When you’ve been writing about SEO as long as I have you sometimes feel that you’ve run out of things to say. We forget that there is always someone new just learning about SEO and hasn’t had the chance to read every article ever written on the topic. Not many people have that kind of time on their hands.

In light of that, I wanted to spend some time going back to the basics of SEO.

I recently was invited to speak to a group of beauty bloggers being hosted by L’Oreal in New York City. Most of the attendees write their own blogs or were responsible for the blogs for the company they work for. A good share of them also sold products through their blogs. Many of the illustrations I’ll use in this series will be directed toward that audience, however they can be applied across the board to any industry, including those selling products or services.

After spending dozens of my free-time hours just getting this new site set-up, I can totally see why people would just rather pay someone else to do it for them.

Google
July: 64.7%
June: 65.0%
Change: -0.3

January 2009: 63.0%
Change: +1.7

Yahoo
July: 19.3%
June: 19.6%
Change: -0.3

January 2009: 21.0%
Change: -1.7

MSN / Bing
July: 8.9%
June: 8.4%
Change: +0.5

January 2009: 8.5%
Change: +0.4

ASK
July: 3.9%
June: 3.9%
Change: +0.0

January 2009: 3.7%
Change: +0.2

AOL
July: 3.1%
June: 3.1%
Change: +0.0

January 2009: 3.9%
Change: -0.8

Data scoring techniques tend to change over time making past data inaccurate. As always, information here is for entertainment purposes only.

Source: comScore

The other day I reviewed a site that confirmed this premise. It wasn’t a bad looking site on the surface but once you looked into the architecture a bit you found problems compiling on top of problems. Nothing short of demolishing the entire site and building it from the ground up would allow it to gain any traction in the search engines.

Most companies stop their website development once the site is developed, and then move into marketing mode. The website becomes another product they have to market, rather than building a website that is the marketing vehicle for their products and services. We talk about website promotion quite a bit, which we understand is the process of getting the site visibility on the search engines. But getting people to the website is not the end goal.

The website is just another something the business must have in order to do business, but it never fully succeeds in being a tool that works for them to generate business.

Even if your business as little commercial viability online, having an accessible website allows people to learn more about you, your products or services, what types of things you do, what you believe in and care about, and how to contact you if needed. It’s about allowing people to come to you instead of pushing yourself on to them that is typical of most forms of advertising.

If you run a business of any size and you still have not made the jump to the Web, why not? If you know your business can make money online, (i.e. you sell an in-demand product or service) then investing money to build your web presence is almost a no-brainer. The question then becomes, how to do it right so you can be profitable.

If you run one of those niche businesses where online success isn’t a certainty, there is still value in being online. There is also value in investing in a bit of marketing in order to make sure your site can be found by those looking to find you, even if they just seek information.

Regardless if your business that can make a profit online or if the site’s just another way to provide information to the public, there are a few things that you’ll want to consider when budgeting for your website’s success.

In this installment we move into the realm of pricing and asking questions related to costs versus return on investment. When outsourcing your SEO to a firm or consultant it becomes a bit more difficult to control costs than it does when you hire-in house. But that’s not to suggest that cost cannot be controlled and you cannot get a return on investment. It’s all a matter of knowing how to manage the campaign, expectations and the budget that goes along with it.

Google
January 2009: 62.8%
December: 62.9%
Change: -0.1

January 2008: 56.9%
Change: +5.9

Yahoo
January 2009: 16.2%
December: 16.8%
Change: -0.6

January 2008: 19.0%
Change: -2.8

MSN
January 2009: 11.2%
December: 9.8%
Change: +1.4

January 2008: 12.1%
Change: -0.9

ASK
January 2009: 1.9%
December: 2.0%
Change: -0.1

January 2008: 2.4%
Change: -0.5

AOL
January 2009: 4.0%
December: 4.1%
Change: -0.1

January 2008: 4.7%
Change: -0.7

Data scoring techniques tend to change over time making past data inaccurate. As always, information here is for entertainment purposes only.

