Occasionally you might see a Google search result ( a SERP) with handy links, even a search input box. They make it easier for searchers to find relevant content in your site,and so are very likely to attract more visitors to your site.
How can you get this extended SERP showing on your site ?
Sadly, as mere mortals we don’t have the option to ask for these extended SERPs (Google calls them Sitelinks)
Google decides if it will display Sitelinks with the SERP, but it seem to be based on the site home page having a Google PageRank of 5 or more and the search keyword very relevant to the site
For example the Medibank Private site has a PageRank is 7 and a search of medibank private is as you could imagine very relevant hence a Google search result displays:
It is possible to use Google WebMasters Tools to remove selected Sitelinks
So if your site has a PageRank of 5+ then highly relevant searches may bring up a SERP with Sitelinks
Recently I received another official looking letter notifying me that the succinctideas.net.au domain is available and if I pay for it before a deadline I get a free iPod shuffle.
Do I need this domain?
It is really superfluous to my needs. I already have a domain and if someone (a competitor?) decided they would try to steal some potential clients by creating an online facsimilie of my site. If they did I could take the matter up with AuDA
The price
At just $245 many businesses I’m sure would think this is a reasonable offer, however $60 is about the going ‘street price’ for .au domains so its not really a bargain at all…
Note sure if your domain renewal is legit ?
The ACCC has information on domain name scams and as always Google is a great information source
After finally conceding to buy an iPhone (then instantly converting to an iPhone-a-phile) it has re-awoken my annoyance at unnecessarily bandwidth hungry websites and phat emails.
Outside of a 3G service area and cast into the bandwidth wildness, I’ve becoming painfully aware of the delays and download budget impact for simple emails with bloated banners, oversized signature images etc.
I’ve also had to discard several favourite sites either because of image bloat; poor mobile device adaption. The killer is that the iPhone does not support Flash so sites using it for sales promotion and particularly for navigation have lost me and presumably other iPhone visitors.
Just to give this some context a quick scan of high profile sites under my care reveals iPhone/iPods visitors range between 1.8 to 4.6% of all visitors over the Dec/Jan period!
iPhone website visitors are out there aplenty and presumably they like to buy stuff.
Make sure you are not missing out on them through poor mobile support in your phone & emails.
In the Succinct Update Dec 09 I wrote about the real costs of blogging.
This article from by Janine Popick, Vertical Response founder titled Start Blogging! 10 Reasons Why You Think Time Wasted Might Be Time Well Spent provides some balance.
I stumbled over an extraordinary example of poor SEO ethics recently that I’m ashamed to admit was undertaken by a well known Aussie SEO house.
No this is not about using some black hat SEO technique, this is blatant abuse of a client’s site by the SEO service provider for their own purposes. (more…)
Google has upgraded Analytics to V4 with a host of new features to enable even closer scrutiny of your website’s performance.
This industrial strength yet surprisingly free website metrics system can help you understand more about how your site is performing and give clues on how to improve it to ultimately make it a viable contributor to your business sales activities.
The upgrade includes:
• More sophisticated goal tracking
• Better table filtering
• More flexible reporting
• A threshold based alerting system
If you like many are struggling with keeping up with the barrage of communications from emails, blogs, Skype & MSN chats and many more new media sources then you will be grateful for Google’s Wave.
Google developers have been toiling away breathing life into this unifying platform and it is really looking like a winner on a number of levels.
Wave is a ’single inbox’ for emails, instant messages and all other forms of online communications, but it is so much more than that.
Integration
Wave combines individual internet communications from various channels while maintaining message context similar to discussion forums threads.
This approach enables participants to have multiple message discussions (online conversations ?) independent of the platform each individual is utilising.
Chat or IM conversations are digested into Wave and displayed in near real time, while slower communications such as emails are structured as and when they arrive into your Wave inbox.
I’m just reflecting momentarily about email being described as a slow communication…
Is email being too slow for some forms of communications..?
Quite apart from the highly functional merger of disparate internet communications there are two other key aspects where I see Wave further consolidating Google’s total online world domination.
Open source
Google are producing Wave as an open source product, which fundamentally means Wave is free.
Sure there may be some costs, but if you compare these with the licences costs say for example for an equivalently functional Microsoft server solution (even though I don’t think there is one yet) there will be no financial competition.
Extensibility
The other and probably strongest reason Wave will dominate stems from the strategy to include the ability for software developers to easily integrate Wave into their own solutions.
