the rapid spread of consumer related information about brands. These types of sites were developed so that individuals could communicate with others who shared similar tastes or outlooks.
Branding can no longer be thought of as something that can immediately be transferred from offline to online. Online branding in the Web 2.0 age requires a change of focus away from the company’s branding message towards the message formulated by the consumers of the brand. The strongest online brands are built on a foundation of brand advocacy coupled with a solid, consistent branding message from the parent company.
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Thursday, July 19th, 2007
When was the last time you bought a can of cola online? A television? Signed up for legal representation? While internet marketing is a great way to drive traffic to your website to generate sales or leads, there are still many people who either won’t or can’t purchase online. However, many of these people will do research online before going a bricks and mortar store to make their purchase or before picking up the phone to make an appointment. That is one reason why more and more businesses are actively using the internet to get their brand in front of a growing number of targeted eyeballs.
Branding helps because:
- It is your identity
- It communicates your message to others
- It builds reputation and trust
- It separates you from your competitors
Your online brand should be aimed at your target audience and be consistent with your offline brand profile.
Keep in mind that your brand is more than just your website. Consider all the other online avenues that your company and others use to publish information about your brand. Information within your control such as press releases, company blogs, articles, etc., can all find their way into search engine results. Information out of your control such as product reviews and customer opinions can also find their way into the results. Because there are external factors involved, many organizations are now monitoring what people are saying online about their brands.
A growing group of brand advocates – individuals who are inspired spokespersons on behalf of a brand, are rapidly gaining the attention and consideration of many businesses. Businesses are learning to nurture these advocates by feeding them the latest news, providing advance knowledge of updates, and most of all, listening to their opinions and ideas regarding products, services, advertising, and other aspects of the company-client relationship. These brand advocates can make or break the success of online brands.
The development of advocacy creates increased opportunities for the branding message to be passed on virally or by word-of-mouth. Web 2.0 or social networking sites play a pivotal role in the rapid spread of consumer related information about brands. These types of sites were developed so that individuals could communicate with others who shared similar tastes or outlooks.
Branding can no longer be thought of as something that can immediately be transferred from offline to online. Online branding in the Web 2.0 age requires a change of focus away from the company’s branding message towards the message formulated by the consumers of the brand. The strongest online brands are built on a foundation of brand advocacy coupled with a solid, consistent branding message from the parent company.
You can keep up-to-date on online branding issues by following this blog: http://www.brandnewbuzz.com.
If you have questions about your own online branding efforts and how Elixir Systems can help you with Web 2.0 initiatives and brand advocacy, please contact Fionn Downhill at 602.494.6326.
Author Bio
Fionn Downhill is the Chief Executive Officer and President of Elixir Systems. She is responsible for corporate direction, corporate branding, and business development.
For more information on search engine optimization contact Elixir Systems at 602.494.6326 or at http://www.elixirsystems.com.
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Friday, April 6th, 2007
Here is a way to build two useful and fee links to your site/sites
Linkedln
Naymz
Both of these sites enable you to include live links to your business site. They are also valuable as networking tools.
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Friday, April 6th, 2007
Google Maps has a feature that allows for searches within a geographic location. You can see how these searches work by going to http://maps.google.com and clicking “find businesses” under the search box. This will divide the box into two: one for the business name or search term and the second for the location. As an example, type in “search engine optimization” and “Scottsdale, AZ” and click “Search Businesses.” Then click the balloon that corresponds to “Elixir Systems” and then “more info.”
This free feature allows businesses to provide as much information as they like: hours of operation, payments accepted, links to e-mail and website, etc. To add your business location to this feature, return to the main Google Maps page and click “Add/Edit Your Business” in the left-hand column. This will take you to Google’s “Local Business Center” where you can follow the instructions to create your listing. After you have registered, you will receive a postcard about a week later with a password for making future changes. This is to prevent anyone else from accessing your listing.