Source: Nielsen Online

The topic of the show is SEO 101 so Jennifer and Ross asked me about my SEMMY winning article, Best Damn Webmarketing Checklist, Period. We talked a bit about things we look for first when optimizing and what might be most important in terms of architecture and usability.

You can listen to the SEO 101 Interview here.

Searching a name as uncommon as Stoney deGeyter, you may not be surprised to find him in all of the top ten results, but each and every one of the top one hundred results are either articles Stoney has written himself or are about him. I stopped checking after page 10.

When searching for Pole Position Marketing (no quotes), the top 21 are all directly related to the company, with the results still very heavily relevant but starting to get more scattered after that.

If you don’t have a unique personal or company name, what can you do to promote your company in the search results? Join and become active in a variety of social media. Great examples are LinkedIn , FaceBook, and Twitter.

And when you’re interested in knowing what anyone else is saying about you or your company, you can use Google Alerts. It may be good to know when a YouTube video appears with you as the underdog!

Before we get started with all the resources, I thought I’d include some of the basics on Twitter for anyone who’s new to it.

Twitter Basics

• Your Timeline — shows tweets by all the people you follow. Also includes responses that people have directed @ you, including people you may not follow.
• Public Timeline — shows tweets from EVERYONE.
• Twitter can be seen a few ways:
  • Microblogging (One-Way Communication)Posting 140 character updates about what you’re doing.
  • A Powerful Communication Utility (Two-Way communication)You can also view Twitter as a powerful communication utility. You could think of it as way to create your own customized chat room (so to speak), with whoever you want in it. (All the people you follow.)
  • A Great Source of NewsTwitter is also a great way to keep up on what’s happening in the world. News spreads extremely fast, and it’s not uncommon to find out something before the traditional media. Some of the more tuned-in news stations are making use of Twitter now.
• @ — Tweet @user to target a message to them (called a reply) and make it show up in their timeline whether or not they follow you.
• d — Direct Messages (dm) to specific users that are private from everyone else. Use by typing d username. Test it out and become familiar before dm’ing anything sensitive.
• Favorite — Allows you to bookmark tweets you like and view later.
• ReTweet — If someone has a tweet you like, then you can re-transmit it to all of your followers.
• Normal Tweet (Update) — Post your 140 character message.

Recommended Twitter Applications

• PC
  • Twhirl — A streamlined Twitter client. Supports multiple accounts and tracking saved searches. Recommended.
  • TweetDeck — A full-featured Twitter client. Allows multiple columns for tracking searches or groups. Recommended.
    • TweetDeck Offers Features Twitter Lacks | Lifehacker
  • Seesmic Desktop — A full-featured Twitter client. A new rival to TweetDeck.
  • OutTwit — Lets you integrate Twitter with Outlook.
• Mac
  • Twhirl
  • TweetDeck
  • Twitterific
• Firefox Extensions
  • Twitterfox
  • Twitbin
• PDA/Smartphone
  • All Java-Enabled Smartphones
    • TinyTwitter
  • BlackBerry
    • UberTwitter – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
    • TwitterBerry
    • TinyTwitter
  • iPhone
    • TwitterFon
    • Twitterific
    • Tweetie
    • Twittelator
    • Twinkle
• More
  • Extensive List of Twitter Apps
  • 140+ More Twitter Tools | Mashable