Many applications need an online communications/synchronisation capability and integration with Wave will fast-track the realisation of many concepts into viable solutions.
Consider the plethora of iPhone applications that have exploded into existence; these are only available to you & me because of the iPhone platform’s extensibility. These applications would have continued to exist only as agonizingly brilliant concepts but not commercially viable because of the costs and impossible logistics to establish the supporting infrastructure required.
A lateral albeit non-business application is the Sudoku game in the You Tube video below that illustrates real-time multiple participant interactivity…
Geeks everywhere already know about Wave. Google is generating peer group hype by using the same limited access marketing they did originally with GMail ie can only particulate in the beta Wave program if you’re invited…
When business gets their head around the opportunities Wave represents it will explode onto our desktops.
Google are trialling Local Listing Ads; another online advertising medium designed specifically for small local businesses.
Currently in beta testing in San Diego and San Francisco, these ads are positioned as “low budget, low maintenance, a flat monthly fee ad solution…” (more…)
Looking to increase sales? Even if your site is already generating leads or sales, there is scope to improve it further through campaigning i.e. short promotional activities designed to engage client interest.
In supermarkets we see these as ‘specials’; and we get bombarded with them in TV advertising, so consider using a campaigning strategy to promote your business via your website. (more…)
The power of urban myth is not something to be toyed with.
In a recent meeting a debate arose after I said that Google doesn’t use the keyword metatag. I was challenged on this point by someone confidently asserting that Google is indeed using the keyword metatag once again. He inferred that any suggestion that they weren’t was simply uninformed.
We agreed to disagree. The customer was confused. My creditability was compromised.
I blogged about the keyword metatag back in 2008. More recently even Google’s Matt Cutts once again debunked this urban myth, but the mighty keyword metatags’ magic powers will continue to persist…
My point is that there is so much SEO mis-information that the sheer mass generates its own pseudo-creditability much along the lines of …Oh yeah that must be true because I heard it the other day….
Metatag Basics
A metatag is a special place inside the web page HTML code that can store variables for example the Description meta tag which is used in SERPs
The keyword meta tag is one of a number of common HTML metatags, traditionally used to store a string of words that represent the content on that page.
Its use has persisted, particularly in Content Management Systems where editors are invited to add ‘search words’ etc that are then published into the keyword metatag by the CMS.
The keyword metatag was identified as being open to abuse around 2002, and no longer used by Google from that time and I suspect by many other search engines for the same reason.
My stock answer to nearly all website measurement queries is to recommend Google Analytics.
Its easy to install; gives great reports; can plot a sales funnel and so much more. Unbelievably its free!
What is even more unbelievable is the amazing array of Analytics tweaks and custom tracking ‘extensions’.
For example, Analytics doesn’t report a couple of key pieces of info ‘out of the box’ ie
• where do visitors go when they leave your site?
• what has been downloaded from my site?
To answer these questions you would normally add special Analytics scripts to every link etc Tedious!
Good Web Practices has a nifty script that dynamically captures site exits and PDF and other downloads in Analytics – well worth a look.
Adobe’s PDF (Portable Document Format) is a convenient format for making any document universally viewable, and an especially useful format for putting content into your website
Newsletters, brochures, annual reports etc. in fact anything you can print or scan you can turn into a PDF document and have in your website.
Visitors to your site can download the free PDF viewer from Adobe (and others) to have your document faithful represented on their browser independent of operating system and browser differences.
Of course you need to link the PDF to your menu or content so visitors and search engines can reach it. Search engines? Yes! They treat a PDF as if it’s another page in your website.
PDFs are a great way to increase the amount of content on a key subject to support search marketing efforts, not to mention the benefit of providing additional sales and product information etc that prospective clients can read to support their decision to purchase from you. Search engines can’t see inside a PDF
This is an urban myth about PDFs that we really need to bust.
Google has been indexing text content and metatags inside PDFs since 2001
Google cant read images inside PDFs
Another myth busted. In fact in Oct 2008 Google announced that they could OCR (Optical Character Recognition) PDF images. That means they can turn images inside of PDFs into indexable text.
Where are your PDFs ?
Use this Google search to find PDF documents in your website:
I’ve encountered several ‘hacked’ websites recently and thought it was important to alert you to this disturbing trend.
The two forms of web site hacks I’ve encountered are those flagged by Google and a more furtive cloaked hack.
Flagged publicly by Google
This embarrassing alert is shown to visitors if Google determines your site has been hacked
I’m sure you agree that this is enough to scare off any prospective client, and so is commercially very damaging. Google displays this message if it determines your site has a connection with a known ‘malware site’.
Malware means malicious software, and these sites use devious software to attack security vulnerabilities in your PC when you visit the site. The Google Online Security blog shows that reported malware sites have doubled in 2009 to over 300,000!
Although embarrassing, Google’s message possibly avoids a costly litigious situation should a website visitor have their computer systems compromised and loose business as a result.
BTW Google will also freeze your AdWords advertising campaigns if your site is assessed as associated with malware.
Your website’s ability to promote your business comes to a grinding halt.
Cloaked hacking
Possibly more sinister because you don’t know your website has been compromised, these hacks use your site as a ‘link farm’.
The hackers add links from your site to their target sites to help improve the ranking of their sites. Read more about the value of links here.
The infected sites I’ve stumbled over have links to extreme anti-social and/or sexually explicit sites. Apart from draining your Google PageRank, the links in this case are thankfully not visible to your visitors, but are visible to search engines.
Consequently your site runs the risk of reduced search ranking because as Google advises in its website guidelines:
“…avoid links to web spammers or “bad neighborhoods” on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links…”
So these apparently benign links can seriously erode your website’s search ranking.
Am I hacked ?
The most important aspect of this for business owners is how to detect and resolve any of this type of activity before clients or your business is exposed to any risk.
Google’s Safe Browsing Diagnostic provides a quick and easy test to to assess the current status of your site:
www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=
De-hacking your site
If you find there is an issue with your site contact your web developer immediately to address it.
Normally the fix is technically simple; either removing the bad code or overwriting your published website with your offline backup
You do have an offline backup of you website haven’t you?
Declaring ‘All Clear’
You could sit and wait patiently for Google to finally decide that you have eradicated the hack, but during this time your site continues to scare off new and existing customers.
Google WebMasters Tools provides a reconsideration lodgement facility to formally advise Google you have removed the hack. I note also that Bing now has a similar process.
You will need to register your site with Google WebMasters which itself may require assistance your web developer and/or an internet marketer.
It all takes time but eventually you will get the business stealing alert message removed.
Hack Prevention
How can you prevent hacks? There is no simple answer; hackers are increasingly more sophisticated but here is a guide:
• Keep your PC’s virus and spam software up to date
• Change passwords regularly
• Store your website’s access details in a secure location
• Keep off-line backups of your site
• Monitor activity in your site
• Visit your own site occasionally
Summary
The internet provides global exposure to prospective customers as well as villains. Be vigilant and stay informed.
I’m regularly contacted by concerned clients who have received website domain renewals, many of which are bogus and pray on businesses’ internet naivety.
So far these have stemmed from outside Australia, but I was very disappointed indeed to see an Australian business running what appears to be domain scam recently.
My client received an official looking letter that offers to register a domain similar to their website domain. The renewal fee of $ 245 inc GST even offers a free iPod Shuffle.
This sounds like a great deal! But is it?
They don’t need it
The domain is superfluous to my client’s business needs so there is no point in them buying it at all.
Wow! Check the price!
You can self-register an Australian domain at around $ 60 for 2 year registration
Even the premium domain registrars only charge $140 per two years
You can currently buy a iPod Shuffle 1 Gig in Australia for $65
Not such a bargain after all is it ?
So if you receive a domain offer you check it carefully
Assuming an Australia domain is involved (ie .com.au etc) check the Australian Domain name Administrator to confirm if this business is indeed an accredited registrar www.auda.org.au/registrars/accredited-registrars/
The Code of Practice explicitly forbids solicitations for business so you wont receive these types of offers from a legitimate, certified domain registrar.
Matt Cutts is a well known Google’s technical guru, who often makes public statements on behalf of Google, including responding to questions from the internet marketing community.
This is one of a series of YouTube videos that clarify important information about how Google works, because frankly there is a lot of mis-information out there.
To catch more of Matt Cutts and other Googlers on YourTube go to the GoogleWebmasterHelp channel
Because of the important nature of referring traffic this module extends the Traffic Sources Overview to focus explicitly on where referrals are coming from.
Business Interpretation
Referring websites are just as important to your business as off-line sales referals;
They bring prospective clients to your site
You are being ‘recommended’ by the referee
YellowPages Online and other internet directory sites should also appear in this category if they are being used as part of your online promotion.
This referral data along with metrics like Pages/Visit will you to evaluate these sources as viable contributors to your business promotion.
If you don’t recognise the websites referring business to you, then make the effort to establish a relationship with them;you might get even more referrals!
Analytics for business people
This is one of a series of articles to help business people extract value from their Analytics reports.
This simple pie chart provides a simple correlation between the major traffic sources
i.e. where the traffic to your website comes from.
Search engines
The search engines that visitors used to find your website
Major Australian search engines are Google, Bing (Microsoft) & Yahoo
Organic is the ‘natural’ method of searching
Direct
Visitors who typed the website address into their browser to visit your site.
Referring sites
Visitors who clicked on a link on another website that referred them to your site
Business Interpretation
Understanding where your website’s traffic comes from is an important element in building your website’s success. Being able to increase traffic equates to building your online exposure and hence your sales opportunities.
Search engines
If your site is featuring in search engines then it is attracting visitors based on keyword searches
Investigate the Keyword section to see what they have been searching for that resulted in a visitor to your site.
Currently in sites I manage (i.e. Australian business websites) Google typically generates 70-98% of organic visits and interestingly Bing has an increasing presence currently at 1-3%
Direct visitors are individuals who have either:
Previously been to your site and are now revisiting
This is an important activity in purchase decision making, where clients scan various websites before returning to the most desirable ones to make a final purchase decision
Regular visitors who are returning to check for updates, specials or to book again
Responded to off-line adverting or an off-line referral and are visiting the website to investigate further as part of their purchase decision making process.
Internal staff visiting the site or
Internal staff who have the website set as their home page (not recommended)
Referrals are visitors who have found your site via another (referring) website by clicking on a link. As in off-line business referrals are an key source of business, and growing successful referring sites is an important business building activity.
Analytics for business people
This is one of a series of articles to help business people extract value from their Analytics reports.
This chart shows the fundamental web metric, Visits displayed over the report period.
Visits should be slowly increasing because you’ve been working hard to get more prospective clients to your website. It is quite normal for traffic to ease during weekends and holiday periods in a business website.
Site Usage
Visits
The number of visitors to the site
Note this is not a direction correlation with visitors because if one visitor came to the site three times this represents 3 visits.
PageViews
The number of times a page was viewed or displayed
If during a visit, a visitor viewed a particular page 3 times then this represents 3 page views
Pages/Visit
The average number of pages viewed in a visit
This is a key metric as it represents the level of visitor engagement with the site.
Bounce rate
Represents the portion of visitors who leave the site immediately after visiting it i.e. they ‘bounce’ straight out of the site
Average time on site
Average period of time that visitors spend on the site
% new visits
The portion of new visitors to the site
Business Interpretation
As with any advertising, the business needs to gain exposure to prospective clients.
A healthy level of visits is paramount; particularly increasing over time.
Weekends, public holidays even school holidays can impact website visits
A good portion of new visitors who represent new prospective clients is also key.
The Pages/Visit signals the level of visitor interest and is particularly useful in later report modules to make judgments about the value of traffic sources etc.
Analytics for business people
This is one of a series of articles to help business people extract value from their Analytics reports.
Has the hint of commercial pressure spurred Google into action to create an interesting new search architecture tagged Caffeine ?
You can try out the web developer preview version of Caffeine here:
Is Google feeling the pressure of Microsoft’s continuing battle to gain a share of the internet ?
Microsoft have invested significantly into their new search incarnation Bing and there certainly is interest amongst my clients based on recent questions
There’s even evidence that Bing is being used more now than MSN ever was; BUT let’s put that into context. This table compares the proportion that search engines are used in a popular Australian website in the last 4 weeks from 19 Aug 09
Search engine
Visits
google
93.9%
bing
2.9%
yahoo
1.8%
search
0.5%
msn
0.3%
live
0.2%
aol
0.2%
ask
0.1%
altavista
0.1%
alltheweb
0.0%
Google represents 94% of all searches that results in a visitor to the site.
At 2.9% Bing is slightly higher than I would normally expect.
