Freshen Up Your Site

If Microsoft has taught us anything with Bing, it’s that a fresh look can do a lot for your site. Certainly a little bit has changed behind the search engine but it’s core remains the same. A different look, promotion, and pizzazz and Bing has shot past Yahoo. The initial buzz has been positive for Microsoft and you can make it work for your site too. Follow the same model and you can be ranking in no time.

Get some professional images, fonts, and perhaps a bonafide website designer. Looking good is 80% of the battle. The other 20% is the actual product. Long term results however do take substance. You have to be able to back up your word, meet obligations, and exceed customers expectations.

SEO and Terrorism

Think SEO is just for the private sector? The British government is putting SEO tactic to help fight terrorism. A lot is misunderstood about the religion of Islam the British counter terrorism is working to flood the Internet with positive information. It’s the new battle ground against radical religions attempting to recruit new members.

Climbing the Google charts to rank ahead of the sites in question in an effort to sway those sitting on the fence. The SEO tactics aim to manipulate Google algorithm traditionally utilized by online marketers. However the success of the new age method is still in question. Whether convincing impressionable youths to take the least destructive path.

Hmm, suicide bomber or moderate Islamist … the virgins do sound tempting …
(link)

Use Twitter to boost sales

Twitter is all the rage nowadays. Heck, even Barbara Walters is tweeting, and Stephen Colbert has “twatted”. Nice. For a company that stocks a lot of products Twitter can boost sales significantly. Simply tweeting current stock or new stock can catch the eye of a customer who’s looking for that exact product. And believe me, word gets around quickly. If even one person gets one of your tweets and picks up a deal because of your tweet, they are going to spread the word.

It’s not just about spamming your products, well, not completely. The trick is to actually have a really good deal every now and then. I mean a door crasher. Limited quantities of course. Remember, you’re running a business. You do need to make money. People love deals and if you give them some, they will come. Add on sales and extras will boost your bottom line.

So Twitter can be useful even for companies. Announcing products, new stock, sales, company news, even the occasional interest topic can build a relationship with your shoppers and consumers. It’s definitely worth a look. Give it a try, I mean a really good try, before you write it off.

Twitter can be dangerous

Sure micro blogging can be extremely useful and fun but it can also be detrimental to relationships. Take for example Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer (link). I guess John was too busy tweeting to his followers when he should have been arranging a booty call with Jenn. Damn, who’s dumb enough to pass up tapping some Aniston ass? John Mayer apparently. Hmm, Twitter or sex with hot Jennifer Aniston … simply decision for me.

Youtube, MySpace, then Yahoo

ComScore recently announced that Youtube topped the traffic charts for January. Followed by Myspace and Yahoo. In addition they estimated that each Internet surfer watched an average of 100 videos during the 30 day period. Each video last just over 3 minutes.

I’ve always had a hard time believing numbers from ComScore, Alexa, and other Internet statistics keeping sites. The accuracy of the sampled data is subject to large variations. It’s really hard to take the data and make conclusions due to the fact that it’s based on such a small relative sampling. Unfortunately, it’s the best we’ve got right now. Anything is better than nothing. So take the data and run with it. Just remember to upload your videos to YouTube.

What’s in a domain name …

Wow, just wow! Who says a domain name isn’t important in corporate america. Looks like some companies still have money to burn.

ToysRus pays $5.1 million for toys.com domain.

In content links

Placing links within post content is probably one of the safer routes to go when commencing a link campaign. For one the content will attract clicks, secondly the link will be keyword focused traffic. It’s a much slower way of building “natural” looking links and it will take some time and dedication but the rewards are definitely worth the trouble. Of course this requires a bit of quality on the part of the writer and good writers are hard to find. Don’t equate a good writer and a good blogger. They are both different animals.

Buying run of site links can be successful in limited quantities. Having a well placed link on a trusted site on the blogroll can push traffic to your site. However having too many run of site links creates a large influx of inlinks has often raises the red flag with the Google police. When a site all of a sudden gets a ton of inlinks that’s not natural and a Google engineer is going to take a closer look at where the links are coming from. Buying links isn’t wrong … so long as your buying them from Google. Just be careful. You don’t want your link count to jump from 100 to 10,000.

Interesting items of 2008

Google launches a browser: Chrome. After a bit of hype people return to Internet Explorer and Firefox.

A new search engine pops up: Cuil touted because of the mere presence of a former Google employee, quickly crashes and burns. People return to Google, some go to Yahoo and Microsoft. Does anyone still use Ask?

Adsense gets suckier. Yes, we all made less money while Google made even more. Any predictions for this year?

Twitter explodes (literally) people are using this thing left and right. I say, “What’s the point? It’s totally lame!”

Facebook, MySpace, and Digg still the main portals for a lot of people. Except for those dummies signed up with AOL. Hello! McFly!

Blogging is bigger than ever. SEO and search is messed up even more by Google’s tactics. Mobile search isn’t making a wave yet. Google earth, maps, street view is awesome on the iPhone. GPS is absolutely necessary, even if you know where you’re going.

The Internet is even more crowded than ever.

Holidays a great time to review

While you’re enjoying your time off it’s a great time to reflect on your SEO strategies. Have you fully implemented your SEO plan? How’s it going so far? What aspects were effective? Which need to change? SEO tactics are constantly evolving and what worked last year isn’t going to work next year. Talking with your consultant in the new year is a good idea. Refresh old ideas, talk strategy, reaffirm goals, and continue to develop relationships. Although it may be unpopular you might have to end some longtime relationships which have not reaped benefits for your website.

Change is never an easy thing but often can inject new life into your website. Keep those ideas coming. Don’t be so quick to brush off, potentially great ideas. There’s going to be a diamond in the rough sooner or later, you just got to keep plugging along. Good content will always attract attention. Focus on your SEO strategies for the upcoming year and you will enjoy online success. Happy Holidays!

Front page advertising still going strong

Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft all showed increases in paid front page advertising revenue. Compared to last year all search engine services had a noticeable increase. So you know somebody is paying money to rank well. Even in tough times advertising revenue gravitates towards old tried and true methods of drumming up business. No more risky strategies, go back to what works. Companies are pulling out all of the stops to get your business as competition for less sales could mean survival of the one who converts on advertising opportunities. Despite what you think, putting those dollars into promoting your brand will give you an edge on the competition. Don’t give up on your plan, keep with your SEO strategy during tough times.