1) Gain Visibility as a Thought Leader
Each thoughtful post on your blog is a public demonstration of your thought leadership, personal integrity, humor, and professional insights. You don’t have to refute one of Einstein’s theories to get respect. For example, a summary of recent trends in your industry, or a reaction to a recent news article can be extremely effective blog posts.

2) Engage Customers in a Dialogue
If you blog using a solid blogging engine, readers will have the option to comment on each article. Folks who comment on your blog may be sales leads, or they may just challenge or support your views. Either way, comments beget comments, and you will soon be at the center of an industry-relevant dialogue with customers and partners.

3) Every Blog Article is an SEO Opportunity
The much-discussed “long tail” of search refers to highly specialized, low-traffic search terms that represent a significant amount of total searches. Translation: lots and lots of people are searching online for lots and lots of random things. You can’t realistically optimize your site for every long tail search term, but you can certainly write blog posts targeting niche keyword phrases that are likely to draw highly qualified prospects. For example, blog a reaction to a speaker in your vertical at a local tech conference. You may not draw much natural search traffic, but there is a good chance your blog will rank well very soon for searches like “vertical + conference + speaker + city”, and those visitors may be highly interested in your reaction to the speech.

4) Blogs Are Link Bait
Very few websites or bloggers will link to the “products and services” page on a corporate website. People don’t link to corporate advertisements. On the other hand, a good blog article is an industry-specific insight or a thoughtful critique. Blog articles garner links because they are interesting, informative, and not overly corporate or sales-focused. The benefit to you is that more links means better search engine rankings and more site traffic, which translates into more sales leads.

5) Humanize Your Brand
Blogs offer an opportunity for a company to present its insightful, helpful, thoughtful side. Through a blog, prospects will get a sense of your company’s people, culture, and vision. Blogs are an opportunity to provide a less antiseptic view of your company that is more personal and less “corporate”. Blogs can humanize your brand.

6) In Google, Fresher Content = Better Website
Google will periodically crawl websites looking for new and updated content. In general, it is better to have Google crawl your site as often as possible. Sites that get crawled more often have more frequent updates and more authority. Blogging consistently ensures there will be fresh content on your site.

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“For some sites, there are legitimate reasons to [have] duplicate content across different websites — for instance, to migrate to a new domain name using a web server that cannot create server-side redirects,” says John Mueller, Webmaster Trends Analyst with Google Zürich.

“There are situations where it’s not easily possible to set up redirects,” he says. “This could be the case when you need to move your website from a server that does not feature server-side redirects. In a situation like this, you can use the rel=’canonical’ link element across domains to specify the exact URL of whichever domain is preferred for indexing. While the rel=’canonical’ link element is seen as a hint and not an absolute directive, we do try to follow it where possible.”

Mueller gives the following ways of handling cross-domain content duplication: 

- Choose your preferred domain
- Reduce in-site duplication
- Enable crawling and use 301 (permanent) redirects where possible
- Use the cross-domain rel=”canonical” link element

Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable gives three reasons why the addition of cross-domain support for the rel=”canonical” link element is really important:

1. Some hosts don’t allow webmasters to deploy 301 redirects
2. Some site owners aren’t technical enough to implement a 301 redirect
3. In some cases, webmasters do not want to redirect users but rather only search engines (i.e. pagination, weird filtering, tracking parameters added to URLs, etc).

To use the link element, pages don’t have to be identical, but they should be similar. According to Google, slight differences are fine. You should not point point rel=”canonical” to the home page of the preferred site. Google says this can result in problems, and that a mapping from an old URL to a new URL for each URL on the old site is the best way to go.

You should not use a nonindex robots meta tag on pages with a rel=”canonical” link element because those pages would not be equivalent with regards to indexing, Google says. One would be allowed while the other would be blocked. Google also says it’s important that these pages aren’t disallowed from crawling through a robots.txt file, because search engine crawlers won’t be able to discover the rel=”canonical” link element.