Twitter Tools

• Finding/Tracking Friends
  • TweetScan
    • Lets you search for tweets on a specific topic or directed to a certain user. Good for finding new people to follow.
    • Let’s you create RSS feed to load in reader.
  • Twubble
    • Helps you find new friends to follow.
  • Twits Like Me
    • Another tool to find like-minded friends.
  • Search Twitter Users
    • Type in search terms and find other users that are interested in the same topics. Based on what they have in their profile bio. Or you can search by a person’s real name.
  • Twellow
    • Twitter search engine / directory.
  • Twitterholic
    • See who the most popular Tweeters are.
    • Also, see your stats and Top Twitterers in Your City.
  • Crowd Status
    • Lets you group people and follow group updates.
  • Twitter Local
    • Find local Tweeps in your area.
    • Downloadable client for PC and Mac.
  • Nearby Tweets
    • Automatically displays updates from local twitterers. A great and easy way to make local friends on Twitter. Highly recommended!!
  • Twellowhood
    • Another way to find local Tweeps.
  • Tweep Search
    • Search among your followers for specific keywords or locations.
  • Twitseeker
    • Find Twitter users using an advanced search that includes content and location.
• Analytics/Stats
  • TweetStats
    • Creates stats and graphs of your tweets.
  • TwitterCounter
    • Shows the number of followers you have in a graph. (Twitterholic does the same thing but with slightly different implementation.)
• Blog/RSS
  • Tweetbacks for WordPress
    • A plugin for the WordPress blogging platform that adds Tweetbacks functionality to your comment section, similar to trackbacks and pingbacks. Allows you to see who is linking to your post on Twitter. Highly recommended.
  • Twitterfeed
    • Creates tweets automatically from recent blog posts via RSS feed. Includes link to post.
• Business
  • Tweet Pro
    • Tweet Pro allows you to easily find Twitter users who share your company’s interests. Search through posted messages and profile information.
    • Can help with reputation management. Allows you to find negative comments about your brand.
    • Connect with Twitter users who evangelize your products or services to build open communication with fans of your brand.
    • Build a Twitter account that is highly relevant to your target audience.
    • Review: Tweet Pro Social Media Software, Pass or Fail | Search Engine Journal
  • Twibs
    • A directory of businesses on Twitter. Find businesses on Twitter.
    • Add your business.
• Conferences / Topics
  • Hashtags
    • Follow all the tweets on a particular topic using a hash tag. Great for conferences.
• Miscellaneous Utilities
  • Tweet Later
    • Lets you schedule tweets and setup auto-responses when someone new follows you. Also can track any mentions of a particular word or phrase on Twitter – great for brand-monitoring and customer service.
  • Download Your Twitter Data
  • Twitoria
    • See if you’re following any deadbeats. Find those who haven’t tweeted in a while, and boot em.
  • Tweepler
    • Helps you figure out which new followers you want to follow back. Process followers and sort into two buckets: Follow or Ignore.
• Photo
  • TwitPic
    • Upload photos to be linked from tweets.
• Search / View Recent
  • Search Twitter (Previously Summize)
    • See recent posts that contain a particular search term.
    • Also find recent posts responding to a particular user (@user).
  • TwitSpy
    • Shows recent tweets from public timeline with geographic info.
  • Who’s Talkin
    • Searches Twitter, blogs, and other social media channels.
    • Also has a browser plugin so you can search right from the browser.
  • Topsy
    • Awesome Twitter-based search engine, that lets you dig deep into a whole lot of data.
  • Twingly
    • Microblog search engine. Searches Twitter and other microblog platforms.
• Social
  • Twitter Facebook App
    • Integrate Twitter and Facebook.
• What’s Hot / Trends
  • Twist
    • Like Google Trends for Twitter. Compare two concepts and see what’s being said about them on Twitter.
  • What the Trend
    • Finding out what’s trending on Twitter isn’t too hard. But, what we all want to know is WHY things are trending. What the Trend provides this info.
• Experimental
  • TwitterFone (Beta)
    • Send Tweets by dialing a local number and speaking your message to TwitterFone.
• Random / Fun
  • Secret Tweet
    • Post anonymous tweets. Kind of interesting.
    • Might as well follow them too and see what others are saying anonymously: @SecretTweet
• Gaming
  • Twee60!
    • If you’re a gamer, Twee60 will automatically tweet your Xbox Live status to all your followers.
  • Tweet My Gaming
    • A site that shows a real-time feed of video game related conversations on Twitter.
  • Gamer DNA
    • Follow trending video games and conversations.