We suggest that any business with branches or franchises pass this information on to each location with instructions on how to register and coordinate your online branding. If you have only one office, it will be simple to enter your information and manage your listing.
Yahoo! has their local directory sign up at http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/local/lbl.php. They have a “Basic Listing” for free and “Enhanced” and “Featured” listings for a monthly fee.
Update: 3-12-2007
We want to advise you that Google has announced an update of these services. There are now more features available for you to use in listing your business.
If you visit the Local Business Center you can expand your listing by uploading photos, changing your address if you move, and choosing a category for your business. You can then provide “custom attributes” based on the category of your business.
Additionally Google is providing analytics of the Maps clicks you receive. This lets you see just how many people are viewing your listing.
We definitely recommend that all of our clients put this tool to good use. If you haven’t created your listing yet, do so today!
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Friday, April 6th, 2007
It is believed that Google has been making adjustments to their algorithms targeting duplicate content. This has resulted in some clients having part of their sites designated “supplemental” in Google’s results. We suggest you regularly review your site content both for internal duplication (e.g., a “printer-friendly” version of the same text) and external duplication (i.e., someone plagiarizing your content on their site).
Google has provided recommendations for identifying and dealing with duplicate content at http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2006/12/deftly-dealing-with-duplicate-content.html. This primarily addresses unintentional duplication within your own site.
A good tool for identifying where on the web your content appears is www.copyscape.com. This free service allows up to 20 searches each month. They also offer Premium and Copysentry services at different rates. You simply type in the url of the page you want checked and it will return a list of all sites that have the same content. We suggest you schedule a regular search for sites that have duplicated your content.
If you find that someone has lifted entire pages or chunks of your site, you can file a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) complaint with Google at http://www.google.com/dmca.html. We have found that sending a warning letter to the site asking them to remove duplicated content under threat of a DMCA complaint usually achieved the desired response. If that fails, then you can always file an actual complaint.
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Friday, February 2nd, 2007
If you are finding that the www.sitename.com and sitename.com version of your site are both being indexed by the search engines you could hit an issue with the search engines seeing duplicate content - after all most sites have both site names resolving to the same underlying file structure. This can also be an issue for people with parked domains - if you’ve brought multiple domains with the common misspellings of your company name (for example), if the search engines index the parked domain you could have a duplicate content issue. Another issue is having links pointing to the various site names dilutes their value, but pointing them all at just one domain name you’ve got a better chance of higher rankings.
One of the best ways around this issue is to redirect all traffic destined for the domains you don’t want to get indexed to the site name you do want to get indexed. By using a 301 redirect the value of the links will also be redirected to the main site name.
JSP 301 Code
Place the following code into the header of any JSP document and it will redirect the page access to the correct site name. while preserving the script name and the query arguments. If anyone has the code to detect domain name and redirect keeping the script and URL intact , email me and I’ll load it here and assign appropriate credit.
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Thursday, November 30th, 2006
As we go into the fourth week of our in-depth look of Web 2.0, it is easy to see how instrumental the new era of the Internet is to individuals and businesses alike. How the Internet is viewed and used is transforming before our very eyes. It is exciting to be part of the transformation and be part of something so revolutionary.
One site that encapsulates all that Web 2.0 is and how it is defined is Squidoo.com. It is the latest site by Internet Marketing guru Seth Godin and it is revolutionizing the way people search or “poke” the net. In today’s newsletter, we’ll explore who Seth Godin is and why you should care, what squidoo is, and how all of this will benefit you individually or as a business.
Who is Seth Godin and Why Should I Care?
If anyone could be referred to as the “Father of Modern Marketing Practices,” it is Seth Godin. He founded one of the first online marketing companies, Yoyodyne, in 1995. By the time he sold the company to Yahoo! in 1998, it had become the #1 creator of direct mail and promotions on the Web. Companies as diverse as AT&T and Skechers Shoes retained Yoyodyne to create campaigns that went far beyond websites. As a part of the sale to Yahoo!, Godin became Vice-President of Permission Marketing. Since resigning from Yahoo! in 2000, Godin has written countless books, blogs, and columns on marketing.
