by Sage Lewis Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer has some pretty extreme views for the business world. I think he might be looking in the mirror too closely when he talks about the business world as a whole. Check out our small business news site.
List of SEO Tools
In this four-part article series we will cover a total of 91 tools. Those tools include SEO tools keyword research tools content management systems image search tools ranking checkers analytics tools social media tools online copy writing tools link building tools statistics tools competitive research tools PPC tools related tools and professional development tools. If you re looking for a tool to assist you in your SEO efforts you will probably find it here…. Visual Studio Pro - FREE TRAINING Create next-gen, connected apps on VS Pro. 12 hrs FREE .NET training w/ purchase
Give Bing Some Money Love
by Sage Lewis Search Engine Roundtable gave some interesting advice on upping your budget over at Bing/Adcenter. Check out our small business news site.
The History of Search and Search Technology
This is a brief history of search engines and search technology. In this article you can learn the basics of how search engines work and how they got to where they are at the moment. We ll also look at important ranking factors including the historical reasons for why they are important near the end we ll consider what factors may become more important in the future…. Download a Windows® Embedded Trial Get Connected Devices Faster to Market with Windows® Embedded. FREE TRIAL!
Sparking Viral Spread - Make it Easy For Them
by Jennifer Laycock With more and more people signing on to social sites like Twitter and Facebook, companies are working overtime to figure out how to make the companies, products and offerings go viral. While I’ve written quite a few article about the theories behind preparing a campaign that’s likely to go viral, the truth is that some of the most effective viral campaigns are also the simplest. Sometimes it’s less about creating a great idea and more about enabling the spread. I saw the perfect example of this earlier today while hunting for a pair of sandals. I was looking for a pair of slip-on Croc sandals to replace a pair that broke last week. Since I’m going camping with friends this weekend, I wanted to make sure I had replacements before we head out on Thursday. There aren’t any local stores here in Canton that sell this style of Crocs, so I headed to Zappos, knowing I’d get fast, free shipping. Unfortunately, Zappos doesn’t carry Crocs.
How To Claim Your Google Maps Listing
by Miriam Ellis A few day ago, a business owner told me about a rather complex problem with his Google Maps business listing and asked me what to do about it. My explanation was pretty long, starting with the need to claim his listing and ending with a warning that fixing errors in Google Maps isn’t always simple. It took several paragraphs of detailed text to cover what I felt the business owner needed to do and he came back to me with a, “That’s great, but how do I claim my listing?” Sometimes, I get ahead of myself when I’m answering questions and in this case, I forgot for a moment that such a huge number of the business listings that make up Google’s local index are still unclaimed. Let’s get down to basics with this article. If you’ve been mystified by the verification process, read on! Why Do You Need To Claim Your Google Maps Listing?
Searching for profits more than answers
by Mike Moran Image by kbock70 via Flickr Everyone is staring hard at Bing , Microsoft’s new search engine, and I mostly like what I see, with one exception. I’ve written before about the search engine conflict of interest between highlighting their own properties and providing the truly best answer. In the quest for ever more cash, search engines are presenting results that point to their own pages. What does that mean to the searcher and to the search marketer? If you don’t know what I am talking about, take a look at search results from any major search engine today. They often highlight Web properties owned by their parent company. Google shows its YouTube videos, Yahoo shows its Flickr photos, Ask.com shows its CitySearch results, each of which shows more of their own advertising. Yahoo’s Tim Mayer has been refreshingly open about their goal: to keep searchers on their results pages for as long as possible
More Ways to Optimize for Local Search
This is the second part of a two-part article on local search engine optimization. In this part we are going to cover how different factors affect local search engine rankings the number of user reviews positive and negative reviews reviews on third party websites the age of the business listing keyword location categories phone number and more….
Tips for Social Media Success - A Panel Discussion
by David Carberry A few weeks ago I attended the Maryland Chamber of Commerce session on Social Media and Online Marketing with guest host Mario Armstrong from XM radio. The panel consisted of Greg Cangialosi, CEO of Blue Sky Factory , Matt Goddard, CEO of r2integrated and Leah Messina, CEO of Sinuate Media . The panelists spoke about various topics such as; online tools, social marketing and challenges their clients face. Some good points were made throughout the session however, as most panels go, they were all intertwined and scattered. I have highlighted some of the main items that are beneficial to all businesses either as a refresher or as new information. Communities How are your customers currently buying items or services? Social media outlets such as Twitter don’t work for everyone or every business.
Go Blog Yourself Step 6: Keep Them Interested
by Stoney deGeyter Read this post with images enabled. Having a good headline, a good article and even a good-looking site isn’t always enough to maintain an audience. To keep people coming back to your blog day after day you have to go through the extra effort to keep your visitors interested in your content. Think of your blog as a TV show. How many shows start out strong but can’t maintain the interest as time passes? I remember years ago watching the show Alias. It quickly became one of my favorite shows that I looked forward to watching each week. Then somewhere around mid second season it jumped the shark. (The post-Superbowl episode when SD-6 was brought down and the sexual tension between the two main characters… oh, never mind.