YouTube has launched its own URL shortener, but it is not like other URL-shorteners, because it can only be used specifically with YouTube videos. This way, YouTube says, when you click on one, you know you’re going to a YouTube video no matter what. That should certainly cut down on the likelihood that you could be going to a malicious site.

YouTube’s URL-shortener is at Youtu.be, although if you go there, you will just be taken to the YouTube home page. You can use the shortener manually though. If you take a video URL and replace the part that says “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=” with “http://youtu.be/” and you will have your short URL.

“It’s all the rage: link shorteners to ensure that those useful URLs you’re sharing don’t take up too much precious character count while also giving you an inkling of what you’re about to click on,” says Engineering Manager Vijay Karunamurthy.

“Also, because the link contains the ID of the video you’re going to see, developers can do interesting things like show you thumbnails, embed the video directly, or track how a video is spreading in real-time,” adds Karunamurthy.

Users can use the AutoShare feature on YouTube to link their YouTube account to other social networks. This way, whenever the user “favorites” a video on YouTube, the action will get syndicated to the other networks. People on those networks will see the shortened version of the YouTube URL.

Web Architect’s thoughts

Finally!  A way to market all of your youtube videos without taking up the character count on your forms, plus you can now insure a SAFE delivery to your video by your visitors.

No youtube channel?  No problem!  Web Architect can set you up with a youtube channel page and get you started on the search engine marketing of your videos.

Email our lead web architect to begin! jeremy@jdnelson.info

“A small business called Leatherup.com, which sells peripheral gear for motorcycle riders issued a news release on November 6, 2008, titled, ‘LeatherUp.com 2008 Sales Explode to over $20 Million,’” the representative tells WebProNews. “This year alone, this release has received more than 11,000 unique page views excluding advertising (I can see that Leatherup.com used this release as a landing page for some Doubleclick ads which boosted the total unique views to more than 20,000, so have excluded them).”

“Once I had the 11,000 number, with the exclusion, I looked at the entrance sources,” he says. Among the top ten, these include (all numbers are unique views):

Google:  2,832
Direct:  1,551
AOL: 696
search.rr.com 247

“Moreover, peak views included December 11, 2009 – more than a year after the release was published,” he continues. “The flat periods before April 7, 2009 are due to the fact that we had not yet implemented Google Analytics at that time, and the flat period in June 2009, is when PRWeb.com migrated over to a new Web site – the point being these search results could well be higher.”

There are a number of reasons that press releases can be great for search. They’re great for spreading word to the media (journalists/bloggers), they can contain links, when used with credible news wire services, they are often looked upon with some authority, and as discussed above, their shelf-life can be significant.

Web Architect’s thoughts

Isn’t it time for you to begin to use the same tools that the big dogs use?

Email us today to begin! jeremy@jdnelson.info

Press releases are not only great ways to spread the word about any announcements your business might have. They can also drive traffic, particularly from search engines. This is not news, but it’s a commonly overlooked fact. 

“Search engine rankings are arguably the most important small business marketing tool available today because it drives Web traffic — and potential prospects — to a small business’ Web site,” a PRWeb spokesperson once told WebProNews. “However, because improving search rankings is desirable, achieving results can be both challenging and highly competitive.”

Back in the summer, PRWeb shared a case study with us, involving a firm that typically sees a boost in search engine rankings and a 50% spike in web traffic after they issue a release. In fact, for one release in particular, the firm saw a spike of 400% on two different Web sites, and the firm doesn’t believe they were from the same users. They also incorporate social media tools like Twitter to extend the “shelf life” of press releases, and say that drives additional traffic.

“When we included a link to our press releases on Twitter and other social media networks, we saw these both expanded the scope of distribution and the extended the longevity of the announcement,” the CEO of the company behind the case study had said.  “With other news releases we saw an initial spike in Web site traffic on the first two days and then it dropped off.  With these features we’ve seen increases in traffic up to five days after the news release was issued.”