Godin has changed the way marketing is done in this new age. According to Wikipedia, his new theory on marketing centers around three aspects. First, the end of the TV-Industrial complex means that marketers no longer have the power to command the attention of anyone they choose, whenever they choose. Second, in a marketplace in which consumers have more power, marketers must show more respect. Finally, Godin asserts that the only way to spread the word about an idea is for that idea to earn the buzz by being remarkable.
This brings me to his latest venture, and the main reason you should care about who Godin is. Godin is the writer of the free ebook, Everyone’s An Expert (About Something), that launched the site Squidoo.com. Squidoo is a site guaranteed to change how you surf the web, as well as how you do business.
What is Squidoo.com?
Squidoo was founded by Godin on the premise that you don’t go to Google to search or find something, but rather to understand or find meaning. He feels that people do not want a quick right answer, but instead the type of dialog or information you would only find through word-of-mouth conversations. The idea is that a computer generated search isn’t good enough. You want personal experience or an expert in the field. Thus, Squidoo was created.
Why do a search on the process of making crème brulee when you can talk to an actual expert such as a French chef at a local restaurant? Squidoo provides that opportunity. Experts create what Godin refers to as “lenses” of websites. An online lens is a page, a single page, which highlights one person’s view of the Web—not the whole Web, just one tiny part of it.
So How Does Squidoo Benefit Me?
According to Godin, a lens has many benefits:
- Lenses are free to build and maintain.
- Royalties are earned from all the keyword clicks, affiliate income and referral fees the lenses generate.
- More traffic is directed to your blog and your Web sites.
- You can build credibility for yourself and your organization by serving as a trusted guide.
- Increased search engine rank for you and the pages you point to.
Of course, if Godin’s theory is right, you won’t just take my word on this new phenomenon of the Internet. Go check it out for yourself. Download the free ebook. Create your first lens. Revolutionize the future of your business.
Author Bio
Fionn Downhill is the Chief Executive Officer and President of Elixir Systems. She is responsible for corporate direction, corporate branding, and business development.
For more information on search engine optimization contact Elixir Systems at 602.494.6326 or at http://www.elixirsystems.com.One site that encapsulates all that Web 2.0 is and how it is defined is squidoo.com. It is the latest site by Internet Marketing guru Seth Godin and it is revolutionizing the way people search the net. In today’s newsletter, we’ll explore who Seth Godin is and why you should care, what squidoo is, and how all of this will benefit you individually or as a business.
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Thursday, November 9th, 2006
This week we will dive in-depth into one of my favorite areas of Web 2.0: Blogs.
Blogs have revolutionized the business world as well as the communications of individual businesses. Blogs are becoming essential on the local and national level. They also benefit the everyday individual looking to further their career, share their personal life, network with others in the same field, or just learn more about the web community.
As the third installment of a five article series, you are well on your way to becoming an expert in Web 2.0. For the purposes of this series, Web 2.0 is defined as websites that build on community or offer a service. Web 2.0 allows for interactive viewing of the net. (Refer to the last two weeks for more information.)
To continue to move you forward as an expert in Web 2.0, we will look at what blogs are, how blogs began, and the advantages of blogs for businesses and individuals.
What Are Blogs?
According to Wikipedia, the term “blog” is a contraction of “Web log.” A blog is a website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order. Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on photographs (photoblog), videos (vlog), or audio (podcasting), and are part of a wider network of social media.
How did Blogs begin?
Blogs could be found in their earliest forms when individuals began keeping online personal diaries in the 1990s. Early weblogs were simple, manually updated components of common websites. Corporations and businesses jumped on the bandwagon by creating sections such as “In the News” and “What’s New.” With the creation of software that even the most non-techie individual could understand, blogs became increasingly popular and morphed into what we see today on the web.
