We Do Search Engine Optimization.

I received an email from Google Adwords with 20 promotional coupons for new client acquisition and each offers $100 in free clicks. These are all valid codes at the time of this posting, and are offered on a first come first served basis.

I received these Adwords coupon codes a while ago but unfortunately my Google Professional certification expired and now I cannot use them for existing clients.

These Adwords promo codes also only work on new accounts, so it may be worth creating a new account to utilize these free clicks. These are my gift to you for the new year.

Adwords coupon codes are below:
Read the rest of this entry »

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How to gain an audience, avoid other people from usurping your ideas, and avoid duplicate content filters.

Seeding articles, graphs, PDF documents, research, charts, images, videos and quotes to other websites is an excellent way to increase awareness of your website. You will be inserting your brand into a natural source of information and can reach users at a critical point in their decision making process.

When seeding your content the key is to get links back to your site from half a dozen sites. Without this quantity your efforts could be lost.

Doing Content Wrong

1. Find trending keywords
2. Get low paid writers to mashup content and rewrite words
3. Semi automated process – publications still need writers and editors like McDonalds needs cows
4. You may find articles written by Mr. Al Gorithm
5. Machines can’t differentiate between “time flies like an arrow” & “fruit flies like a banana” but some people can overlook this
6. Automated baseball sports writing program exists – developed by Northwestern University. It gets the facts but not meaning of games.

Doing Content Right

1. Create a great article
2. Find trusted, high quality, relevant sites to share it with
   • Ezines
   • Blogs
   • Niche websites
   • Small publications
   • Industry specific websites
3. Share with at least 5 sites and have them all link back to your website. If you only share content with 3 sites there is a chance they will outrank you for it.

Read the official Google policy on cross-site duplication:

If you syndicate your content on other sites, Google will always show the version we think is most appropriate for users in each given search, which may or may not be the version you’d prefer. However, it is helpful to ensure that each site on which your content is syndicated includes a link back to your original article. You can also ask those who use your syndicated material to use the noindex meta tag to prevent search engines from indexing their version of the content.

With this strategy you will never have to worry about other people stealing your content again, as you will always rank #1 for your work.

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What are the best web design conversion elements to implement on your website?

I’m looking to compile a great list of conversion elements that can be included in a website. This is not for landing pages (although it could be used for them) but regular site pages, with emphasis on the homepage.

I approach every site design with conversion in mind – your design should help the visitor take desired action on your site. Keep out the fluff that will distract or alter the focus of your visitor.

Actions

• phone call
• completing a contact form
• subscribing to newsletter
• buying product
• tweeting/sharing page with friend
• downloading free ebook/whitepaper
• anything that captures an email address

I am defining conversion elements as anything that will strongly persuade a visitor to remain on your site and want to learn more about you.

Conversion Elements

• testimonials
• 3rd party logos: BBB, truste, D&B, chamber of commerce
• logos of good sized companies you have worked with or places you have been quoted: latimes, any inc5000, hollywood reporter etc.
• stats showing success: client sales increases, new orders, new engagements
• large and clear contact button – can be tastefully animated
• photos – (founder, real staff, highly targeted to your niche)
• short sales video
• phone number/address

For shopping sites that sell products directly, the required elements to gain users trust are more specific. Below are elements that increase online sales in descending order of importance.

E-commerce Elements

• product overview
• merchant guarantee
• availability
• image quality
• customer service available
• product specific description
• long description
• size chart
• toll free phone
• ratings & reviews

The above list is from the e-tailing group/ARS ecommerce

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Twitter is a great tool to connect with friends and facilitate business. However if used indiscriminately it can be a waste of time and possibly hurt your reputation.

Here is how twitter helps me with my business

1. Asking questions
2. Getting specific help with complex projects
3. Connecting with people I otherwise wouldn’t
4. Sending out coupon codes, deals, specials
5. Meeting new industry specialists
6. Reputation management – seeing real time searches about my company/industry

Everyone is getting into the twitter game, see how Dilbert convinces his boss to use it.

Thanks to UFS for the Dilbert comic strip image.

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This is a resource of websites, Firefox extensions for SEO and competitive intelligence.

Find extensions and tools to help in organic SEO campaigns.

SEO Tools

• SEO for Firefox – firefox plugin that provides data to inline search queries
• SEOpen – SEO Firefox Extension providing multiple search tools aggregated in one place including yahoo backlinks, keyword density, headers and page rank.
• SearchStatus – firefox plugin that provides detailed ranking stats for any website. allows you to see how any and every website in the world is performing and the only tool i have seen that uses data from SEOmoz and linkscape. Check Mozrank using this firefox addon.
• KeywordSpy – good keyword research tool provides data on competitors keyword rankings and PPC spend. Competitive intelligence on keywords.
• Market Samurai – desktop based Adobe Air app which uses the Google Adwords API to parse keyword data and give options for keyword spend and natural search engine optimization campaigns. This has a different interface than adwords and more options to help you make good use of lots of keyword research.
• Majestic SEO – Provides a very large backlink and anchor text database. Competitive Link Intelligence tool allows you to find data on the sites that link to you and your competitors.

SERP Rank Checkers

• link assistant – Desktop Client based software program with lots of rank checking features
• authoritylabs – easy to use web based tool offers 10 free keywords. Nightly ranking updates
• RankChecker – another tool by Aaron Wall of SEO Book that provides quick checking in the SERP’s. check your website rankings in Google (US and international), Yahoo, and Microsoft Bing. tools.seobook.com/firefox/rank-checker

There are other search engine optimization tools available, but these are heavily used and will help your natural search campaigns by providing clear data on the direction of online marketing. Focus on the right keywords and you have won half the search engine battle.

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Misleading linkbait title aside, the real title of this video is “Can you benefit from content scraped from your website”. The premise is that if some content is copied automatically from your site, presumably this will include links back to you.

So when you prepare content make sure it includes a lot of intra-site links, and even links using your full URL. So instead of linking to /seo you should link to http://www.netpaths.net/seo to have links picked up on other sites. This is also important for your blog, which may likely be read in a 3rd party feed reader.

Im very impressed that Mr. Cutts took such a bold public stance on content scraping, and here are possible meanings:

1. Google is tired of people including them in lawsuits over content scraping. Google is effectively saying there are some (possibly negligble) value to content scraping, so please don’t make us defend ourselves while you sue your competitor.
2. Dulplicate content is such a big problem, Google is waving the white flag and giving up on trying to control blackhat spammers. They are effectively saying: go ahead and scrape, the legitimate sites will always win. Generally this is true, as the authoritative site being copied generally has a higher trust ranking than the copier.
3. Google is trying to appease newspapers (and the AP specifically) and educate them about the web. Any large news event will have thousands of articles written about it, with the majority of the articles being repurposed content. Google is telling the major newspapers and news bureaus that they should not be afraid of having their good content distributed, as they get links back as a reward for sharing and this will help them build their online authority.

Matt Cutts is the webspam god of Google, and what he says goes. He is the head PR person that interacts with search engine optimization firms In person he is a very kind and fair man, someone you would enjoy sitting down to have a beer with and discuss gadgets, code and algorithms. It is essential to listen to everything he says if you want good search engine rankings, and even more important to read between the lines to understand how the search engine functions.

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Using photos is on of the most underrated method of search engine optimization I have seen. Lots of good quality images not only help sell products to customers, they also will get you more search engine traffic.

Image search engines, particularly Google’s, send some of my sites 50% of all traffic. So imagine if you had no images on your website, you would be loosing 50% of potential visitors.

For SEO it really isn’t important how you organize images, set alt tags or place them in pages. It is important to link each image – either to a larger version or a specific page. Images get much higher weight if they are linked.

For e-commerce stores, images will set you apart from the competition.
Show the back & sides of the product so I can see the connections for electronics, and so I can see if the furniture is hollow or solid, or the pattern is continued on the back. Newegg.com is a leader in this field.

Show how large (or small) the product really is. Display a product in its actual environment or placed next to another object of known size for scale. (We used to do this in geology field classes all the time, without an object in a photograph rocks can seem impossibly large)

Display the side view to relate the product’s “heft.” Show me the top of the monitor and I can see if it’s made of thin plastic and will fit in my TV cabinet. Show me how thick the sole of the shoe is and how it will affect my height.

Does the electronic product have rubber feet? Is it a gloss or matte finish? How many buttons does it have? Is the on screen menu easy to see and use? Will the remote fit easily in my hand?

Show the item in action, either with video or through action shots, and how it will interact in my home. Create an image of the single coat paint covering an old wall in one smooth paintbrush stroke.

Pictures and product videos are important because they quickly answer customers questions and concerns through visual images. These action shots will reduce uncertainty and remove barriers to purchases.

The more pictures you show, the more your customers will show you the money.

Read more about optimizing photographs at Grok.

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Are you happy? Ever wanted to find the blueprint to happiness? A great flowchart to analyze the path to being happy.

If you aren’t happy, hopefully there are small things you can change to improve your mood.

Image credit to H34.

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Resources to submit press releases have been around since the age of the internet, but they are no less important. News sites and industry publications still rely on press releases to acquire new information and maintain corporate communications.

Some of these PR distributors are free, many require a payment.

Good PR distribution sites

PRweb.com –PR Web is not free but it is the largest and best press release distribution outlet available. PRweb coupon packages start at $40 and are definitely worth it. If you take the time to write an interesting and helpful press release, your 40 bucks will go a long way.

1888PressRelease.com – Free distribution, paid services gives you better placement and permanent archiving.

24-7PressRelease.com – Free release distribution with ad-support

ClickPress.com – Distributs to sites like Google News and Topix.net, Gold level will also get you to sites like LexisNexis.

EcommWire.com – Focuses on ecommerece and requires you include an image, 3 keywords and links.

Express-Press-Release.com – Free distribution company with offices in 12 states.

Free-Press-Release.com – Easy press release distribution for free, more features for paid accounts.

Free-Press-Release-Center.info – Distributes your release, offers a web page with one keyword link to your site. Pro upgrade will give you three links, permanent archiving and more.

I-Newswire.com – Allows for free distribution to sites and search engines, premium membership differs only slightly in adding in graphics.

NewswireToday.com – All the usual free distribution tools, premium service includes logo, product picture and more.

PR.com – Not only will they distribute your press releases, but you can also set up a full company profile.

PR9.net – Ad supported press distribution site.

PR-Inside.com – European-based free press release distribution site.

PRBuzz.com – Completely free distribution to search engines, news sites, and blogs.

PRCompass.com – Distribute your press release with a free or paid version, others can vote it up ala Digg style.

PRUrgent.com – Not only distributes your release, but attempts to teach you how to write one, and even offers downloadbale samples for you to work with.

Press-Base.com – Submit your release for free and get on their front page and the category of your choice.

PressAbout.com – A free press release service formatted as a blog.

PressMethod.com – Free press release distribution no matter what, but extra services based on the size of your contribution.

PRLeap.com – Free distribution to search engines, newswires, and RSS feeds. Fee based bumps get you better placement.

Pressreleasepoint.com – free press release distribution and submission to topical news aggregators.

PRLog.org – Free pr distribution to Google News and other other search engines.

TheOpenPress.com – Free distribution for plain formatted releases, fees for HTML-coded releases.

Inspired by the Mashable list of Press Release Distribution Sites

Have a good PR site that is not on this list?

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Every time you do a Google search, each ad spot is auctioned in real time.

This is an amazing amount of calculations: up to 11 ad spots are auctioned off simultaneously, just in time to show up on the results page. This is why if you refresh the search results page the ads will change.

Here’s how Google’s auction based advertising system works

1. create bid – you select chosen keywords and receive an estimated minimum bid. the highest bid doesn’t guarantee an ad will appear at the top of page.
2. assess quality score – Google creates a quality score for your ad based on a scale of 1 to 10. Quality score is based on relevance (how well the ad matches a user’s query), the quality of the landing page that the ad links to (content and load time), and the ad’s past clickthrough rate (if it’s new, the rate of a similar ad).
3. calculate ad position – order in which the ads will be displayed is determined by this formula: Rank = bid x quality score.
4. set price for the ad – cost of each ad is tied to the bid of the advertiser ranked below them. The final price is determined by the math formula below:

The next time you do a search on Google, checkout the ads on the page and try to guess how much each advertiser is paying per click. Then think of the amazing server infrastructure that must be used to perform these millions of calculations per day to create real time ad auctions for all web searches.

Read more about the Google Adwords real time PPC auctions at Wired.

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