Articles on Twitter

• Twitter Has Gone Mainstream
• Five Reasons Twitter is an Essential Social Media Tool
• Part One: From Twits to Tweeple, Why I Embraced Twitter and You Should Too
• Part Two: From Twits to Tweeple, Why I Embraced Twitter and You Should Too
• Part Three: From Twits to Tweeple, Why I Embraced Twitter and You Should Too
• Part Four: From Twits to Tweeple, Why I Embraced Twitter and You Should Too
• Part Five: From Twits to Tweeple, Why I Embraced Twitter and You Should Too
• 17 Ways You Can Use Twitter: A Guide for Beginners, Marketers and Business Owners
• How to Get More Twitter Followers: Some Methods That Work
• Twitter: Time Waste or Great Tool?
• Twitter: Ultimate Time Waster or Great Tool?
• Mine the Gold in Social Media through Conversation Search
• Everything Twitter — A blog about Twitter.

Other Resources

• Twitter on Alltop — A collection of links to blog posts from sites about Twitter.

There are tons of new resources being developed all the time, and you’re sure to find them by simply using Twitter and keeping your ear to the ground.

See something that’s not on the list that you think should be? Post it in a comment.

Google
December: 62.9%
November: 64.1%
Change: -1.2

January 2008: 56.9%
Change: +6.0

Yahoo
December: 16.8%
November: 16.1%
Change: +0.7

January 2008: 19.0%
Change: -2.2

MSN
December: 9.8%
November: 9.1%
Change: +0.7

January 2008: 12.1%
Change: -2.3

ASK
December: 2.0%
November: 2.3%
Change: -0.3

January 2008: 2.4%
Change: -0.4

AOL
December: 4.1%
November: 4.3%
Change: -0.2

January 2008: 4.7%
Change: -0.6

Data scoring techniques tend to change over time making past data inaccurate. As always, information here is for entertainment purposes only.

Source: Nielsen Online

But when it comes to search, I’m fed up with Google’s dominance. We could use a little competition in search.

Of course, it’s really not Google’s fault that they run between 50-70% market share, depending on who you ask. It’s really the fault of all of us searchers. We use Google because we like the results. We don’t use Yahoo or MSN because for whatever reason we feel the results are inferior.

Key Problem Areas

There are four problem areas common to inefficient/ineffective landing pages:

1. Message match: Often times the search phrase (keyword) and promise in the ad text are not even mentioned on the landing page. Make it obvious that the search phase they used, and the ad they clicked on, are what the landing page is all about.
2. What they want: What’s in it for them? What’s the unique value proposition for the visitor?
3. Make it easy: Don’t make them search for the information they’re after. Use clear and easy to find calls to action. Crowded landing pages will confuse your visitor and they leave. You don’t get their information, you’ve lost the lead.
4. Keep it simple: Keep the forms simple, collect only the essential information necessary. No one likes long complicated forms – collect additional information after you’ve contacted them.

Comparisons

There was a limited demonstration of improved results on modified landing pages, where landing page testing had been completed. We were shown the ‘original’ page, then the ‘redone’ page, and given examples of the improved performance the new page had over the original.

Review Landing Pages

Attendee’s had submitted their landing pages for review. Pulling all the reviews into a summary, these were the most common problems in the submitted pages:

• CTA: the ad, and landing page didn’t have a distinctive obvious CTA. If a CTA was on the page, it was often below the fold. fix:put the call to action above the fold, and be very clear.
• Incentive: What’s in it for the visitor? fix: make it clear why the visitor should complete the form (or buy from you if it is a sale site)
• UVP: No clearly defined reason that the visitor should buy from you. fix:look back at your home page, reinforce what makes you special
• Benefits: No clear obvious benefit why this product is right for the visitor.fix: state why the product will benefit the visitor, clarify value (savings)
• Too cluttered: too much information on the page, one size fits all content. fix: segment information to different users. Too many options are distracting so simplify

Testing testing testing

One element not emphasized by the webinars was the value and importance of testing. Key to all landing page performance is testing. There was a brief section (3 – 4 examples each day) showing the original page and the ‘new page’ and some analytics to demonstrate improvement, but nothing more after that segment of the presentation ended.

At the end of the presentation, the speaker mentioned the need for multiple landing pages to serve different purposes, and proceeded with a sales pitch for working with ion interactive and their ‘live ball’ landing page software. It was a very soft sell for a simplified method of creating various landing pages, but there was no real emphasis on testing.

