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Archive for the ‘Google’ Category

I talk to people every day who struggle with how to create unique and compelling content. It’s all around you – you just have to tune in. Here are some more ideas that I share with my customers regularly:

1. Follow Industry trends and hot topics – Being able to add relevant content on timely subjects is a huge advantage and mistake if you are not on top of things. If you are in technology then write about tech trends, if you are in entertainment write about the superbowl, if you are local then write about events, news whatever you can. You have to watch and listen and there are plenty of tools to do it for you…you don’t even have to go our hunting for it.

• Google Insights – so cool. Best insider tip – use this! Enter your keyword and it shows you trend wise what is going on, and you can see and follow what new “breakout” terms may be on the rise.
• Google Alerts – it doesn’t get easier. This sends you all the information you need and filter by topic.

Take what you read and summarize, rebuttal or general response to what you read. Simply copying what you read is not impressive, anyone can do that. Your readers can get that anywhere, provide people some insight, resolution or glimpse of knowledge other than what they can find somewhere else.

2. Use Social Media tools – If you have the luxury of using a tool to track conversations online, great…there is no reason not to listen in. At the very least use some of the free resources out there and you can even use wordpress plugins like Zemanta to give you ideas.

• Search.twitter.com – Using social media does not have to be complicated or expensive. This was probably the first search tool and it gives you plenty of information. Tip: Track your brand and name and subscribe to the RSS to track what people say. Additionally track your competitors and industry to stay abreast of developments.

3. Go old school – Hint: this requires actual human interaction. Attend an event, tweetup, conference, continued education classes, interview someone etc. And write about it.

Like I said, there is lots to write about. As you think of ideas write them down, use a sticky note pad or access your computer and keep a list by saving blog posts as drafts and then continue writing when you feel inspired or have time. Use what you’ve got!

image source: blog.mindjet.com

I am sure you have been among the many recipients of cold calls (or cold emails) from some search engine firm. And if you are like me you find it completely irritating when they send you a completely bogus email with absolute nonsense information…where do they get their information? The letter may sound lucrative. They get to the point and tug on the emotional strings of their prospect, and if you don’t know better you just may go for it…but that’s why I am here to lead you down the right path.

So, here is what the email said:

Hello,

Thank you for taking a few moments to view my introduction of our search engine and web services, it really is greatly appreciated.

To be brief, I’d like to invite you to take a look at how we could greatly improve www.domain.com in terms of achieving top, organic, search engine positions.

I’ve performed a complimentary link analysis for you by utilising 2 different link checks for your website – with a reference at Google.com followed up with a more comprehensive one at Alltheweb.com. Here are your results:

• According to Google.com you have 5 incoming links
• According to Alltheweb.com you have 164 incoming links

(It’s very common for a difference to show between these two numbers, I’ll be happy to explain why if you wish to hear more)

The better your inbound link profile, the higher your website is likely to rank on Google and the more visitors (and ROI) it will bring you.  So, to improve your link profile and have your website rank highly on the search engines for your keywords, we are able to offer you a search engine promotion service that includes ethical, ongoing sourcing of links throughout the Internet with a view to building your link authority – this is achieved through a mix of links from websites, intelligent forum participation, blogs and more.

Additionally, and of equal importance, we will examine the architecture of your website and provide advice to ensure it is correctly set-up for current search engine algorithms.

We aim to achieve Top 10 rankings for your website on the major search engines, whilst protecting your ROI with our unique Performance Agreement that refunds your monthly payments should this target not be reached. Specifically:

1. We will work to achieve first page results for your website across the three most important search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN).
2. The search terms we use will be chosen by you and designed to bring you the maximum level of purchase-motivated traffic possible.
3. If we can’t achieve first page rankings for your site we will refund your money.
4. If we can’t keep your website in the Top 10 we will refund your money.

No-one can promise Top 10 rankings with absolute certainty. What we can do is protect your investment.

We are confident our methods work; they’re tested on our own R&D websites and are currently achieving first page results for many of our existing clients with search terms as tough and massively important as, ‘Graduate’, ‘sales jobs’, ‘Bling’ and ‘dresses’.

As our client, you will be kept fully updated on your campaign progress, with regular ranking reports that show you exactly how your search terms are doing on each of the search engines, and of course, regular contact with your personal technical consultant to answer your questions whenever they arise.

I’d like say thanks once more for your consideration, and you can take a closer look at what we have to offer by visiting a ‘business-card’ website we’ve compiled to provide more information for you…

When you do choose to call or drop me a line, you’ll find our approach refreshingly different, there’s no obligation, and our virtual coffee is the best!

