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| The SEO Blog |
| The SEO Blog is your source for the most current search engine optimization news. Run by veteran SEO's, Ross Dunn and Scott Van Achte, the SEO Blog provides tips and marketing techniques for anyone who wants their website to stay at the top of the search engine results. |
| Language: English |
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| Recent Q&A from Google on Google Sitemaps |
| 2008-01-15 15:36:00 |
Susan Moskwa and Trever Voucher from Google's Webmaster Tools Team published a synopsis of the questions they received at Chicago's recent Search Engine Strategies Conference. If you have ever had a question about Google Sitemaps and the effect they may or may not have on your site, this is a helpful read.Get the answers to the following questions:I submitted a Sitemap, but my URLs haven't been [crawled/indexed] yet. Isn't that what a Sitemap is for? If it doesn't get me automatically crawled and indexed, what does a Sitemap do?Will a Sitemap help me rank better?If I set all of my pages to have priority 1.0, will that make them rank higher (or get crawled faster) than someone else's pages that have priority 0.8?Is there any point in submitting a Sitemap if all the metadata (, , etc.) is the same for each URL, or if I'm not sure it's accurate?I've heard about people who submitted a Sitemap and got penalized shortly afterward. Can a Sitemap hurt you?Where can I put my Sitemap? Does it have to be at the root of my site?Can I just submit the site map that my webmaster made of my site? I don't get this whole XML thing.Which Sitemap format is the best?If I have multiple URLs that point to the same content, can I use my Sitemap to indicate my preferred URL for that content?Does the placement of a URL within a Sitemap file matter? Will the URLs at the beginning of the file get better treatment than the URLs near the end?If my site has multiple sections (e.g. a blog, a forum, and a photo gallery), should I submit one Sitemap for the site, or multiple Sitemaps (one for each section)?Again here is the link to the Google sitemaps Q&A.
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| comScore Announces Top50 Properties for December |
| 2008-01-15 14:25:00 |
comScore released statistics of U.S. consumer activity for the December '07 holiday season. Included was the always interesting list of the Top 50 web properties:"Yahoo! Sites continued its reign as the top U.S. Web property in December with nearly 137 million visitors, followed by Google Sites (133 million visitors) and Microsoft Sites (120 million visitors). Apple Inc., which benefited from interest in popular holiday gifts like the iPod and iPhone, moved up one spot to capture position 10 with 47.7 million visitors. Holiday shopping also lifted Sears Sites, which jumped 10 spots to number 21, Best Buy Sites, which rose 5 spots to 22, and JCPenney Sites, gaining 5 spots to position 40. NBC Universal, iVillage.com: The Womens Network, and Weatherbug Property all entered the rankings this month capturing positions 48, 49, and 50, respectively."
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| How to Troubleshoot Dropped Search Engine Rankings |
| 2008-01-11 15:19:00 |
Are you baffled about a recent drop in your Engine">search engine rankings? Do you know where to start and get a handle on what the problem might be and how to remedy it? One option to consider is using search engine forums as a resource. They are full of questions from people who have experienced similar situations and are great resources for an answer or two. But let’s say you really want to get to the bottom of the problem and you want to do it yourself. The following are some of the beginning steps StepForth takes when evaluating dropped rankings.Retrace Your StepsWrite a list of everything that anyone has done to your site within the past 3 weeks. Now look for anything...
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| WPN Insider Interview with Microsoft Live Search |
| 2008-01-09 19:02:00 |
Mike McDonald of WebProNews conducted a great, very informative interview with Live Webmaster Tool's Product Manager, Jeremiah Andrick.Jeremiah discusses paid links, cloaking, the backlink function at Live Search and my special favorite - the incident where Adwords ads got indexed. Check it out, I think you will appreciate the frankness of Jeremiah's answers. You can certainly tell that Microsoft has finally figured out that Webmasters need to feel the love. Special thanks to Barry Schwartz and the SE Round Table for recommending this video. I am glad I fit it into my busy day.