Microsoft Search Network (MSN) and Live (an earlier Microsoft search engine incarnation) continue to spiral into online irrelevance
While I enjoy conspiracy theories, there is just one fact that this one over-looks and that is that Google are continuously building new solutions; enhancements and gizmos. To suggest Google have cranked out Caffeine in response to Bing ignores the amazing stream of new products and enhancements that continues to flow out of the Google online solution factory.
Amazingly most of these are absolutely free.
In fact my personal favourite conspiracy theory is that Google Wave will be the last straw in undermining Microsoft Office by defusing Outlook’s domination of the business desktop.
Feel free to share your favourite Google / Microsoft / World domination conspiracy theory with a comment.
If like me you’re a Google Chrome fan and want to see PageRank quickly & easily you will be releived to know that there is finally a solution you can download from Vasanth Dharmaraj’s blog
Note that you will need to add additional params to the Chrome start link to force it to start allowing extensions, at least in the interim anyway… Read more here
I was very pleased to hear from Wayne Van Elsen from Newport Digital today about his success with AdWords paid search.
In a recent internet marketing mentoring session I guided Wayne through some refinements and tips for his home grown AdWords (pay per click advertising ) campaign.
After these tweaks, Wayne contacted me today to say that he’d closed $1,500 worth of business for a mighty investment of less than $3 for the clicks.
Wayne had previously given up on Adwords after an intial attempt, but he’s a convert now!
NWBDC’s mentoring services funds guy’s like myself to spend quality time with small business owners and their staff to develop skills to build their businesses; in my case the sessions are on using websites as a sales tool, but there’s a range of other consultants covering a range of business services.
Wayne’s business NewPort Digital provides websites suited to folks looking for low cost entry websites, but that can readily grow into substantial online presence without major expense.
If you like me you rarely use Microsoft Live / MSN then we both missed the launch (rebadging ?) of ‘Bing’.
It caught me by surprise when logging into the Microsoft WebMaster interface today and “boing” (with musical intonations!) there was the ‘Bing’ branding.
Apart from that the Microsoft Webmasters interface is still extremely underpowered functionality-wise compared to Google’s WebMasters Tools
If I cared more I’d research ‘bing’ and tell you more.
The subtlety of the new Show options link on the Google Search page defies its potential to change the way we search in future.
Google have nonchalantly introduced a new suite of search refinement tools that will help experts through search novices to find that elusive answer buried in the sea of internet information.
Here’s a summary of the search option functionality this new capability provides:
Filters:
Content type (Videos forums & reviews)
Time (recent, 24 hours past week or year)
Search result views:
Images (images & SERP from results )
Time line (results over time)
Search refinement:
Related searches (shows related searches to your query)
Wonder wheel (a visual relationship interface)
This video provides a brief overview of the search options functionality:
A number of people have contacted me to seek advice after receiving an email typically starting with I visited your website and foundit did not rank for <insert apparently relevant keywords here>.
The email finishes with an offer to get your website ranking in Google.
Client’s initial reactions are that this was a genuine pro-active service provided by the sender, and they felt some obligation to contact them and seriously consider their offer.
The harsh reality is that some software found your site, tested it against potentially irrelevant keywords and then composed and sent you that email.
There’s no caring proactive professional business person behind this; just a spammer using software to try to trick you into contacting them.
Yes, its spam email masquerading as a proactive service from an allegedly reputable business.
The human(s) responsible are unlikely to actually know of your business; and probably don’t even know that their software sent it to you until of course you contact them.
Do a Google search and you will find that this spam has even been sent to Google themselves claiming to be able to help them improve ranking for their website !
I think the WebWise blog best sums this up with a quote from Google: ”reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email about search engines as you do for ‘burn fat at night’ diet pills or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators.”
It must be update time at Google with the new AdWords interface migrating into production, and now I see Google’s WebMasters Tools is also being updated too!
Apart from a neater layout, the major enhancement is the ability to view more of the site’s serach queries and the ability to email alerts.
I encountered a great example today of really appreciating what your website is trying to tell you.
Actually it is really what visitor activity tells you, and the only way to ‘hear’ this is through interpreting website statistics.
In this case the client had a temporary parking web page while they underwent the arduous task of implementing a new website.
Recently installed, Analytics (my fav web metrics tool) revealed that the site was attracting visitors from searches nicely aligned with this client’s business and in their target geography. Great news!
The bad news was Analytics revealed these visitors were immediately abandoning the site, apparently unimpressed with the parking page.
Until I revealed this today the business had no idea how many sales opportunities it had lost, and as you would expect, the website refurbishment is now a top priority.
How may sales leads are you loosing because you can’t hear what your website telling you ?
Google Gadgets have a stunning range of functionality.
I love the fact that despite their sophisticated internals, you can simply copy & paste them into your website.
Ive added the Google gadget for Google’s Insights for Search into the right hand column in this blog so you can marvel at what South Aussies are currently searching for…
OK so maybe you’re not that interested in what we do in little ‘ol Adelaide, but look closer at the Insights for Search Gadget and you’ll notice you can even filter the display to particular search terms.
This example shows global searches relating to internet marketing in the last 30 days
Based on my 20 minute business breakfast presentation, this video covers basic points business website owners should consider to improve their website’s sales effectiveness.
Profile sites like Linked In that have emerged recently as business-relevant social media (should that be business media ?)
These sites will start to feel pressure from the omnipresent Google with their recent announcement that Google Profiles will now be featured in SERPs. ie if you create & fill in your Google Profile you’ll appear in search results.
The Google Profile screen sets the expectations right up front: ”Adding more information will help you improve your profile’s rank.”
The simplistic Groups ( Co-worker & regularly contacted etc) already provide scope for an embryonic business network capability.
The content changes to reflect the evolution in your business; your offerings, even your target clients. But sometimes changes can quite innocently have a catastrophic impact on your website’s sales effectiveness.
Let’s examine which changes to your site can impact its sales effectiveness: (more…)
Google’s getting a bit superman-like with its barrage of enhancements for AdWords - i.e. they’re coming in faster than a speeding bullet… Today they launched the Search-based Keyword Tool into Australia
This tool compares current search activities against the content in your website and presents you with suggested keywords, their bid pricing etc
While the tool has been available in limited release since the end of ‘08, it is now generally accessible in Australia and elsewhere.
Ive used this tool on several recent projects, and will definitely be including it in my keyword research toolbox.
This release is just one of an unyielding barrage of enhancements and new releases to help your AdWords online marketing campaign be more a more effective sales tool.
Is your AdWords service provider using these tools to make your campaign more competitive for you ?
Google’s Content Network is emerging strongly as an independent and unique online marketing medium. This is clearly highlighted in Google’s recent report on Content Network Cost-per-Acquisition (CPA) performance.
Including the Content Network in your online advertising; and particularly understanding how to optimise this medium is becoming an important aspect of a successful online campaign.
The statistics from Google are staggering:
More than 6 billion ad impressions (i.e. displays) per day globally
An XML Sitemap provides a directory of your website specifically for spiders to find all of your content and is a critical element in internet marketing.
Don’t confuse this with the ‘sitemap’ directory often provided so human visitors can view an outline of your website’s structure.
The sitemaps I’m referring to are not designed for humans but for search engine spiders. OK so maybe deep geeks can understand them, but definitely not marketers and other mere mortals (more…)
For some reason PageRank seems to be one of the great secrets in internet marketing, and yet it is not.
Understanding PageRank will aid in improving your website’s Google ranking. This in turn provides increased online exposure which in turn leads to improved sales opportunity.
Background Every wondered why so many people use Google? The answer is deceptively simple; Google gives great search results. It does this by putting the best quality search results first. (more…)
Google has announced it is now providing a longer “snippet” portion of SERPs for longer searches
This intiaitve is intended to provide greater search result clarity for those really long (4 words or more) & presumbly less precise search results. Read More
After years of crafting SERPs to single length, this now presents an opportunity for new strategies for sales pitches via SERPs
A quick investigation revealed SERP ’snippets’ ranging from 190 through to 261 characters
Insights for Search is a valuable keyword research tool, but who does keyword research ?
If you are able to take time to view the video below you will get a glimpse of how keyword research should be a significant contributor to your online and even offline marketing efforts.
A series of enhancements to Insight for Search announced in Inside AdWords today also signals its continuing evolution, with Google adding additional data sources, categories and greater granularity although sadly only in the US.
I’m very pleased to announce the launch of my eBook Tune your website for Sales Success
With over 12 months of toil; recalling experiences, extracting self-capturing knowledge into a comprehendible format it’s been a significant investment of time and energy.
This ebook is quite different from other offerings because it:
Show & tell
It describes relevant topics; then takes the reader through how to do it.
Its not one of those whitepapers that are clearly just a thinly veiled sales mechanism to get you excited; but then you have to buy the related product.
This is a genuine standalone reference on basic internet marketing.
No Geek Speak!
It’s for mere mortals
Its squarely pitched at busy business people; not would-be SEO / SEM
Business people who want their website to be an effective sales tool.
It has a life The purchase price (AUS $ 49) includes 12 months of free updates.
Anyone involved in internet marketing (indeed most people) know how dynamic it is.
There’s no point or value in releasing this eBook as a once only document.
For more about this eBook, including a table of contents etc click over to the Succinct Ideas website.
The eBook introduces business owners directly the knowledge of how to recognise these people without web skills and even without marketing
Firstly, a belated new years wish & I trust that your business succeeds in what appears to be evolving into a more challenging commercial scene.
A greater emphasis on financial accountability in advertising (ah yes there is such a thing!) is creating even more demand for online marketing.
While many industry segments have already embraced online marketing; new advertisers entering the fray are increasing the level of competition.
Simplistic online campaigns that may have performed adequately previously, are increasingly not able to perform cost-effectively, if at all any more.
This next phase in online marketing’s evolution will be focussed on campaigning smarter for less.
Under-pinning this evolution, Google continues to offer tools and capabilities to help online marketing strategies and campaigns be better researched; better managed and ultimately more competitive. (more…)
Google AdWords new Display Ad Builder represents yet another milestone in Google’s evolution of AdWords.
This tool provides a wizard that even a non-designer like me can easily follow to produce acceptable (well maybe not acceptbale to all but still adequate) and even some itneresting interactive Display Ads suitable for use in AdWords Content Network.
The value of using these is:
Often you can get away with (slightly) lower click prices in the Content Network
Animated or display ads are more prominent in some of the busy Content Network sites
Im sure the ‘roll your own’ aspect will attract a number of users to these.
Update 20 Jan 09: Display Ad Builder gets additional custom templates
Google has extended Dispay Ad Builder’s template library to include seasonal ads
As an Aussie I’d say there is little chance of the Presnetidential day te[lpate being used here, although I can see advertisers using the Valentine’s Day template.
This article dating back to 2002 (that’s correct 2002!) is just one of a plethora of articles and controlled SEO experiments that have shown the keyword metatag has no affect on Google.
Unfortunately some folks just don’t get it.
Perhaps its because the tag’s name suggest that’s what it does and its just too damn temping to ignore it.
If you’re paying for SEO services and they are getting stuck into your keywords metatag you’d be better off looking elsewhere for your SEO services.
The easiest way to view Google PageRank is to use the Google Toolbar search bar which you can download and install for free from http://toolbar.google.com
After you install the Google Toolbar you may have to explicitly enable the PageRank display by going to Settings; Options; More and enabling PageRank and Page Info.
When installed, a small gauge displays PageRank in your toolbar, with a mouse-over tooltip showing the PageRank for the page you are currently visiting.
I think this is a very small price to pay for such empowering information, however if your view is different you may like to take advantage of one of the many websites that kindly provide this information for free and presumably without consequence.
As almost everybody knows there’s been some unscrupulous use of Chinese domains (.cn) to try to scam AdWords users and we’ve reported on this previously.
I know that numerous people have been caught out !
Yesterday with, Teri’s help I encountered my first Russian phishing attack, then lo and behold one pops into my inbox this morning so they are out there…
Telstra’s Sensis has given up on competing with Google in online search and mapping, announcing today it would provide its Yellow business listings to Google Maps and abandon its own search engine for one powered by Google.
From the first quarter of next year, all of Yellow’s business listings – the most comprehensive directory in Australia – will be stored in Google Maps. As well, Google’s search engine will power the search feature and text advertising on Sensis.com.au.
Nielsen NetRatings figures show Google Maps has 2.5 million users, compared to 1.2 million for WhereIs. Google search is used by 9.3 million Australians, compared to just 184,000 users for Sensis Search.
Using blogs, Twitter, Face Book and the plethora of other emerging social media ‘devices’ to promote your website is without doubt a powerful new force and worth considering when planning your website’s internet marketing campaign.
Social media evangelists will exclaim loudly (and passionately as enthusiasts do) that if you create great content in the social media entities that match your target market then you have an excellent chance to attract traffic. You may even pick up some great Google PageRank’d links that will also help in your site’s overall ranking. There’s no doubt about it, social media will help your website sales, but at what cost ?
