2010 February

Archive for February, 2010

February

Keyword Refinement Made Easy

When it comes to the success or failure of a campaign online, usually it is due to the keywords that were chosen. Don’t fail again because you chose the wrong keywords. In my SEM Mastery course, I cover this process and show you how to do it correctly. It’s a short 12-minute video that could change the way you approach your keyword research and could turn a losing campaign into a winner.

http://www.vimeo.com/6534900

I am accepting the next group of students into my SEM Mastery Course. There will be an intensive two-day workshop and phone consultation with me. In short, this isn’t a “study at home” course where you start, stop and fail. You work WITH me.

As you know from my Google Best Practices Guide, I test these methods and they work. Whether you are an affiliate, a merchant or an SEO, these methods will increase your presence online.

Learn More: SEM Mastery.

Posted in SEM/SEO | 16 Comments »

February

Yahoo! & Microsoft Search Alliance Announced

I just received the following email announcing the new search alliance. I will comment on it as soon as I have time to test the new “alliance”.

Microsoft® and Yahoo! have now received regulatory clearance to form the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance in the United States and European Union. This milestone is an exciting step in our effort to give your business a time-saving and cost-efficient way to connect with a larger combined audience of potential customers.

How the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance benefits you
After the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance is implemented, you will:

Reach more potential customers: Search ad inventory from both the Yahoo! and Microsoft networks will be joined in a new, unified search marketplace powered by Bing™ , with a combined audience of over 150 million searchers in the U.S and nearly 577 million searchers worldwide.1
Save valuable time and effort: You’ll use a single platform—Microsoft adCenter—to manage your campaigns easier and faster. With just one buy, your search ads will reach users on Bing, Yahoo!, and other premium partner sites and networks, such as The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, msnbc.com, FoxSports.com, Facebook, and Buy.com.

What’s ahead
For now, it’s business as usual; there is no change to your account or service. Your ads will continue to serve on Bing search results pages, and you will continue to receive the same great service from Microsoft.

Both companies are committed to making this transition a seamless experience. Our goal is to bring the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance to the U.S. by the end of 2010, prior to the crucial holiday season, with additional countries following on a staggered schedule beginning in 2011.

As our transition dates approach, we will contact you with information about what to do next. In order to ensure you continue to receive important service updates, please verify your contact information is current in Microsoft adCenter. View our help topic: Change contact information.

How to learn more
In the meantime, you can familiarize yourself with the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance by visiting our new resource, searchalliance.com, where you’ll find plenty of additional details, including press releases, FAQs, and more!

We appreciate your business and look forward to bringing you the benefits of the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance.

Sincerely,

The Microsoft adCenter Team

Posted in SEM/SEO | 4 Comments »

February

SEOMoz Update

In a long-awaited update, SEOMoz finally released new data, although it seems to be more than 30 days old, but fresher than the mid-November stuff they had up before. So, rerun your reports and check out the new MozRank and MozTrust. Our link building testing shows solid gains all across the board.

Posted in SEM/SEO | No Comments »

February

reCAPTCHA – Protect Your Website from Spammers

Spammers always seem to find ways to achieve their goals

You know the problem, you login to the control panel of your blog and you are met with dozens or hundreds of Spam posts. I hate that.

For example, this blog is “dofollow” … meaning, the links that are posted count in Google’s algorithm. So, if someone makes a good comment, they get rewarded. It is a win-win. But that also attracts the Spammers who see this as an “opportunity” to spread their crappy offers and sites.

For the most part, the Spammers use “bots” to automate the process and can do thousands of posts an hour. For you, to personal monitor those posts and clean them out could take a big part of your day, and that isn’t productive. What are your options? You don’t want to shut down comments, as that would limit the conversation. What makes blogs great is the conversation back and forth.

There is a solution. CAPTCHA.

CAPTCHA determines whether the visitor is a human or machine and the acronym stands for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.” Seriously, that’s what it means. Almost as good as TWAIN (Technology Without An Interesting Name). The “word” is presented in a format that is slightly distorted so a human can read it but a machine can’t.

But there are a lot of different CAPTCHA programs out there…which one is the best?

According to Adam O’Donnell, director of emerging technologies at anti-spam firm Cloudmark, says,

“Google already has the best computer-vision techniques. The way ReCAPTCHA works, this means that Google will only be presenting CAPTCHA words that are very difficult for a bot to defeat,” O’Donnell explained.

“By pushing up that boundary, it will make CAPTCHA technology much better.”

What does reCAPTCHA look like? Check it out:

captcha

The best part is not only does Google own the technology, but Google offers it free! I highly recommend you can take advantage of it. Unlike other CAPTCHAs, it can’t be broken by third-party apps to allow the Spammers to automate their garbage posts.

How it works:

• Sign-up for a reCAPTCHA key to get the code implemented on your website on the reCAPTCHA Administration Portal.
• Remember your reCAPTCHA key is valid only for the domain you sign-up with. If you need to have this option on your multiple domains then you need to generate different keys for each. Or you can sign-up with a Global Option.