In a study from Arketi Group, also back in the summer, journalists were found to use the web in the following ways:

- 95% search
- 92% reading news
- 92% emailing
- 89% finding story ideas
- 87% finding news sources
- 75% reading blogs
- 64% watching webinars
- 61% watching YouTube
- 59% social networks (see Pepsi’s announcement about going social media, instead of super bowl ads)

You’ve got to wonder if that social networks number has gone up by now. My guess is that it has, and social media has since become all the more important to search, particularly with the inclusion of real-time search results in Google and Google’s social search experiment (which may eventually move beyond experiment status).

Marty Weintraub, the President of aimClear shared some great tips and insight into the use of press releases for search in a recent interview with WebProNews. Among other things, he noted that when you do a press release, you’re “hitching a ride” in the search engine results and news results. You can use outbound links in press releases, and perhaps more importantly, you’re out there where the journalists are looking.

Here are some press release distribution sites (some are paid and some are free): 

- Business Wire
- PR Newswire
- PRWeb
- 24-7 Press Release
- PR Zoom
- PR Leap
- I-Newswire
- Webwire
- ClickPress
- PR.com
- PR Log
- eReleases
- MarketWire

Beyond the distribution sites, don’t forget to include your releases on your own site. Journalists like being able to find the most up to date information from the source itself.  Earlier this year I discussed how some companies’ own press centers are holding back some marketing opportunities for them. Your site should have a section for press releases, and that should be up to date with the latest release when it goes out. You’d be surprised at how often these go without being updated even when a press release has been spotted elsewhere. It is also a good idea to link to any company blogs, Twitter accounts, or any other place where company announcements are made.

Web Architect’s thoughts

We have been recommending for years to our clients to release news into the press to drive traffic to their website.  In fact we provide a press release service that will blast your information out to the www.

We can assist you with writing a press release and submitting it to the proper channels to maximize the efforts.

Email our lead developer today! jeremy@jdnelson.info

At the same time, less than half are using radio advertising (46%), television advertising (46%) and mobile advertising (39%). The Harris poll found there is a regional difference as advertisers in the South are more likely to use radio advertising (57%) and television advertising (56%) while those in the West are least likely to use both (39% each).

Among those advertisers who are using each of these types of media, there is a difference in the level of usage since last year. Three-quarters of those who use Internet advertising (74%) say they are incorporating it more often while 69 percent of those who use mobile advertising are using it more often compared to a year ago. Unsurprisingly, the largest drop is with print advertising as half (49%) of those who use it are using it less often compared to a year ago while 41 percent are using it the same amount.

Of those who use Internet advertising just 14 percent say they use it in a standalone campaign, while 54 percent say the use it in an integrated campaign with other media and 33 percent use Internet advertising in both types of campaigns equally.

Four out of five advertisers who use Internet advertising use it as a branding device (79%) and two- thirds use it to drive information gathering for an offline transaction (65%). Slightly less than three in five advertisers (58%) use Internet advertising to drive online transactions while 57 percent say the use it to promote community around their brand.

Internet users find many aspects of online advertising very annoying. The majority (80%) say they find ads that expand on the page and cover the content very frustrating while 79 percent say ads where they can’t find the close or skip button are very frustrating.

Three-quarters of consumers (76%) find Internet ads that automatically pop up very frustrating while two-thirds (66%) say ads that open if they are “moused over” are very frustrating. Three in five consumers find both animated ads that automatically start playing and ads that play music and/or have loud soundtracks to be very frustrating (60% for both).

“Although the trend among advertisers is clearly towards the Internet, advertisers have to walk a fine line,” the study concludes.

“At least three in five consumers are very frustrated with six of the main Internet advertising characteristics, and there is the potential to see a backlash forming. To be successful, those that advertise on the Internet will need to come up with more engaging ways to connect with consumers.”

