Search engine optimization algorithms are always changing and what worked last month, or even last week, may not work today in the world of SEO. If you don’t have several hours a week to devote to studying the changes, how can you possibly keep up? Instead of trying to decide where to place your keywords on your webpage or in your article, you may just have better luck by improving your keyword research itself.

Keyword research is all about trying to determine what keywords people are actually using to search for your niche. In order to stay ahead of the competition, you need to dig a little deeper than ordinary keyword research. Think outside the box and get inside your customer’s head. Get away from using the keywords you think they are using and start thinking the way they are thinking.

More »

You’ve got a website and/or blog. You’ve got your product. You’ve got your business plan mapped out. What you don’t have is traffic to your site that will help you to increase your profit margin. So what now? Ever hear the saying ‘If it’s free, it’s for me’? There is a reason it’s a popular saying simply because it is true. Even those companies that are advertising on other mediums besides the internet may have difficulty convincing the public at large to buy their products because people who can not see, smell, touch, or handle a product (especially a new one) may be reluctant to shell out the cash to buy it. So what now? Give away a free sample product to get attention. It may cost you a bit of an investment in the beginning to give away free product but it can certainly reap benefits down the line. As word of mouth is usually the biggest advertising tactic a business can use, getting your product into the hands of the target audience is essentially. Here are some tips for giving free samples in the online world:

Blog About Your Giveaway

More »

Companies once again failing to make full use of their social networks have hit the headlines, once again proving that lack of communication can lead to a public relations nightmare. Facebook has been fighting a rear guard action all week over their privacy settings, eventually taking the logical step and wheeling Zuckerberg out to put the facts straight.

More »

In a previous post about Search Engine optimization (SEO) I mentioned that link building (getting links from other sites to your website) is the biggest factor that affects your Search Engine rankings. So that leads you to the question:

More »

In the world of email marketing, first impressions matter. Each and every day our inboxes are overflowing with email and we’re quickly sizing up which messages to scan, read, and interact with and which ones to delete, mark as spam, or unsubscribe from. You’ve got to make sure your email marketing program consistently delivers value and treats your subscribers as VIPs–right from the outset.

More »

Do you remember the saying “keeping up with the Joneses”? It refers to always being one step ahead of your neighbor. If they buy a new car, you feel like you must buy a new car too – only yours will be fully loaded. On a very simplistic level, let’s elaborate on the fact that to keep up with your neighbors, you must be aware of what they are doing. This also applies to your website! Here are a few steps to get you started on always being one step ahead of your internet neighbors.

First, determine who your competitors are. Geographical location is a good place to start if you are a brick-and-mortar, but don’t forget the businesses that hold the top spots for your keywords online as well. After this is determined, do an analysis of their website to find out what they are up to and how you can go one step further.

More »

Have you ever heard of Google Places? Some of you may have, some of you may not have. But most of you have probably hear of Google Local Business Center and Google Maps. Well, that’s what Google Places is – it’s the new Google Local Business Center that has all your business’ great information that feeds your listing on Google Maps.

But it’s not yesterday’s Google Local Business Center that you may be used to – Google has re-branded this service and included a heaping helping of great new features to go along with the beneficial ones they already had:

More »

Microsoft Word (and other desktop publishing apps) often embed their own styles into documents.  When content is copy/pasted into WordPress these styles are also copied and will cause problems when viewing online.

Option 1 (plain text editor)

More »

Recently I was surfing some SEO blogs when I came across a post on a search marketing conference. I like to see what the other leaders in online marketing are saying these days, so I was anxious to read the entire post, and was well on my way until I came across #13 in their list of top 20 quotes from the conference. It reads:

13. Don’t worry too much about duplicate content.

More »

So….you’ve worked hard to garner a bevy of Facebook fans and Twitter followers. You are blogging, Tweeting, Digging, gaining friends and fans and linking everywhere. These online social media environments can create a vibrant, relevant, active platform that will benefit your business in any number of ways. As your network grows, however, you may find that the maintenance of these has become incredibly time consuming and complex to the point that you are experiencing some anxiety. You may be suffering from social media fatigue!

Social media fatigue can be the result of many different factors.  Successful blogging and social media development requires consistent – nearly constant – submissions to your blog site.  Twittering can become a full-time commitment in itself, not to mention Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn…the list is endless!

More »