What Are The Advantages Of A Blog?
The advantages of blogs are numerous, so I encourage you to do your own research as well. As someone who has a blog and spends 90 percent of online time reading on blogs, I am a big proponent of how essential a blog can be. Here are just five of the advantages of a blog – there simply is not enough space to list them all.
- Networking: Blogs provide a forum to network with other people in an area of shared interest. Most small business owners rely on blogs to exchange ideas with others in their field. Large businesses use blogs as a way for employees to communicate with one another.
- Self-Promotion: Blogs are a great way to market yourself as an employer, employee, writer, cartoonist, photographer, etc. They allow people to see your work as well as get to know you on a more personal level.
- Marketing: Blogs are a fabulous tool to market your business. A blog allows consumers to see the personal side of your company and/or employees. People are more likely to buy a product from someone they know than someone they never met. A blog allows consumers to know that person.
- Increase Traffic: Blogs can bring in a ton of local Internet traffic for sites. Search Engines love blogs and just incorporating a blog into your website can send you skyrocketing in the rankings, which could turn into many new customers. On a local level, people are beginning to use web searches instead of the yellow pages, so a blog can bring them to your service or product faster.
- Repeat Visitors: Blogs are updated frequently (most likely the reason search engines are fond of them). People will come back daily to read reviews, see what is new, etc. Reading the latest post becomes an addiction. Add to that the capability to sign up for RSS feeds (which alerts readers of new postings) and repeat traffic climbs in numbers. All this repeat traffic can translate to more sales.
Next week, we will continue with our series with a discussion on Squidoo—what is it and how it can benefit your business.
Author Bio
Fionn Downhill is the Chief Executive Officer and President of Elixir Systems. She is responsible for corporate direction, corporate branding, and business development.
For more information on search engine optimization contact Elixir Systems at 602.494.6326 or at http://www.elixirsystems.com.Blogs have revolutionized the business world as well as the communications of individual businesses. Blogs are becoming essential on the local and national level. They also benefit the everyday individual looking to further their career, share their personal life, network with others in the same field, or just learn more about the web community.
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Thursday, November 2nd, 2006
Gone are the days of door-to-door Encyclopedia salesmen. Gone are the days where parents have to save and buy individual books of an encyclopedia with the hopes of one day being able to purchase a complete set before the information becomes outdated. Our society has transformed into a place where Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia, has become a household name. How did this happen?
Today, kids and adults alike have a wealth of research and information available at the touch of a button. This evolution is thanks to some new software, a concept known as Wiki, and its role as part of the Web 2.0 culture.
Continuing with the in-depth look of Web 2.0, this week’s focus will be on Wikis: what they are, how they work, and how they can benefit businesses.
Let’s Review: What is Web 2.0?
Web 2.0 is the new conventional wisdom of the Internet. Web 2.0 is defined as websites that build on community or offer a service. Rather than offering simply static information, Web 2.0 allows for interactive viewing of the net. The function of Web 2.0 sites is to use community to maintain content.
What is Wiki and how does it work?
A Wiki is a type of website that allows the visitors themselves to easily add, remove, and otherwise edit and change some available content, sometimes without the need for registration. It can also be referred to as server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. This ease of interaction and operation makes a Wiki an effective tool for collaborative authoring. Wikipedia is the most popular example of one such site.
Who invented it and how was it named?
Wikis were invented by Ward Cunningham. He started programming the software WikiWikiWeb in 1994 and installed it on the website of his software consultancy firm. Wiki Wiki is the Hawaiian word for quick or fast. Wiki became the shortened word.
What makes Wikis unique?
Wikis allow everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site. Wikis promote content composition by non-technical users. Wikis do not require users to know html. What makes the wiki technology unique is the ease with which pages can be created and updated. Generally, there is no review before modifications are accepted. Most Wikis are open to the general public without the need to register any user account.
How can Wikis benefit businesses?
By removing barriers, Wikis allow people to work as a group and produce innovative information. Communities on the web are able to come together and collaborate on proposals, projects, tasks, etc. It allows web business owners to have their content contributed by experts in the field and edit content live. It reduces time in research and work by categorizing current information in an easy to find method.
Are there any negative uses with Wikis?
With the ability for any web user to edit or add text, sites need to have some way of approving additions or at least monitoring entries. This can be done by making your Wiki private, just for your business, or by hiring someone to perform this task.
Next week we will continue our in-depth look at Web 2.0, focusing on Blogs: what they are, how they work, and how they can benefit businesses.
Author Bio
Elixir Systems is a full service search engine marketing company specializing in organic search engine optimization services, online public relations management and paid search or PPC management. For more information visit Elixir Systems Gone are the days of door-to-door Encyclopedia salesmen. Gone are the days where parents have to save and buy individual books of an encyclopedia with the hopes of one day being able to purchase a complete set before the information becomes outdated. Our society has transformed into a place where Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia, has become a household name. How did this happen?
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Thursday, October 26th, 2006
Web 2.0 should be at the center of every business owners plan to survive in the Internet world. It is the latest rage sporting the covers of several magazines as well as the biggest topic on the web. It is speculated to be the resurgence of the dot com boom. For the next five weeks, we will look at Web 2.0, specifically social bookmarking, wikis, blogs, Squidoo and Video, and how they affect business owners.
So What Is Web 2.0?
There is still controversy surrounding what exactly the term Web 2.0 entails. Some view it as a marketing buzzword while others view it as the new wisdom of the Internet. For the purpose of this newsletter we are looking at Web 2.0 as the new conventional wisdom of the Internet. Web 2.0 is defined as websites that build on community or offer a service. Rather than offering simply static information, Web 2.0 allows for interactive viewing of the net. There are several sites that have already mastered the Web 2.0 phenomenon such as Flickr, MySpace, Squidoo, YouTube and the social bookmarking site del.icio.us.
The function of these sites is to use community to maintain content. Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media, says, “The central idea is harnessing collective intelligence.” Every one of these sites has no content on its own. They all rely on users to fill them with content. It comes down to the art of creating community. The notion is that if you get enough people in a room together, or in this case on the same site, the content created can be more knowledgeable than even the most seasoned journalists could provide.
With Web 2.0 Comes An Attitude Or Culture
Web 2.0 has completely revolutionized the Internet industry by making it a giant community. Everything is live and instant. It has taken down the barriers of the old thinking that only professionals can run a website. Now anyone can do it, and they can do it cheaply while adding money to their bank accounts.
How Does Social Bookmarking Fit Into Web 2.0?
Social bookmarking is the practice of saving bookmarks to a public website and tagging them with keywords. To create a collection of social bookmarks, you register with a social bookmarking site, which lets you store bookmarks, add tags of your choice, and designate individual bookmarks as public or private.
How Can Your Business Benefit From Social Bookmarking?
First social bookmarking sites allow you to get to your bookmarks from anywhere there is a computer. So if you are out of town on business, you still have access to your bookmarks without the added headaches of extra research. Second, it allows you to share your site with others, whether they are potential customers, friends, employees, etc. Other people can view your site for reference, entertainment, collaboration, etc. Third, it allows you to access the links that everyone wants to remember. You can see whether two people have chosen to remember a link, or whether it was useful enough for a thousand people to remember — which may help you find things that are useful for you, too. Finally, it is one more way for you to market your site by registering yourself and adding your site as your bookmark.
Next week we will look into Wikis; what they are, how they work and how they can benefit businesses.
Author Bio
Elixir Systems is a full service search engine marketing company specializing in organic search engine optimization services, online public relations management and paid search or PPC management. For more information visit Elixir Systems
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