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| Microsoft Acquires FASTer Search |
| 2008-01-09 18:05:00 |
The search world appears to have renewed its interest in Microsoft's potential in the search industry since the company reportedly put in an offer to acquire Norwegian search company Fast Search for 1.23 billion.So why all the hullaballoo? Well, Microsoft's Live Search has some good technology behind it but it has not exactly impressed those that want highly relevant search. The acquisition of FAST search technology, however, would provide Microsoft with an infusion of established processes light years more developed than its own.
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| Twitter's Usefulness Underscored During San Francisco Storm |
| 2008-01-04 18:18:00 |
Since I signed up with Twitter I have experienced a wide array of emotion while experiencing the lives of the people I follow; sad because someone I follow was struggling with depression, frustrated due to repetitive useless tweets, and amazed and excited by the timely news I am often privy too. Obviously I prefer to be excited and amazed and today happens to be one of those days.In this case, San Francisco and much of California is currently being rocked by a highly irregular storm that has raised severe weather alerts such as flash floods, and high surf/coastal floods. Well it just so happens that a few of the people I follow on Twitter are from this area and their tweets provide proof that Twitter (the community-b...
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| Competitor Analysis Discussion with WebProNews in Las Vegas |
| 2008-01-04 16:39:00 |
The following interview was conducted at PubCon Las Vegas and it focused on StepForth competitor analysis/competitor intelligence services. In hindsight I didn't give much away in the terms of competitive analysis and frankly the interview could have gone better (what with the sun glare and a lil'memory loss). So feel free to view this and then follow it up with my notes below where I will provide a couple examples of the strategies/resources used in our basic and advanced competitor intelligence reports. Additional Competitor Analysis TipsWe provide a listing of our recommended competitor research tools which Mike McDonald kindly previewed the link to but let me give you a few more tips... it is the least I can do if...
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| MSN Displaying Google Adwords Ads |
| 2007-12-20 21:34:00 |
Years ago MSN stopped displaying Google AdWords ads in favor of their own PPC advertising platform, MSN Adcenter. So why, after all this time have they begun to display AdWords ads again?On Tuesday Jon Henshaw blogged an interesting find: A search for the phrase "colorations paint" brought up the standard MSN Adcenter ads at the top, a typical #1 & #2 listing for DiscountSchoolSupply, and a rather interesting third and fourth result. Sitting at #3 for this phrase appears to be Google. The URL indexed a link generated for DiscountSchoolSupply's Google AdWords account!Henshaw notes his assumption that this is most likely an unintentional bug, which I would have to agree with, but it could be a positive thing for those advertising with AdWords by purchasing the sponsored link, and finding your ad appearing in the natural SERPs, with the title www.Google.com. Many searchers may find your listing attractive and if your destination page is highly relevant to the search term this could generate some qualified attention and sales. Now that said, this is certainly not a common item, and I am sure it will be resolved quickly.I don't recommend clicking on the paid ad as I am sure the people at DiscountSchoolSupply do not want the extra charges to their Google account - but at least they have the top 4 results in MSN for the time being.Thanks for planetc1, for posting this article on Sphinn for me to find.
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| China Can't Spell Google |
| 2007-12-20 21:33:00 |
An interesting article posted last week at Bloomberg, noted that China can't spell Google, and that this may be playing a role in Google playing second fiddle to Chinese search giant Baidu."Internet addresses in China are based on the Hanyu Pinyin system that translates Chinese characters into roman letters. Sounds such as ``gle'' don't exist.""G-O-O-G-L-E is not a normal Chinese spelling and people don't pronounce it right," Kai-fu Lee, Google's president for Greater China, said in a Nov. 30 interview in Beijing. "Most people call us `go go.'"As a result Google acquired the 'G.cn' domain to help users who misspell Google's name.China holds the internet's second largest market with 162 million users, and Google only sees approximately 30% of this market, compared to Baidu with 61%. Credit Suisse Group estimated that in 2006 only 1 percent of Google's revenue was generated in China.