I hope to hear from you soon, very best wishes,

Eva

Hilarious right. So I will dissect this in parts:

1. Professional firms don’t reach out cold to anyone. They work through referrals or are found in organic search or via advertisment. We use the tools that we talk about 24/7 to gain our leads.
2. Using Google for link analysis tells you nothing. When you search link:www.domain.com all that it gives you is a random sample of inbound links. It does not give you a complete list of links (ever)…I wonder if they include that as part of their explanations (doubt it).
3. Your inbound links effect your Google PR (PageRank) which is different from Page Rank (or positioning). Don’t let them fool you. PR is not nearly as influential as it once was. That said, inbound link are important, and you want to gain them naturally and having top search results listings is not the reason you gain inbound links. Sure having top page listings may gain you more traffic, and maybe those visitors will read through your site, and maybe they will share and/or link to information, but it’s not guaranteed. Nor is it guaranteed that having more inbound links will gain you top page rank. It is only one part of a hugely complex formula that helps you achieve that over time.
4. They aim to achieve top 10 rankings…cleverly phrases though still misleading. The parts that they choose to emphasize clearly lead the reader to believe that their site can end up on page 1, which should NEVER be a promise that any SEO makes. SEO should not be about selling ranking. Sure it’s seems like a good sell, that is how it worked years ago, and maybe that’s all you know how to explain.
5. Why would you let a client choose their keywords. I completely agree that keywords should be used that will help motivate leads, however this requires more than just a client telling you what keywords they want. You MUST do research, and research competitors, trends, history, search results etc.
6. As a client I would want to see more than my site’s ranking. Ranking alone does not bring in traffic. You will want to see all organic traffic sources, content viewed, time on site, entrance and exit pages, bounce rate and most importantly the number of leads through your site and specifically the source and what they did while on your site.
7. Sounds to me like a lot of their clients will be getting refunds.

PS: it helps to spell check a letter before sending it out.

What do you think? Would you go for it? Have you gotten any mail like this? What would your response be?

I recently reported on the launch of bing.com and how it claims to bring an end to search overload by over-promising their esp capabilities and under-delivering, well, on everything.

You may recall or have heard about about an event that occurred a few years back (2004 election cycle to be exact) when the phrase “miserable failure” returned the bio page of George W. Bush in Google search results (funny right). A group of bloggers had taken it upon themselves to add a whole-lot-a inbound links to the Whitehouse.gov site with the anchor text – miserable failure.

Back then it pulled enough weight in Google’s algorithm so that an anchor text from a large number of inbound links, from various sources could push a listing up in rank… but that has since changed. Now when you search the phrase in Google you will find among other things Wikipedia pages referencing the incident.

Interestingly enough, now when you perform the same search, “miserable failure” in bing…or as they would say if you “bing” the phrase “miserable failure”, then you will see that hmmmm George W. Bush still shows up. But tied to the Whitehouse.gov page? Oddly enough, alongside of good ole W. you see Barack Obama in the organic results and then as “related search options” Martin Luther Kind and Waffles? Yes, of course I get it…um no I don’t. I may have skipped the class in school where Waffles, MLK and W. had something in common.

So what’s your take? Besides that the Whitehouse obviously needs to update their bio pages. Is bing really the one failing misrably? What has your experience been with this new and supposedly improved search engine?

Microsoft premiered its newly rebranded search engine Bing last night. There has been lots of hype about it and surely the ad did deliver. The question that remains is, will Bing deliver?

The inaugural ad suggests that there has been a sort of “search [information] overload” (Obviously! If you’re using MSN search) and the commercial’s narrator goes on to drive home a tie to current economic disasters, saying that “while everyone was searching, there was bailing, while everyone was lost in the links, there was collapsing. We don’t need queries and keywords if they bring back questions and confusion. From this moment on, search overload is officially over.” That’s some pretty deep stuff right there…

Bing is obviously trying to brand itself in a similar way that Google has, where they say that it’s time to “Bing and decide” … personally, I have a little trouble believing that they are all of a sudden going to be able to cut through the digital crap and get you what you are really looking for. IMO any search engine will have a tough time giving Google a run for their money, and this is just MSN with a more hip name.

So, what do you think? Will Bing deliver?

Spring just invokes the need to clean (or maybe that’s just me). It’s also a great time to organize or reorganize yourself. Organizing all-together is an opportunity to become more efficient and with most online tools, the name of the game is efficiency and the ease by which you can communicate, follow and listen.

I recently took some time to organize my RSS streams. While I already have everything organized in folders through my outlook (which is the email program that I use), I also have a Google Account. To me efficiency means not having to go to too many sources for too much information. And so, when I come across great posts not only do I share it and leave a comment, I also subscribe to the blogs RSS feeds.

As I took a closer look at the Google applications I started to explore all that it has to offer. I recommend for you to do the same, especially if you find yourself trying to remember what that cool site was that you recently came across. While there are other tools out there (like Feed Reader) that allow to organize website subscriptions, I find Google tools particularly helpful because (a) it’s free, and (b) you’ll have an account through which you can check your email, your site analytics, and so much more.

Check it out. What kind of tools are you using? Which would you recommend?