Web Architect’s thoughts

We can’t tell you the amount of times business owners tell us that online advertising will not work for their business.  They procees to tell us that their industry does not utilize the internet for anything to do with their business.

Well, this proves that an incorrect thought pattern to run your business by. 

We can assist you with developing a custom internet marketing campaign that builds your business, not break down your budget.

Email our lead web architect today to discuss your options.  jeremy@jdnelson.info

Pepsi will reportedly be skipping its annual Super Bowl commercials, and will instead invest the money it would generally spend on those, in social media marketing. This would make the first time in 23 years that Pepsi will not have Super Bowl ads.

Larry D. Woodard, President and CEO of Manhattan ad agency Vigilante writes in an ABC News piece:

Pepsi represents one of the stalwarts, not just of the Super Bowl advertiser lineup, but of broadcast TV in general. In 2006, spending on brand, Pepsi was at about $150 million. Although brand spending has been decreasing in recent years, Pepsi has continued to spend tens of millions on TV. And the Super Bowl annually has the largest audience of any TV show.

As television viewership has gone down, Internet usage, particularly social media interaction, has increased. The 2009 Super Bowl attracted an impressive 95.4 million viewers (approximately 42.1 percent of U.S. TV homes) and many of those watch the commercials as attentively as the football game. By contrast, in the important 18-34 demographic, a whopping 85 percent use social media (texting, blogging or social networking), and the phenomenal growth of social media has the attention of every major company. This holiday season, Toys “R” Us developed a Facebook page that grew at the astounding rate of between 40,000 and 95,000 fans per day after its late November launch.

As the numbers Woodard mentions would indicate, the Super Bowl is always an advertiser’s dream. It costs big bucks, but there are so many eyeballs on those ads, and some people even watch the event just to see the commercials. Pepsi’s move really says something about how far social media has come in the advertising world in such a short time. The fact that the company is breaking such a long-standing tradition in favor of it says a lot.

Of course social media will play its role in the further viewing of the Super Bowl ads themselves. They will no doubt appear on various video sites, and will be shared by countless people on social networks like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc.

Web Architect’s thoughts:

As you can see a major player in the retail industry is moving away from one of the most lucrative forms of advertising because they see the social revolution on the internet about to take place.  Why not learn from their forward thinking and begin to move yourself to their level of marketing?

Need help bringing your business into the 21st century of marketing with social venues? 

Web Architect can help you with entering your business information and setting up Facebook profiles that work for you, and not against your business.  Twitter profiles, and more can be maximized!

Email our lead web architect immediately for marketing packages.  jeremy@jdnelson.info

I heard this again the other day from a business owner. And once again I must say that is not entirely true. In fact, I would venture to say with this particular business it is completely wrong.

How can I be so sure that this mode of thinking is not correct?

Simple.

Keyword research.

I did a simple search on only TWO keywords for this owner’s business in the industry and the results were staggering!

First let me explain something to you… I discussed with this owner if he was really wanting to grow his business, or just remain where he was. This was because some owners do not want their business to grow so they can be comfortable and not get burned out on their business.

Second, after establishing the owner was half way sure about wanting to add customers to the base of sales, I asked if internet marketing was understood. The answer was, sure, that is when you have a website and get on yahoo.

No folks… Internet Marketing is the art of selling online.

You have to understand how to put your website in front of people.

Back to the keyword search. As I mentioned, the results are staggering.

One of the keywords was searched for 16 MILLION times/month and the other word was searched for 8 MILLION times/month.

What is even better is that these two keywords can be in the domain for this business which would boost traffic exponentially just by searching.

Unfortunately this is the attitude of most business owners.

But as you can see, with 24 MILLION searches every month for the two keywords that can be in the domain, a website would be beneficial to this business.

###
Need a Website? Need SEO?
Jeremy Nelson
JDNelson.info

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