Want to see it in action? Just go to the Comments section and you will see it. In order to post a Comment on this Blog, you have to go through reCAPTCHA. Now, will that block all Spam? No. But it will block the automated bots, which is 98% of the Spam posts out there.

Install reCAPTCHA on your site today. It’s free of cost and secure. You can also customize the look of reCAPTCHA on your website.

Tags: reCAPTCHA
Posted in Blogging, Webmaster | 13 Comments »

February

Emotional Ads Always Win

First things first, my membership, the SEO Revolution, is closed and I highly doubt it will ever reopen. I like the people that are in there right now. So, please don’t email saying that you want to join and can’t. That’s on purpose.

Okay, let’s talk about effective ads. There is a reason why people who hate football watch the Super Bowl. The commercials. Why? Well, since the spots cost so damn much the companies actually put some thought into them … and since there is so much competition, each tries to outdo the other. Sometimes it works well, sometimes it doesn’t.

Year in and year out, the industry that has the best ads is the beer industry. I don’t believe it is because they have the best ad agencies, I believe it is because the ads always focus on one thing: emotion.

Beer commercials are known to make us laugh, smile, feel a sense of belonging and, on occasion, cry.

Even though there were a few really good beer commercials during the game yesterday, they didn’t stand a chance to Google’s ad. If my memory is correct, this is the first ever ad by Google during the Super Bowl and they nailed it. How did they nail it? They told a story.

There is an “urban legend” that Earnest Hemmingway was challenged in a bar to “write a story in seven words or less” … he wrote:

For Sale. Baby Shoes. Used Once.

That is emotion and it tells a story. But the key is, it tells a story in just a few words, which, most humans, don’t have the skill set to achieve. We go on and on and on and on …

Ugh.

Then, along comes Google. And they not only tell a love story in 52 seconds. They do so without narration and completely from their search results.

http://www.vimeo.com/9301477

When I saw this, I was taken aback. Did a Google Search just make me cry? Yes it did. Damn them. Maybe if I rub the side of my head no one at the party will notice that I am wiping off tears too…

I was reminded of a commercial Haagen Dazs did back in 2005, which was equally as powerful. It didn’t tell a story, per se, but it told a story of how they made their ice cream and it too was emotional.

http://www.vimeo.com/9301442

Notice how both use words on the screen instead of voice overs or actors to drive their point home. They also have one thing in common, a beautifully arranged piano piece. Take out the piano and the emotional effect is greatly diminished.

Where do you go from here? Hang tight. I’ll be sharing my “Framing the Offer” concept that I learned from Mark Joyner later this week which ties in nicely what Haagen Dazs and Google have done.

And, as Dave Taylor pointed out at the Super Bowl party he attended, the next search in Google’s ad should have been “french divorce law”.

Nice.

Update: The reports coming out have typical Google users reacting as follows:

1) I can search for coffee shops when I’m on vacation?
2) I can check the status of a flight with Google?
3) I can basically search for anything on my mind or a problem and find the solution …

In short, in 52 seconds Google showed off many of the features of its search that most people had no idea it could do. Searches for things “Paris Related” are off the charts today.

Posted in Webmaster | 45 Comments »

February

Press Release Writing Tips – Get the Basic Steps Right

Write Your Press Release the Right Way at the Right Time.

You know it. You have to do Press Releases in order to attract possible leads and get the word out of your new offering. You also hate them with a passion. You aren’t alone in that. They key is to get your message out in a formal manner, but also interesting enough to get picked up by some media channels.

The size of your business doesn’t matter and communicating with your customers and prospects is vital to you right? Writing regular press releases can help you gain publicity and credibility for your business. And it really isn’t that hard.

Let me give you some tips that I have found to be quite reliable over the years:

Is your release news worthy? If it is weak, you can spin it to more interesting. Remember, this is your release and if you can come up with just one unique spin, it should be enough to get some attention from the media.
Your press release title and summary are of the same importance as your Title and Description in SEO, so spend enough time to make it compelling to get the attention you need.
The first paragraph is critical and you should get right to the point. Don’t sugar coat it with “sales speak”.
Tie your story with real facts not fluffery. Remember, the release just isn’t for your prospects, it is for media outlets too. If you can get just one to pick you up, it could make a huge difference in your campaign.
Don’t use fancy words and constant exclamation points (think Elaine Benes) in your press release. They are not needed. Avoid the hype.
Press releases should be written in an “active voice”. You aren’t writing a story or a novel. Get to the point and end it. Short. Sweet. To the point.
Try to provide all the relevant information, such as address, contact number, email, and website and other details for further contact. Verify it is correct.
Edit and proofread your press release at least three times and at least once from an outside source. The media isn’t going to do your editing for you.
Don’t forget to mention your company information at the end of the press release.
Always include a summary paragraph for your press release.

If you don’t want to write your own release, I highly recommend Dr. Kevin Nunley who has been writing our press releases since 1999.