End take away is that I now have one of Stoney’s favorite features, a LIST of features to check against the landing pages I use. A check list that I can use when developing new test landing pages.

Six years ago I wrote a post about what I wanted from Christmas from the search engines. I thought it would be a good time to revisit what I asked for back then, whether it happened or not, whether I really wanted it (20/20 hind site) and perhaps ask for a few new things.

Let’s keep it really simple, counting down from #10:

This year PubCon went really crazy with sessions, running a keynote and 4 sessions each day. And, to cram in even more information, there were six tracks to chose from! Doing the math, that’s 31 topics to choose from in one day. Truly something for everyone. With so much going on, it wasn’t possible to live blog or even create a wrap up at the end of the day. Thus I am pulling my wrap up together for the entire week in one post.

And then since 15 summaries is too much for anyone to deal with, I’m just going to give you the takeaways from my favorite sessions.

PPC Engine Vendor Panel

If you’ve ever been to any conference, you’ve at one time or another sat in on a vendor panel. And typically, I think the feeling is that if you’ve been to one, you’ve been to them all and there’s no point in attending another one. Well, with PPC it’s always nice to get an update on what might be new in each. For example last year I was excited to hear first hand (before any blogs posted about it) how MSN adCenter were releasing their keyword tool to integrate with Excel (07). Cool stuff.

This year I got excited to learn some stats from the Ask.com rep Dustin Kwan. He emphasized the importance of spreading your presence across a variety of vendors. He mentioned how Ask has a larger percent of the search traffic over MSN, saying that 2/3 of searchers don’t use MSN, and of those, 1/2 of them don’t use Google. Interesting point, and something to consider for my clients who are looking for more presence in the search world.

Yahoo Search Marketing rep Patrizio Spagnoletto told us how Yahoo have fine tuned their geo-targeting down to the zip code, which having that ability is pretty cool.

AdWords rep Frederick Vallayes mentioned something new in the Geo Reports, that you can find where clicks are coming from. Important information to have, helps you fine tune your geo targeting. Why pay for advertising and clicks in regions that don’t convert as well? Or with this information, create a geo-targeted campaign and spend more money in the regions that convert well.

Not much of a takeaway from MSN adCenter rep Doug (last name??) beyond his focus on improving ROI using 3 metrics of Market Change/Technology/Knowledge. He did recommend the following @adCenterBlog on twitter and staying current with adCenterCommunity.com

Navigating the Complex World of PPC Engines

The big take away here is Christine Churchill of KeyRelevance, she’s just totally awesome every time I hear her speak. She gave us a big list of copy “secrets that sell” … excellent take aways, easy to follow, easy to implement.

The big bullets that I grabbed (although I did get her entire list) are:

• Know what differentiates your ad
• Provide incentive to click
• Talk about benefits
• Use psychology – add humor and get their attention
• Use DKI – when it works
• A/B test your ads
• Pre-qualify clicks with ad text to eliminate those unwanted clicks

Top-Secret Tools of the Trade

This session was great – I have a list of tools to check out. Some of which I have seen and used, but there are others that I’ve not so I’m interested in looking into them further. I’ve recently found analytics to be FUN to play with. I want to check out Caphyon and DupeCop

Fun Stuff

Had some time to do fun stuff in Vegas too, including walking blisters into the soles of my feet … Spent a bunch of money, did the roller coaster at NY NY, the rides on the Stratosphere, and saw the Cirque du Soleil, KÀ. Even taught a friend how to lose money gambling. Ye ha!

That wraps up the wrap up … until next year…

Learn About Web

This is a full-day conference for the price of a two-hour webinar! Speakers include Jennifer Laycock, Mack Collier, and Matt McGee, along with myself. It’s focused is on giving small business leaders the information technology they need to promote their businesses successfully on the web.

I’ll be giving my presentation on Website Architecture, that I’ve presented twice now for SBMU. Or rather I’ll be presenting two of it’s three parts. Gotta leave time for Q&A! Other topics include Local Search, Blogging for Business, Web Security and User Interface Design. We’ll also have the pleasure of hearing a Keynote address by Jennifer Laycock.

Cost for the one-day event is $129, however if you’re looking for discounts both Matt McGee and Jennifer Laycock have what you need.

WebmasterWorld PubCon

After Learn About Web, I’ll be flying out of Kennewick to Seattle and catching a flight directly to Las Vegas. This will be my third year attending PubCon, second speaking. PubCon is filled with speakers from every area of our industry covering six unique tracks and 84 sessions, not including daily keynotes, all packed into a remarkable 3-day conference.

I’ll be speaking on Tuesday, on the Keyword Research panel. I’ll be providing the powerpoint version of my Keyword Research and Selection series of blog posts. There will be other great speakers on the same panel including Ken Jurina, Larry Mersman and Wil Reynolds. Wednesday I’ll be on on a Site Review panel with Andy Langton, Robert Charlton and Brant Bukowsky.

If you’re interested attending you can get 20% off the $1299 full event pass by using the following code: de-54820

I’ve been sick for the past week so my apologies for any of you eagerly waiting for the concluding posts in this series. Let’s go ahead and jump right back into it.

Phase III: Analyzing and Eliminating Keywords

After having researched through your relevant core terms and search phrases, it’s time to start the process of looking more closely at each phrase. What you want to do is separate the good keywords from the not-so good. You need to find the search phrases that will ultimately provide you with the greatest benefit in your marketing campaigns, and eliminating or sidelining the rest.

Selecting high ROI search phrases

Each of the three major PPC platforms follow a similar approach, with Google AdWords and MSN adCenter using essentially identical match types and Yahoo! Search Marketing being a little more confusing. If you can get your head around the different terminology in the three platforms then you’re going to be just fine.

Google
September: 51.87%
August: 52.14%
Change: -0.27

January 2008: 52.14%
Change: -0.27

Yahoo
September: 9.49%
August: 10.05%
Change: -0.56

January 2008: 10.94%
Change: -1.45

MSN
September: 4.61%
August: 4.81%
Change: -0.20

January 2008: 5.78%
Change: -1.17

AOL
September: 1.87%
August: 1.96%
Change: -0.09

January 2008: 1.86%
Change: +0.01

ASK
September: .83%
August: 0.87%
Change: -0.04

January 2008: 1.09%
Change: -0.26

Data scoring techniques tend to change over time making past data inaccurate. As always, information here is for entertainment purposes only.

Source: Net Applications

Google
August: 60.0%
July: 60.2%
Change: -0.2

January 2008: 56.9%
Change: +3.1

Yahoo
August: 18.1%
July: 17.4%
Change: +0.7

January 2008: 19.0%
Change: -0.9

MSN
August: 10.7%
July: 11.9%
Change: -1.2

January 2008: 12.1%
Change: -1.4

ASK
August: 2.0%
July: 2.0%
Change: 0.0

January 2008: 2.4%
Change: -0.4

AOL
August: 5.2%
July: 4.6%
Change: +0.6

January 2008: 4.7%
Change: +0.5

Data scoring techniques tend to change over time making past data inaccurate. As always, information here is for entertainment purposes only.

Source: Nielsen//Netratings

The conference officially runs Monday and Tuesday, September 22nd and 23rd, 2008. Monday will have a full schedule of general sessions and a networking dinner, leaving Tuesday open for actual workshops where attendees will be able to apply the information they learned during the sessions the day before.

Sunday evening we’ll attend the speed networking event. I wrote a post called Speed Dating | SEO Style after the April Unleashed conference. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to it again this year.

Stoney will be presenting a full hour on Site Architecture where he’ll explain the finer elements of developing your site to be search engine friendly. His session is followed up on Tuesday with an On Page SEO Workshop.

This conference, designed specifically for the small to medium business, is unlike any conference you’ll find. With deliberately limited numbers of attendees, everyone finds they get individual attention and comes away with useful information they’ll be able to use. Dinner is included on Monday night for more networking and games. There is still time to register for the event, only a few days, but if you can make it, you will not regret it.