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| Your Logfiles May Be Missing Important Data |
| 2007-12-20 19:21:00 |
In this article I am going to explain logfiles and their importance in website analytics from my perspective as a ClickTracks user. Before I begin, however, I want you to know that although I offer essential analytic consulting, I am a certified ClickTracks Analytics Professional and have dabbled in books on analytics, I don't consider myself to be an analytics expert. In fact, I constantly find myself humbled by how much more there is to know. That said, I do know more than the average site owner and I hope that this article can shine a little light on this often confusing subject and save you some future headaches.As many of you may know I am a huge fan of the logfile version of ClickTracks Professional, a website analytics package that I find indispensable for myself and my clientele. C...
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| A Little Facebook Comedy |
| 2007-12-19 18:12:00 |
If you have ever used Facebook then this video by the geniuses over at Train of Thought (a comedy sketch group) will surely give you a chuckle:
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| A Few Excellent Posts of the Day |
| 2007-12-19 17:24:00 |
Today I have been busy polishing off a feature article for tomorrow's SEO newsletter but in the midst of that I came across a few articles and posts that caught my eye:My Twitter friend and social networker extroardinaire Tamar Weinberg wrote a great article that shows which social media networks she networks across different social sites:"How Do You Network On Social Sites?"ResourceShelf has links to recently posted research papers by Google employees. These papers can be gems for foretelling the future of search: Recently Posted Research Papers and Biblographic Info by Googlers. Special thanks to Barry Schwartz and his helpful Tweet that brought me to this info.The unofficial Facebook blog ("AF") discusses the incredible potential of social shopping heralded by Facebook's recent Beta test of a payment system. You will be hearing a LOT more about this very soon.Did you know that Democrats "participate more fully in social technologies"? This is just one of the interesting nuggets found in this fascinating post by Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research: Social Profiles of Political Candidates. The posting has excellent information sourced from a Forrester research document.by Ross Dunn, CEO, StepForth Web Marketing Inc.
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| AskEraser Goes Live at Ask |
| 2007-12-13 16:21:00 |
The issues surrounding online privacy have been a hot topic on the web lately, and Ask.com has taken the concern a step further with the introduction of AskEraser. Ask announced the launch on Tuesday in their official Blog. This new feature added to the Ask site provides control for the searcher over how their search activity data is handled. At any time users have the ability to turn on the service which will result in their search data being removed off the Ask servers within a number of hours. Information removed from their servers will include search terms, clicks, IP addresses, and any user or session IDs. Using AskEraser could not be any simpler. When visiting Ask.com you will see an "AskEraser" link at the top right corner. Clicking this link will bring up a window explaining the service and provide you with a button to turn it on. Once on, the link at the top right will expand to offer you an on / off toggle. AskEraser is all part of the move to expand the end user's privacy. While it may be a smart move for Google to follow suit, I suspect this feature is one they may not move towards.
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| Microsoft Purchases Multimap |
| 2007-12-13 16:17:00 |
In an effort to compete with Google Maps and Google Earth, and to capture the traffic of one of the UK's most visited websites, Microsoft has purchased online mapping service Multimap for an undisclosed sum. According to a press release issued by Multimap on Dec 12, "Multimap will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft as part of the Visual Earth and Search teams in the Online Services Group." "The addition of Multimap enhances Microsoft's position as a leading provider of mapping and location platform services," said Sharon Baylay, general manager of the Online Services Group at Microsoft. "This acquisition will play a significant role in the future growth of our search business and presents a huge opportunity to expand our platform business beyond the U.K. and globally. We are thrilled to welcome Multimap onboard." Multimap is among of the UK's top 100 tech companies, and is one of the leading online mapping services. Their services include street-level maps, road maps, door-to-door travel directions, aerial photos, and links to location information and services.
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| Wikipedia's Wikiality Stronger Than Ever |
| 2007-12-13 14:31:00 |
My original article on Wikipedia's history of controversial editing was labelled "Is Wikipedia Corrupt?" At the time the title was meant to only raise awareness, however, coincidentally since that article premiered the popular online encyclopedia has been thrashed by mainstream media for some highly suspect behaviour.Case-in-point, the Register published an article noting how Wikipedia outright banned over 1000 homes in Traverse Mountain, Utah, and an entire company (Overstock.com) in an effort to quash a Mr. Judd Bagley who had recently stated on his own blog that Wikipedia editors were "using their powers to hijack reality." The Register article (which I sourced that quote from) goes into 5 detailed pages of description on how this went down and I mu...
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| Link Building and Publicity with PRWeb |
| 2007-12-12 18:20:00 |
On the 6th of December at Pubcon Las Vegas I was fortunate enough to speak with Karla and Lacy of PRWeb.com; two wonderful ladies who were running PRWeb's exhibit booth. After a short discussion I decided it was time to put Karla and Lacy in the spotlight. You see I have used PRWeb many times in the past and I have always been impressed by its excellent press release promotion network. PRWeb is the perfect vehicle to get the word out on your new products/services and the circulation of your press release can provide valuable incoming links to your website.by Ross Dunn, CEO, StepForth Web Marketing Inc.Celebrating 10 Years of Web Marketing Excellence
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| Infospace and Yahoo Extend Partnership |
| 2007-12-11 18:12:00 |
According to a press release issued Tuesday morning, metasearch has signed a deal to extend its multi-year agreement with Yahoo, allowing them to continue displaying Yahoo text based advertising (Yahoo Search Marketing) and their organic web search results. "Yahoo!'s unique partnership with InfoSpace provides an important opportunity for us to help connect advertisers with online audiences that use metasearch for their searching needs," said Dean Stackel, Senior Vice President Business Development for Corporate Partnerships. "This partnership is a key component of our broader strategy to enable advertisers to efficiently reach highly targeted - and therefore highly valuable - categories of Internet users.” Infospace includes a number of branded sites including Dogpile, WebCrawler, and WebFetch. The exact terms of the agreement were not noted in the press release.
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| Free Teleseminar on EMail Marketing |
| 2007-12-11 13:59:00 |
Marketing Sherpa is easily my favorite resource for reliable online marketing research. I have been a follower of this online resource for many years and it never fails to impress and educate me with its in-depth results.Today I noticed that the Sherpa has announced a free teleseminar for December 19th where Sherpa Researchers Stefan Tornquist and Tim McAtee will be providing tips based on the results of their latest email marketing study.I just received my confirmation for my signup. The seminar is titled: "Email 2008: Top 10 Research Findings and Practical Ways to Increase Email Performance."I never know what kind of marketing gems I will learn from these seminars but I am looking forward to finding out. Email marketing is definitely a science and I have lots to learn.
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| Successful Online Sales Approaches |
| 2007-12-10 17:40:00 |
Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim has a great article today by Janet Meiners that discussed a couple of winning sales approaches that are definitely worth sharing:An offline social shopping experience at Bloomingdales that was chosen by Time Magazine as one of 2007's best inventions. Created by IconNicholson this innovative concept highlights the use of text messaging, shared video, and virtually trying on clothes to aid shopping in the real world. This concept is extremely very interesting and I imagine there are ways to apply this concept to many different offline marketplaces. If you think of a way to adapt it to yours please keep me (ross at stepforth dot com) informed; I would love to see how it turns out for you.The article also noted some recent research from SellPoint that suggests audio/video tours of products can increase time spent on site and ultimately translate into more sales. SellPoint happens to sell services offering audio/video tours so I would take this info with a grain of salt, however, as a consumer I have to admit I am a huge proponent of these types of interactive product tours so I feel this data is worth passing on.So there you are... just a couple of notes I thought I would share before I account for a couple of great seminars I attended at PubCon Las Vegas last week. Have an excellent evening!Ross Dunn, CEO, StepForth Web Marketing Inc.
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| Help Google Rid Search of Malicious Sites |
| 2007-12-07 17:01:00 |
Last week I wrote how Google had removed literally thousands of malware sites from its search results. (see Google Results Malware Free?) Shortly after that post, Google had put out a request to its users to help them fill in the gaps and completely rid the results of dangerous websites. Google posted the request last week in its Online Security Blog: "Currently, we know of hundreds of thousands of websites that attempt to infect people's computers with malware. Unfortunately, we also know that there are more malware sites out there. This is where we need your help in filling in the gaps. If you come across a site that is hosting malware, we now have an easy way for you to let us know about it. If you come across a site that is hosting malware, please fill out this short form. Help us keep the internet safe, and report sites that distribute malware." While some comments to this post ask what security reports prompted for this policy and question the accuracy of its automated removal, it is good that Google is giving a means for users to report trouble websites that Google has missed. Perhaps it will someday help lead to a safer, more worry-free internet experience.
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| Google Forms Partnership with Florida |
| 2007-12-07 16:59:00 |
Google and the state of Florida are collaborating to implement new search features for Floridians, and really anyone looking for government services online, according to a press release issued Monday on Florida Governor, Charlie Crist's website.This public-private partnership is an innovative way to improve the accessibility of state information for all Floridians," said Governor Crist. "I am grateful for this chance to join with Google to further develop Florida’s leadership in delivering open government services to the people of Florida. By empowering Floridians with the tools they need for easier access to state agency Web sites, we are allowing them to truly take ownership of state government"This new partnership will allow Google to work with the state to gain access and index data otherwise not visible to the search giant. Much of the content searched for by users can not be reached by search engines due to the method used to store information within the database.
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| Ad-Butterfly Gives Bloggers More Control |
| 2007-12-07 16:57:00 |
Ad-Butterfly, an online ad services, allows more control over ad placement, providing marketers with the ability to choose which blogs to post there ads to, and allowing bloggers to choose which ads get posted to their site, according to a BusinessWeek article published Wednesday morning.The world of online advertising continues to grow at phenomenal rates, but certainly, in the big scheme of things, it is still in its infant stages. The control given to AdWords advertisers and AdSense publishers has grown over the years, but Ad-Butterfly offers almost total control.Ad-Butterfly works similar to the first tier PPC platforms of Google and Yahoo, using algorithms to automatically pair up ads and websites, but it offers a more advanced means of controlling which ads are displayed, for those who want total control.Bloggers are given total control on which ads they will display on their site and also offers the ability for comments to be placed along side of the ads. Registered bloggers will also soon have the ability to request ads from other site.The service is available in Japan and so far only 2,000 bloggers have signed up, but this form of paid ad placement is certain to grow over the very near future. Perhaps Google will even by them out it its quest for total control over online advertising. If you are fluent in Japanese feel free to visit the Ad-Butterfly website.
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| Top 5 Tests to Raise Landing Page Conversions |
| 2007-12-03 18:00:00 |
Last week I took part in a teleconference with Anne Holland (Content Director) and Tim McAtee (Senior Analyst) at MarketingSherpa. The call, "Top 5 Tests to Raise Landing Page Conversions" offered insight on how to get the most from your website and drive visitors towards completing your desired goal. Both a PDF and full MP3 of the call have been made available on the MarketingSherpa website. The teleconference brought to light a number of great tips for increasing the conversion rate of your landing pages, whether from PPC or organic search. Here are 6 tips I found to be of interest. 1. PPC Search Dynamic ChangesOne thing they showed that had an impact on conversions was the simple insertion of dynamic code telling visitors where they came from. Its amazing that such a sma...
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| Google GDrive |
| 2007-11-30 11:10:00 |
If you have been looking for online storage to either back up your computer, or simply need some supplemental space for your large collection of photos or digital music, Google's new GDrive service may be of use to you. The talk of Google GDrive has been around for a while now, but could it actually be on its way finally? Tuesday morning the Wall Street Journal published an article on the future Google service. Users will be able to access the stored data using any internet connection through multiple PC's or mobile devices, and will also have the ability to share files with friends. Access is secure and a login and password will be required. The new GDrive service is not available just yet, but is expected to be offered sometime in 2008. There are many online storage options already available online include Omnidrive, Box, Xdrive, and Windows Live SkyDrive (beta). Most offer a base amount of storage for free, then charge for larger requirements. Costs range from $9.95/month for 50 gigs with Xdrive, to $199 per year for 50 Gigs with Omnidrive.
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| Google Results Malware Free? |
| 2007-11-30 11:06:00 |
Google has taken steps to remove malware websites from its search results, according to a ComputerWorld article released Wednesday. Alex Eckelberry, CEO of Sunbelt Software Distribution Inc released the news Monday that Google had removed more than 40,000 malware sites from its search results. While Google refused to either confirm or deny this, spot checks by Sunbelt researcher Adam Thomas did not turn up any malware sites. While Google would not confirm the purge, or even if the sites existed in the index in the first place, a Google spokeswoman said in an email: "In our search results, we try to warn users of potentially dangerous sites when we know of them. Sites that clearly exploit browser security holes to install software, such as malware, spyware, viruses, adware and Trojan horses, are in violation of the Google quality guidelines and may be removed from Google's index." A combination of "malicious" and "software", malware is used to install unwanted software the may cause damage or unwanted behavior on the infected computer. Even if these malware sites have been removed from the search index, hackers tend to find ways to get their malware back in the path of internet users one way or another. Keeping your operating system and virus protection software up to date can help reduce the risk of becoming infected, but following a few simple tips is also recommended: - Avoid file sharing applications. - Never open an email attachment unless you are certain you know what it is. - Avoid free software downloads unless they are from a trusted source.
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| An Introduction to Citizendium by Editor Russ McGinn |
| 2007-11-28 18:27:00 |
Back in August I wrote an article called "Is Wikipedia Corrupt?" which looked at the concerns caused by controversial editing in the popular Wikipedia online encyclopedia. In the closing section of that article I stressed that Google needed to move away from highlighting Wikipedia in favor of increasing the diversity of its encyclopedic references. In that regard I would like to introduce a great introduction to Citizendium written by Russ McGinn, a Citizendium Editor and former participant at Wikipedia.Dear Ross,Responding to your invitation at SiteProNews, I am an author at Citizendium (http://en.citizendium.org.)We believe the world needs a more reliable free encyclopedia. We are creating a trusted general reference work by giving people a place to work...
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| Obvious Email Spam is Still Successful |
| 2007-11-28 13:59:00 |
This is an off-topic post that I felt could not be missed. The Register wrote today about a type of email spam that is extremely common and rather obvious BUT surprisingly it appears some Internet users are still falling for it. The article is worth the read if you have any concerns about what emails to read or not to read.In ShortEmails that promise free games, windows security patches or updates, nude celebrity pictures, or anything that seems out of the ordinary should be deleted immediately.A source in the Register article "recommends PC users do not open executable files attached to email messages from addresses they do not recognise or trust and to 'refrain from opening any message that purports to feature nude celebrit...
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| Google's GDrive in the News Again |
| 2007-11-28 13:31:00 |
The Wall Street Journal is once again fueling the fires of a potential GDrive initiative from Google.The GDrive would be a free or for fee online service where the average Internet user could store a lot (or all) of their data remotely on Google's servers. Google is thought to be considering this because it would further move file management to the online realm which would, in-turn, broaden Google's advertising reach while reinforcing their user-loyalty. -- More from the WSJ here but it still seems to be mostly speculative.by Ross Dunn, CEO, StepForth Web Marketing Inc.
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| Part 2 - The Genesis for a Successful Online Marketing Campaign |
| 2007-11-22 16:58:00 |
The canvas I have outlined for successful web marketing is taking shape. The first article looked at the necessary stages we need to develop. We started with market research and analysis of our competitors and now armed with this information we can proceed to perhaps the most critical component of all, developing our keyword targets and creating supporting text for them.What’s In a Word?It has been often said that content is king. The choice and expression of these words is what makes the connection to the visitors and helps determine user behaviour. If the message is clear the visitor will know if they are at the website they want (or need) to be at and start the exploring process. Visitor attraction is influence...
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| 40 Languages for Google Custom Search |
| 2007-11-20 13:50:00 |
StepForth has used Google's custom search for nearly a year now to allow a powerful but free search option for our website. Well it turns out Google's custom search is now available in 40 languages according to the a posting today at Google's Official Blog:"Today, we're pleased to tell you that the Google Custom Search platform is available in 40 languages, in close to 80 countries worldwide. And now you can search your Custom Search engine (CSE) in the language of your choice. We hope to see more people creating useful CSEs -- we want to see more colo(u)red beams on the globe!"Read on...
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| On the Surface Microsoft's Future Looks Bright |
| 2007-11-19 17:00:00 |
Wallstrip published a great newscast heralding, with some disbelief, that Microsoft's stocks had just reached a 5 year high. The video is worth the watch and I followed it up with my less than glowing opinion on the mega-corporation's current path.So according to stocks Microsoft is doing quite well and it is apparent that part of that success is a result of their high sales of Vista. Unfortunately for Microsoft, I can say with relative certainty that a significant percentage of Vista sales were forced upon new PC buyers and many would switch back to XP if they had a chance. In fact Dell even switched back to offering XP products after they received a myriad of complaints that Vista-only PCs were becoming the norm.Additionally, Computer World UK posted ...
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| Google and GoDaddy Strike a Deal |
| 2007-11-16 13:30:00 |
Internet domain registration and hosting giant GoDaddy is teaming up with Google to help clients enrich their web hosting accounts, according to a GoDaddy press release issued Tuesday.Working as a pilot partner, GoDaddy has integrated Google Webmaster Tools into the hosting accounts of their customers.This integration will make it easier for the average site owner to identify potential problems with their sites and to help improve their site's visibility."When Google approached us about incorporating their product into our hosting accounts, it was an easy decision," said GoDaddy.com CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. "Our customers are always looking for simple ways to make their sites easier to find and attract new visitors. T...
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| The Genesis for a Successful Online Marketing Campaign |
| 2007-11-15 16:45:00 |
I am often reminded how important it is to develop a well thought out business plan. I speak with numerous clients each day, each having a passion to promote their service, information or product and yet although they may be experts in their field, they do not have the expertise or foresight on how to market the site. Often times the website is destined to stay in the closet and never get the online exposure they need and are hoping for. And often times the client lacks an objective perspective, sort of being amongst trees in a forest and not being able to see to whole picture.The internet audience has matured and become more sophisticated in its expectations and delivery of information. No longer can one just throw up a site and expect to immediately generate business. Website readiness f...
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| Facebook Unleashes Facebook Ads |
| 2007-11-09 16:54:00 |
Tuesday, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerbook announced the launch of Facebook Ads. This new ad platform will allow advertisers to focus their precise target markets.Facebook's Ads consists of three major parts: "a way for businesses to build pages on Facebook to connect with their audiences; an ad system that facilitates the spread of brand messages virally through Facebook Social Ads™; and an interface to gather insights into people’s activity on Facebook that marketers care about."With the announcement of Facebook ads, a number of brand specific pages were released Tuesday to the tune of 100,000 pages covering the world’s biggest brands. Users can share information about businesses they like acting as a trusted referral, sending qualified and highly targeted individuals to the main businesses page.Users can also write on the wall of the business, add reviews, and interact with the business based on the features the business chooses to install.
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| AOL Acquires Quigo |
| 2007-11-09 16:52:00 |
According to Business Week, AOL has acquired pay per click search engine Quigo for a reported $300 million. The acquisition includes the AdSonar and Feedpoint platforms.Quigo has been serving up ads for a number of Time.com properties, and with the success they have been having, saw the potential and went forward with the purchase.The deal which is expected to close later this year, will allow for expansion of their contextual advertising on AOL as well as their partner sites. For the time being, Google will continue to provide AdWords ads alongside AOL search results.
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| How Glossaries and FAQs Can Improve Search Engine Rankings |
| 2007-11-08 13:23:00 |
A large part of my time at StepForth as a Engine">search engine optimization consultant is spent conducting competitor research on behalf of our clientele. This service is focused on deconstructing the marketing campaigns of each competitor while identifying the tactics that appear to have fundamentally contributed to their search engine success. As you might imagine I come across many intriguing techniques that work and many that don’t. In this article I will account for a couple of techniques that appear to be overlooked by many but have proven time and time again to work; the creation of an on-site glossary and frequently asked questions (FAQ) section.Create a GlossaryI imagine we have both shared one frustra...
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| StepForth Wants to Answer Your SEO Question FREE |
| 2007-11-07 16:50:00 |
Have you got a burning question about your current search engine optimization campaign?Do you want to ask about the particular nuances of different leading search engines?Are you wondering why after all of your work your website is not getting better rankings?If so, send your SEO questions to StepForth and if they are not already answered in our "SEO Answers Resource" we will do our best to answer them and possibly feature them in future SEO blog postings or articles.>> Submit your SEO Question here Our next edition will be sent out on November 8th ...
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| Yahoo Search Assist Aids Visibility |
| 2007-07-31 14:03:00 |
Yesterday Danny Sullivan posted an interesting walkthrough on a new technology that Yahoo is currently testing called Yahoo Search Assist. Throughout the following I will give a quick rundown and explain why Search Assist may help sites found in the bottom 5 of the top 10 search results.What Do I Mean by Search Assist? First Some BackgroundYou may have noticed over the past couple years that whenever you search for an item in Google or Yahoo you were provided with word completion suggestions. For example, if you typed in 'boat' then the suggestions that appeared in a drop-down (which you can select from to complete your search) might be 'boating', 'boat sales', 'boat magazine', 'boating tips'... or something like that...
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| Keyword Research for Organic SEO |
| 2007-07-25 18:13:00 |
So you have decided to venture out into the world of SEO. The first thing you will need to do is determine the direction of your campaign in relation to the key phrases you are choosing to target. This article will focus on how to find keywords for your organic campaign, as the process is slightly different for PPC.Many site owners know immediately what phrases they want. If you feel like you know what you want, before you start take a brief step back and assess if this really is the best phrase for your site. Yes, it just may very well be the perfect phrase, but if it isn’t, you could wind up spending a lot of time and money pursuing a ranking that either will never happen, or will provide very little value to your site.There are a few key areas to loo...
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| Canadian Mobile Data Rates Are Appalling |
| 2007-07-25 18:05:00 |
The Mobile Web is undoubtedly going to grow and grow until a mega industry takes shape; after all, there are simply too many people getting more and more addicted to instant information gratification. This fact is not lost on any country with a mobile network and Canada is no exception. Unfortunately for Canadians we are being suffocated by mobile data rates that are exceedingly more expensive than even a third world country like Rwanda. Unless our data rates come down you can bet that Canada will be left in the dust while the world of mobile commerce skyrockets. Don't believe me? The chart below dramatically illustrates the appalling impact of a lack of Canadian competition. This chart and ...
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