Find more Press Release Tips to Promote Your Business with FREE Media Coverage and How To Optimize Your Press Release

Here are some other resources to help you get your release published and distributed:

If you have some more websites that we can add in this list then feel free to post comments. Now people can atleast quit asking for a Press Release list

Tags: Press Release, Press Release Writing, Press Release Writing Tips
Posted in SEM/SEO | 3 Comments »

February

SEO & Apostrophes: Match Made in Hell?!?!

We've All Been There ...

While this isn’t a picture of me, it very well could have been. I did the very same thing when putting together the crib for my first child … nearly 17 years ago. Ugh. What seems to be equally frustrating is deciding how to do SEO … when it comes to apostrophes.

What’s the deal? Well, probably out of laziness or out of lack of education, people just aren’t using apostrophes when searching and Google gives different results for each. For example here are the results with the apostrophe:

bachelor-apostrophe

… and without …

bachelors-without

Notice how you have the “spell correction” display, which is clicked often according to test results. And with the advent of more “personalized search” being injected into the SERPs you need to have a solid grasp of what SEO really means … and that is, ranking matters little if the “click” doesn’t happen.

Translation: Stop looking at how often the term gets searched and look at instead, how often the term gets CLICKED and CONVERTS. After all, that’s why you are in this business to begin with, right? To make money.

So, you may wonder, “who cares, the results are the same”. Yes, they are for the top two listings in the SERPS, but the bottom half of the first page is where you start seeing differences. Okay, fine, but the issue still is, clicks and conversion and if you aren’t in the top three, then you aren’t a serious player. And of all the keywords I have checked with apostrophes, the top three were always the same. To me, this whole issue is a non-issue.

Think about it. Is it worth it to be grammatically incorrect on your site? I say it isn’t. What about incoming links? You mean links on OTHER sites pointing to your site? Sure, why not? Since they are off your site and links (anchor text) is one of the key ingredients to a top ranking in Google it makes sense to do a solid link campaign for the non-apostrophe version of the phrase.

So, there you have it. Make sure you test to ensure that the version you are targeting actually converts. When that has been verified and you need to optimize the incorrect spelling or usage, use the power of incoming links to do the trick instead of having it on your site directly.

Posted in SEM/SEO | 1 Comment »

February

Random Questions …

Here are some questions which were posed to me recently …

1) In my experience, pinging is only for purpose of page indexing rather than getting backlinks, do you have similar experience or I am wrong?

I only use pinging for getting indexed. In terms of backlinks, you might be confusing “trackbacks” which have long been used as a form of “spam” to get backlinks.

2) I wonder where the new WordTracker get their data from? I do not think is from metacrwaler anymore. The new data counts look suspicious.

I actually haven’t logged into WordTracker for some time, although I have a current subscription. I hadn’t heard they had changed their data source, as it used to be from metacrawlers and Dogpile, mostly. I contacted their support for a definite answer, but did not hear back from them.

3) What is the use of rel=”bookmark” as far as SEO is concerned?

You can read more about the rel=”bookmark” here. While it is still early, I don’t see any SEO benefits with the tag.

4) A plugin in FireFox highlight rel=”bookmark” as rel=”nofollow”. Thus are they the same thing?

No. They are not the same thing.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

February

Pandora, AMEX Fail

This isn’t an SEO post, but I have to go on a rant here because, well, I am blown away that companies continue to be “short sighted” even in a recession.

I went to upgrade my Pandora subscription (online streaming music) so it would be ad-free only to discover that they dont’ take the American Express card. Seriously? In this economy you are going to have a barrier to entry? Make doing business with you difficult? Unreal.

Why is this a big deal? For starters, unlike many Americans, I only use one credit card. I would rather not have the temptation of having many cards and getting into debt. No thank you. It is a personal choice. However, I am also a business owner and I want to make it easy for my customers to do business with me.

Allow me to illustrate …

We all have commercials that we hate. The ones I hate the most are those awful Visa commercials. You know the ones, that feature restaurants, resorts and other places that brag up these places and they end up by stating, “They don’t take American Express.”

Many people who run their own businesses and don’t take the American Express card do so because of the higher fees that AMEX charges. The higher fees are harsh, but you are, in fact, reducing the number of ways a customer can buy from you. American Express has a super strong membership, myself included. In fact, American Express members often only carry one credit card – their AMEX.

If a customer comes across a barrier to buy, more often than not, they go somewhere else, or decide not to buy altogether. Now, if AMEX charges an extra 1% over the other cards and as a business owner, you make a sale of $5,000.00, that is an extra $50.00 you will shell out to American Express. Is it worth it? It is when you look at it from the other side.

When my wife and I got married in 2002, we planned a week long cruise for our honeymoon. At the end of the buying process, the cruise line I picked out said they didn’t take American Express and asked for another card. “That is the only card I use.” They didn’t save $50.00 by not taking American Express; they lost $5,000.00 as I went with another cruise line.

Not accepting the American Express card is just dumb. Bragging about it is even dumber. Don’t be dumb. Let people buy. Period.

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »