Tips, insights into search engine marketing and optimization for high rankings on Google, Yahoo, MSN. Opt-in email, web site development, paid search, search engine submission, web advertising and general Internet happenings articles are also displayed. We come across worthwhile articles all the time. If you need expert help for your site, go to search engine marketing firm, Target Marketing Solutions, based in Howell, Michigan.
MediaPost Publications - Google Dips Toe In Pay-Per-Call - 11/25/2005: "GOOGLE THIS WEEK BEGAN TESTING pay-per-call ads, in which users can click to be connected to a merchant or service provider via telephone, a spokesman for the search giant told OnlineMediaDaily. "
posted by Howler @ 2:18 PM
53 comments
posted by Howler @ 11:21 AM
170 comments
No Search Is an Island - Editorial Column - CMO Magazine: "I searched " Search engine to phone call to order. This is the track of many visitors to your webiste.
posted by Howler @ 5:20 PM
2 comments
posted by Howler @ 5:09 PM
2 comments
March 2005 search engine market shares: Google - 36.4%, Yahoo! - 30.6%, MSN - 16.5% by ZDNet's Alex Moskalyuk -- In March 2005 Google continued to lead other search engines with a 36.4% share, up 0.5% YTY, according to comScore Networks. Yahoo! was #2 with 30.6%, up 0.6% YTY. MSN Search had 16.5%, increasing 0.8% YTY. AOL Search lost 4.5% of the market, falling from 13.4% in March 2004 to 8.9% in March 2005. Ask.com [...]
"
posted by Howler @ 3:29 PM
3 comments
InternetRetailer.com - Daily News for Wednesday,�May�4, 2005: Search engine marketing will grow by 33% this year. Some projections going forward....
posted by Howler @ 10:51 PM
4 comments
How To Measure Search Engine Marketing ROI Getting more important everyday....Most companies we've seen focus on clicks....
posted by Howler @ 10:45 PM
5 comments
SEO Tools - Search Engine Optimization, Google Optimization Great FREE SEO Tools
posted by Howler @ 8:40 PM
6 comments
Bloomberg.com: Top Worldwide Microsoft Plans Service to Sell Internet Search Ads
posted by Howler @ 9:56 PM
2 comments
Search Engine Forums Spotlight The latest search engine news and information from the forums at the top Internet's search engine resource, www.searchenginewatch.com.
posted by Howler @ 1:58 PM
2 comments
Search Engine Blog.com - Search Marketing News, Views & Rants: SES NYC Reports: "Tuesday, March 01, 2005
SES NYC Reports
The Search Landscape - snippet 'growth in toolbar searches have grown 136% in the US since Jan 04. He said 17 - 18% of searches are coming from toolbars, WOW. 58% of searchers have not installed the toolbars and 12% have uninstalled the toolbar'.
Searcher Behavior - snippet 'Of all the click throughs on organic listings, 24% on number 1, 19.5% number two and 12.8% on the number three listings'.
Search Algorithm & Research - (heh- interesting title) - snippet 'PageRank is keyword independent. HITS (Teoma) which is keyword dependent...He says there is only one problem with these two solutions, 'Neither of them work'
Search Forecast and Outlook: Profiting from Growth Through 2009 - snippet '2 out of 5 users arrive at vertical search engines from broad-based engines such as Google or Yahoo!' . This article also features a further review of the Search Landscape session.
On The Lookout For The Next Search Winner - snippet 'Competitive research, blog search and advertising tactics are among the most popular topics on the roster this week'.
More to come... "
posted by Howler @ 10:32 PM
3 comments
Free Traffic Tips - the blog: Google Tip of the Day :: How & Why To Optimize Your Images
Very Important! Something most developers don't do.....
posted by Howler @ 6:45 PM
2 comments
Excellent Search Engine Marketing Resources These resources WILL help to increase your Google, Yahoo, MSN rankings.
If you don't have the time or inclination to read or learn all of this information, call 1-888-239-0332 for Target Marketing Solutions, the publisher of this blog. We're experienced experts in search engine marketing and optimization.
posted by Howler @ 3:19 PM
3 comments
Yahoo! Video Search
New from Yahoo research labs.................in BETA
posted by Howler @ 9:28 PM
6 comments
USATODAY.com - Google units include social networking, photos, maps Where Google goes, search goes.
posted by Howler @ 5:42 PM
0 comments
Press Releases & Search Engine Optimization Most print
journalists use the web daily to populate their newspapers. Press releases are used a whole lot in this manner.
posted by Howler @ 2:59 PM
0 comments
posted by Howler @ 12:58 AM
1 comments
� Google PageRank is for Entertainment Purposes Only - Search Engine News Journal PageRank was never something to consider in search engine optimization. It was simply a rumor...
posted by Howler @ 7:59 AM
3 comments
E-Commerce Business is Booming Up 20% from same quarter last year....
posted by Howler @ 6:32 PM
0 comments
USATODAY.com - Google muscles into Microsoft's turf Google could be a threat to Microsoft..Microsoft is far behind Google in search. Period.
posted by Howler @ 5:38 PM
1 comments
Yahoo! Search blog:
"A look inside the world of search from the people of Yahoo!"
posted by Howler @ 12:59 AM
8 comments
USATODAY.com - Wireless, broadband to drive Net growth, tech leaders say
Where this is all goin'....quickly......
posted by Howler @ 6:08 PM
3 comments
� What is Search Engine Optimization? - Search Engine News Journal: "What is Search Engine Optimization? "
Many people don't know what search engine optimization is so we thought we'd post this... We've heard, "We've already got a website...
posted by Howler @ 2:36 PM
3 comments
Explore All Link Popularity Options for SEO
SEO has increasingly concentrated on a single factor in the major search engines' algorithms-link popularity.
After on-page optimization methods have been exhausted, it is link building that separates the top ten from the bottom thousands.
But link building is not an easy task. Many methods that formerly yielded great results, such as reciprocal linking and link renting, have gotten many Web sites banned from major search engines such as Google and Yahoo!. For this reason, it is extremely important that webmasters educate themselves on the topic before getting their hands dirty.
posted by Howler @ 6:12 PM
1 comments
Mozilla - Home of the Firefox web browser, Thunderbird and the Mozilla Suite
FireFox.. hot browser alternative to Windows Exploxer...Free Download
posted by Howler @ 3:03 PM
1 comments
My Way News Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), stepping up its efforts to compete with rival Google Inc. (GOOG), will offer consumers a preview of its technology for searching the Internet, beginning Thursday.
posted by Howler @ 1:14 PM
8 comments
B2Blog: Juicy info on B2B web searchers
B2Blog summarizes the data revealed in a recent report by MarketingSherpa and Enquiro on B2B searches.
Snippet...
The top listing got 27% of organic clicks, while the top sponsored listing got 51% of those who clicked sponsored ads. These just confirm the strength of being #1 on SERPs.
Google rules, preferred by 83% of users. This goes up with income/education, too.
posted by Howler @ 1:21 PM
3 comments
Keywords to Improve Site Conversion Rates
Can an effective keyword strategy improve Web site conversion rates? Absolutely. But only if your site includes the right terminology and phrases.
posted by Howler @ 11:24 AM
4 comments
Online Media Spend Predicted to Double by 2007:
Search Engine Marketing is HOT and getting HOTTER...
posted by Howler @ 5:49 PM
1 comments
Kelsey Group: Small Businesses Not Yet Advertising Online
Unbelievably, small business has almost entirely ignored search engine marketing.... says the article. The best thing going, we know coming from a print publishing environment, and it's ignored! Money is being disdirected.
This represents a HUGE sale opportunity for those in-the-know.
Some has gotten on board though....
Detroit News / Detroit Free Press - 04-04-04 - Retailers Jockey for Spots on Google
AND
USA Today - 02-04-04 - For Google, many retailers eagerly jump through hoops
Retailers, manufacturers, corporate branding, plus..all and more approrpiate for search engine marketing and search engine optimization.
Howler
Target Marketing Solutions
posted by Howler @ 1:59 PM
1 comments
Search Insider - BtoB Search Myths
There are many like:
"People don't do searches for big ticket B2B products and services."
One of our clients is the leading contender for a $1.7 million/year reoccuring contract. How did this computer industry company find our client? Google Adwords.
These myths have been honed since search engine marketing first appeared. It's about sales/economics. There's huge money that's up for grabs that was once solidly in old media programs. SEM takes budget money away from print agencies, magazine publishers, trade shows. Doesn't matter if it works and there's generally ROI. The old media companies are losing big to upstart search engine-based consulting firms. Many agencies are "starting"
to wake up to the reality that they may be smaller unless they innovate quickly.
posted by Howler @ 7:41 PM
0 comments
USATODAY.com - Google acquires online map provider Keyhole
Detailed satellite views/pictures of any location down to the building or sometimes the person level!
posted by Howler @ 3:07 PM
0 comments
MediaDailyNews 10-27-04
Search Engine Marketing Sophisticates VS Unsophisticates......
This article, instructive though it is, is written in an "intellecually snobby" style. Sophisticate vs unsophisticate? Search engine marketing is so new, so so radically different from the push marketing model that most companies are simply unaware of what it it takes to have their program operate at top efficiency.
"Sophisticates also tend to buy more keywords and advertise on more search engines than those classified as "unsophisticates." Thirty-nine percent of sophisticates buy 1,000 or more keywords per month, compared to 14 percent of unsophisticates, (sometimes it's difficult to do this) while sophisticates use an average of 3.8 search engines for their search engine marketing campaigns, compared to 2.7 for unsophisticates."
posted by Howler @ 2:52 PM
3 comments
Bad Boys of Search Marketing Every industry has those that are considered the "bad boys" within their respective industry. Who are our bad boys, the bad boys of search marketing?
posted by Howler @ 8:28 PM
3 comments
Search Marketing Off the Beaten Track
Opportunities for effective, inexpensive search marketing are abundant when you and 'think outside the (Big Search) box' and look to vertical or specialized content sites.
posted by Howler @ 8:40 PM
1 comments
MediaPost Advertising & Media Directory
Good Search Engine Optimization Tips from the Search Insider
posted by Howler @ 2:30 PM
0 comments
When Client/SEM Communications Break Down
Would you issue a press release without conferring with your PR agency? Would you stop taking an important medication without first checking with your physician? Of course not. You engage professionals to guide you. You pay them for their counsel.
Why, then, do some companies make changes to their Web sites without first consulting the search engine marketing (SEM) firms they hired?
posted by Howler @ 12:44 PM
1 comments
Search Engine Forums Spotlight
Links to this week`s topics from search engine forums across the web: Filthy Linking Rich - Google Releases Desktop Search - Exit Page Statistics Query - `Industrial Strength White Hat` Cloaking Questions - Content for Adwords - RSS Feeds as a Search Engine Marketing
posted by Howler @ 9:29 PM
0 comments
Is Search Writing the Yellow Page Obituary?
THE NEWS PIECE WAS BURIED on page 36 of the business section in a major Canadian daily newspaper. It was just one paragraph, a mere 46 words, announcing that the Yellow Pages Group had signed a deal with Google, making Yellow Page information available on the new Google Local service. I'm not sure the editors realized they were running the obituary for an 80-year-old, $16 billion a year North American industry.
posted by Howler @ 3:02 PM
1 comments
Yahoo! News - Google Launches PC Hard-Drive Search Tool
Download this FREE and search your desktop......
Google Inc. on Thursday became the first tech heavyweight to tackle the daunting task of uncluttering computers, introducing a program that quickly scours hard drives for documents, e-mails, instant messages and past Web searches.
posted by Howler @ 6:30 PM
0 comments
SBC Yahoo! Mail - paulchri@yahoo.com:
"Enough with Aritcles on the 'search bubble.' Bubbles burst. Search engine marketing can best be viewed as a vineyard that's just now starting to bear fruit, with the best wine vintages yet to come.
The seeds were planted as the first search engines sprung up in the early to mid 1990s. At first, no one monetized search in any sophisticated way. The most experienced among search engine marketing firms, born in the mid to late 90s, largely predated the paid search market (and it's little wonder they specialized in natural search optimization). "
posted by Howler @ 1:47 PM
1 comments
Business Advice Audio Books-Audio CD-Business Audio Book
Scroll a Little Down the Page for this Short Audio Tips...
Search Engine Marketing - with Jill Whalen, author of The Nitty-gritty of Writing for the Search Engines
posted by Howler @ 3:10 PM
0 comments
Engineering Google Results to Make a Point:
"Google plays down the significance of Google bombing, saying the search results merely reflect what is actually happening on the Web.
'We're only seeing it with obscure queries where there's really not that much action on the Web about them,' said Craig Silverstein, Google's director of technology. 'I don't think it's possible to do this sort of thing on queries with well-defined results like ' I.B.M.' So given that it only affects one query out of the more than 200 million a day we handle, it's hard to see it becoming much of a problem.'
But some in the industry say Google may be more worried than it lets on. The company's success, to a large extent, has been built on its search algorithm's ability to return relevant Web pages and weed out irrelevant or outright bogus results. The growing popularity of Google bombing can't be a welcome development for a company that is expected to begin selling stock to the public in a few months.
'Google says they're just reflecting what's on the Web, but they're actually reflecting a very small number of people who are trying to manipulate the system,' said Danny Sullivan, who edits Search Engine Watch (www.searchenginewatch.com). 'Google bombing will never go away, but Google has got to make it less rewarding for people to spend time doing this.'
Google certainly isn't the only search engine whose results can be gamed by users acting in concert. President Bush's biography is also the No. 1 search result for 'miserable failure' on Yahoo, which draws on Google's technology and that of HotBot; it's the No. 2 result on MSN Search. All search engines, to varying degrees, analyze links in calculating the relevancy of a page for a particular query. Seed"
posted by Howler @ 12:23 PM
0 comments
WebProWorld :: Web Ads: Branding Trumps Clicks
A Discussion Forum....
Is there any logic as to why many advertisers who spend tons of money on pretty magazine ads that deliver only branding often do not give this same credit to web and email ads? Well, the answer is that Internet ads can be tracked right down to the purchase. However, this does not mean that these Internet ads that are delivering instant results don’t also deliver a less measurable result called branding. It is plain and simple, if branding is worth something on TV or in magazines, then branding is also a value when advertising on the internet. It should be obvious by now that clicks are really the lesser part of the story when it comes to Internet advertising
posted by Howler @ 7:29 PM
1 comments
WebProWorld :: Web Ads: Branding Trumps Clicks
A Discussion Forum....
Is there any logic as to why many advertisers who spend tons of money on pretty magazine ads that deliver only branding often do not give this same credit to web and email ads? Well, the answer is that Internet ads can be tracked right down to the purchase. However, this does not mean that these Internet ads that are delivering instant results don’t also deliver a less measurable result called branding. It is plain and simple, if branding is worth something on TV or in magazines, then branding is also a value when advertising on the internet. It should be obvious by now that clicks are really the lesser part of the story when it comes to Internet advertising
posted by Howler @ 7:29 PM
2 comments
WebProWorld :: Web Ads: Branding Trumps Clicks
A Discussion Forum....
Is there any logic as to why many advertisers who spend tons of money on pretty magazine ads that deliver only branding often do not give this same credit to web and email ads? Well, the answer is that Internet ads can be tracked right down to the purchase. However, this does not mean that these Internet ads that are delivering instant results don’t also deliver a less measurable result called branding. It is plain and simple, if branding is worth something on TV or in magazines, then branding is also a value when advertising on the internet. It should be obvious by now that clicks are really the lesser part of the story when it comes to Internet advertising
posted by Howler @ 7:29 PM
0 comments
SEM Considerations for Optimal Campaign Performance
DoubleClick released a new white paper on search engine marketing considerations for optimal campaign performance.
The white paper, based on information compiled from DoubleClick's Performics division, presents key findings from more than 100 leading marketers, spanning hundreds of thousands of pay-per-click keywords.
posted by Howler @ 3:37 PM
0 comments
MarketingProfs.com - Printer Friendly Version
Ten Things I Hate in a Web Site
by Jason OConnor
posted by Howler @ 1:08 AM
1 comments
ClickZ Internet Advertising News Yahoo! Local Unwrapped
posted by Howler @ 2:03 PM
2 comments
SiteProNews is a free newsletter and webmaster resource site
Ten Web Site Promotion Tips for
DMOZ - Open Directory Project
posted by Howler @ 8:16 AM
2 comments
posted by Howler @ 4:10 PM
1 comments
Ross Dunn
Articles - Bio The Simple Way to Beat Your Competitors
By Ross Dunn - September 29, 2004
Why reinvent the wheel? We have all heard this statement time and time again, and all too often it is from an annoying critic or a cheesy salesperson. In the case of Internet Marketing, however, it doesn’t seem so silly since there are not many reliable options for keeping up to date with the latest techniques. After all, you could spend hours in SEO forums, read the plethora of do-it-yourself books and you could still end up with dated material or suggestions that don’t apply to your industry niche… or both! So what is the answer? Look for examples of companies that are currently successful and find out why they are! This can be easier said than done; however, there are definitely some tricks of the SEO trade that can make this type of analysis easier.
Since competitive analysis is a major portion of my job as CEO at StepForth Search Engine Placement, I have developed enough knowledge out of my research to provide my clients with enough information to make a serious dent in the competition. Now I am going to share with you an outline of how to do your own competitive analysis and how to understand it. This will only provide the basic data, however, I assure you that the following tips will provide you with the information to take more informed decisions with your search engine campaign.
To begin you must choose a viable competitor. Many of you may already have a clear idea of who your competitors are which will make this simpler. If you don’t, then run searches for your most important keyword phrases on Google (or the search engine of concern) while noting any competitors who appear more than once. With luck you will have quickly identified your competitor(s) of choice to move onto the actual analysis.
If You Can’t Beat Them… Improve on Them!
This competitive analysis will require 4 stages of research; position reporting, search engine saturation, design critique, and link popularity research.
Stage 1: Position Reporting
Now that you know who your competitor is it is time to really get an idea how well they are doing! First write down the first 30 major keywords and phrases that appear in the Meta tags found in the Source (select "View Source" from ‘View’ in Internet Explorer) of the competitor’s Home Page. Now take that list and go to Google and type in each query to see if the competitor has top rankings anywhere within the Top20. I recommend using Excel to document this, it will make analysis easier.
After you have compiled the results note which of the phrases are continually appearing in the Top20. 10 to 1 the rankings will all contain a similar keyword or variation. Now you know what the main keyword targets are for your competitor’s Home Page! To further discriminate their most valued phrase, just look at their Title tag. Often it will include at least one incidence of their core target Keyphrase.
This is a huge advantage because now you have the key to unraveling their marketing tactics. This can be compared to being given a decryption key to read a document… now you just have to read it and understand what you are seeing.
Stage 2: Search Engine Saturation
Just how much of the competitor’s web site has been indexed (read and included) by the search engines? This question is important because the degree of saturation plays an important role in Google’s algorithm. To put it very simply the more pages your site has indexed, the better your chances for top ranking.
To obtain this important statistic, type in the following syntax in Google’s search bar:
"site:www.competitorswebsite.com"
Stage 3: Design Critique
This is the most technical stage of all and it will likely require a great deal of time but you will be amazed by the benefits. This stage demands that you consider the method of design, layout and navigation for the competitor’s site. In most cases when reviewing each element of their site you will find telltale signs of optimization such as:
The first text seen by the search engines is a well-worded description of their web site and it will be created using one or more of the Keyphrases you identified earlier.
There will be a navigation menu in text format so that search engines can easily spider their site.
The links to pages within the web site from the text menu will be created using a Keyphrase relevant to the destination page. This adds significant credibility to the destination page and the site as a whole.
Alt Tags have been added to linked images or complex navigation menus. The Alt Tags will be short, and optimized using the Keyphrases for the destination page.
The Title Tag will be short but carefully targeted to obtain rankings for their core Keyphrase.
There will be a good balance of body text to images on the page; this denotes a careful optimization of the balance of words versus Keyphrases within the written text.
Incidences of important Keyphrases within the written text will be linked to internal pages within the site. Such links are called "inline text links" and can significantly bolster the relevance of both the page with the outbound link and the destination page (as long as it properly reflects the topic that was linked to it)
The site will often include a very simple and carefully optimized sitemap accessible from any position within the web site.
While considering these techniques, carefully note any these elements that appear to be present. Remember we are trying to find the ‘mix’ that your competitor is utilizing so that you can consider implementing the same while improving upon it.
Stage 4: Link Popularity
"How many pages are linking to your competitor’s web site? How many are their own pages?"
Link Popularity (LP) is a crucial consideration when analyzing a competitor. Essentially LP has the power to make or break a web site. The more links pointing to a web site from other related web sites, the more credibility Google perceives the site to have. In this case, the method for basically analyzing the LP of your competitor is to simply type in the following:
"link:www.competitorswebsite.com"
What you will likely end up with is a number of external sites linking to your competitor along with many of their own pages showing up as well. In this case it is important to consider just how many of the pages are actually their own. I have seen incidences where nearly 75% of all pages were their own! This is a symbol of the search engine friendliness of their web site. Once you have a good idea of their external back links (links pointing to their site), consider contacting each of the sites and requesting a link from them. To do this you will require a links page within your web site where you can place reciprocal links to the agreeable link provider; this is generally expected by webmasters.
Summary
Now that you have identified the various techniques your competitor is using, try to incorporate the ‘mix’ into your current web site. Pay special attention to the Home Page and focus on these elements in this order of importance: Title Tag, optimization of the first text within your page, implementing a proper Description Tag, carefully remove all barriers to the Spider navigation of your site, and increase the incidences of the Keyphrase(s) within the written copy visible on your page.
By establishing the position of your competition and the techniques used, you should now have a much better concept of what works and what doesn’t when obtaining rankings within your niche. If you have not found the information that you need or you wish to learn much more about your competition please don’t hesitate to contact StepForth, our research services are designed to strip bare the techniques that your competitors are using. An advanced competitor analysis can make all the difference in the world for your web site and it will save you the money involved with repetitive SEO because you will know what works!
posted by Howler @ 5:49 PM
2 comments
Ross Dunn
Articles - Bio The Simple Way to Beat Your Competitors
By Ross Dunn - September 29, 2004
Why reinvent the wheel? We have all heard this statement time and time again, and all too often it is from an annoying critic or a cheesy salesperson. In the case of Internet Marketing, however, it doesn’t seem so silly since there are not many reliable options for keeping up to date with the latest techniques. After all, you could spend hours in SEO forums, read the plethora of do-it-yourself books and you could still end up with dated material or suggestions that don’t apply to your industry niche… or both! So what is the answer? Look for examples of companies that are currently successful and find out why they are! This can be easier said than done; however, there are definitely some tricks of the SEO trade that can make this type of analysis easier.
Since competitive analysis is a major portion of my job as CEO at StepForth Search Engine Placement, I have developed enough knowledge out of my research to provide my clients with enough information to make a serious dent in the competition. Now I am going to share with you an outline of how to do your own competitive analysis and how to understand it. This will only provide the basic data, however, I assure you that the following tips will provide you with the information to take more informed decisions with your search engine campaign.
To begin you must choose a viable competitor. Many of you may already have a clear idea of who your competitors are which will make this simpler. If you don’t, then run searches for your most important keyword phrases on Google (or the search engine of concern) while noting any competitors who appear more than once. With luck you will have quickly identified your competitor(s) of choice to move onto the actual analysis.
If You Can’t Beat Them… Improve on Them!
This competitive analysis will require 4 stages of research; position reporting, search engine saturation, design critique, and link popularity research.
Stage 1: Position Reporting
Now that you know who your competitor is it is time to really get an idea how well they are doing! First write down the first 30 major keywords and phrases that appear in the Meta tags found in the Source (select "View Source" from ‘View’ in Internet Explorer) of the competitor’s Home Page. Now take that list and go to Google and type in each query to see if the competitor has top rankings anywhere within the Top20. I recommend using Excel to document this, it will make analysis easier.
After you have compiled the results note which of the phrases are continually appearing in the Top20. 10 to 1 the rankings will all contain a similar keyword or variation. Now you know what the main keyword targets are for your competitor’s Home Page! To further discriminate their most valued phrase, just look at their Title tag. Often it will include at least one incidence of their core target Keyphrase.
This is a huge advantage because now you have the key to unraveling their marketing tactics. This can be compared to being given a decryption key to read a document… now you just have to read it and understand what you are seeing.
Stage 2: Search Engine Saturation
Just how much of the competitor’s web site has been indexed (read and included) by the search engines? This question is important because the degree of saturation plays an important role in Google’s algorithm. To put it very simply the more pages your site has indexed, the better your chances for top ranking.
To obtain this important statistic, type in the following syntax in Google’s search bar:
"site:www.competitorswebsite.com"
Stage 3: Design Critique
This is the most technical stage of all and it will likely require a great deal of time but you will be amazed by the benefits. This stage demands that you consider the method of design, layout and navigation for the competitor’s site. In most cases when reviewing each element of their site you will find telltale signs of optimization such as:
The first text seen by the search engines is a well-worded description of their web site and it will be created using one or more of the Keyphrases you identified earlier.
There will be a navigation menu in text format so that search engines can easily spider their site.
The links to pages within the web site from the text menu will be created using a Keyphrase relevant to the destination page. This adds significant credibility to the destination page and the site as a whole.
Alt Tags have been added to linked images or complex navigation menus. The Alt Tags will be short, and optimized using the Keyphrases for the destination page.
The Title Tag will be short but carefully targeted to obtain rankings for their core Keyphrase.
There will be a good balance of body text to images on the page; this denotes a careful optimization of the balance of words versus Keyphrases within the written text.
Incidences of important Keyphrases within the written text will be linked to internal pages within the site. Such links are called "inline text links" and can significantly bolster the relevance of both the page with the outbound link and the destination page (as long as it properly reflects the topic that was linked to it)
The site will often include a very simple and carefully optimized sitemap accessible from any position within the web site.
While considering these techniques, carefully note any these elements that appear to be present. Remember we are trying to find the ‘mix’ that your competitor is utilizing so that you can consider implementing the same while improving upon it.
Stage 4: Link Popularity
"How many pages are linking to your competitor’s web site? How many are their own pages?"
Link Popularity (LP) is a crucial consideration when analyzing a competitor. Essentially LP has the power to make or break a web site. The more links pointing to a web site from other related web sites, the more credibility Google perceives the site to have. In this case, the method for basically analyzing the LP of your competitor is to simply type in the following:
"link:www.competitorswebsite.com"
What you will likely end up with is a number of external sites linking to your competitor along with many of their own pages showing up as well. In this case it is important to consider just how many of the pages are actually their own. I have seen incidences where nearly 75% of all pages were their own! This is a symbol of the search engine friendliness of their web site. Once you have a good idea of their external back links (links pointing to their site), consider contacting each of the sites and requesting a link from them. To do this you will require a links page within your web site where you can place reciprocal links to the agreeable link provider; this is generally expected by webmasters.
Summary
Now that you have identified the various techniques your competitor is using, try to incorporate the ‘mix’ into your current web site. Pay special attention to the Home Page and focus on these elements in this order of importance: Title Tag, optimization of the first text within your page, implementing a proper Description Tag, carefully remove all barriers to the Spider navigation of your site, and increase the incidences of the Keyphrase(s) within the written copy visible on your page.
By establishing the position of your competition and the techniques used, you should now have a much better concept of what works and what doesn’t when obtaining rankings within your niche. If you have not found the information that you need or you wish to learn much more about your competition please don’t hesitate to contact StepForth, our research services are designed to strip bare the techniques that your competitors are using. An advanced competitor analysis can make all the difference in the world for your web site and it will save you the money involved with repetitive SEO because you will know what works!
posted by Howler @ 5:48 PM
2 comments
posted by Howler @ 4:31 AM
0 comments
posted by Howler @ 4:22 AM
0 comments
posted by Howler @ 8:27 PM
1 comments
Organic Search Engine Results:
"Natural Search Engine Results - The Great Equalizer " is a fine article. We use a combination of pay-per-click & natural search engine optimization in our Prime Ranking program. It's been
extremely < a href="http://www.targetmarketingsol.com">effective marketing for our clients.
posted by Howler @ 1:05 PM
1 comments
SEO News: How to Soar in Your Search Engine Marketing in the Post Google Era (Part 1)
The Three Part Series on the Tao of Search Engine Promotion
"I Wonder if Google will Essentially Ever become Again what it Once Was?"
It is causing a shake up in web marketing circles, and the SEO industry is in chaos. Its Google's Florida and subsequent updates, that have many of us in the web marketing industry taken by storm. Google's latest series of updates has totally dismantled certain niche markets, delivering sparse results in relevancy, not to mention a display of deference to research sites.
posted by Howler @ 4:50 PM
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USATODAY.com - Search engines develop personal touches for Web surfers:
"'This is where search is eventually headed,' says Sullivan. 'Everything will be personalized to make you feel like you have a more personal relationship with the Web site.'
Search marketing � those little text-based ads that pop up next to search results � is booming."
posted by Howler @ 12:54 AM
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USATODAY.com - Internet advertising revenues jump 40 percent:
"Not surprisingly, search continues its popularity and (has) been embraced by advertisers due to its innate relevancy, the simplicity of the results and because advertisers can determine more precise response rates,' said Pete Petrusky, director of PricewaterhouseCoopers's New Media Group. "
posted by Howler @ 12:51 AM
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MarketingSherpa.com : Practical News & Case Studies on Internet Advertising, Marketing & PR:
"How to Redesign Your Site to Lift Conversions (Exponentially) with Persona-based Copy & Navigation"
posted by Howler @ 1:01 PM
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Business Advice Audio Books-Audio CD-Business Audio Book: Listen to a Short Audio Presentation on "Professional Search Engine Optimization"
posted by Howler @ 10:11 AM
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Improving Your Web Site for Higher Google Rankings
Learn how to edit your Web page so that it works with the Googlebot and not against it. These tips won't guarantee you top ranking, but they will help
posted by Howler @ 9:25 AM
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Inquiry Marketing Fulfills SEM's Promise:
"SEM must include both PPC search advertising and 'natural' Web site optimization to be complete. Today, many marketers overlook the power of natural search optimization."
posted by Howler @ 1:13 AM
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Search Engine Watch Blog Opens
Search Engine Watch gains a blog, as a new method of better speading news and information about search engines to readers.
posted by Howler @ 12:02 AM
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Internet News Article | Reuters.com
Paid-Search Market 'Far from Mature' - Yahoo CFO
Yahoo Inc. Chief Financial Officer Susan Decker on Monday said the $5 billion Web-search advertising market was still "far from mature" and that competition would intensify as Microsoft Corp. and others enter the market.
Source: Reuters, 09-20-2004
posted by Howler @ 8:49 PM
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MediaPost Communications
Findwhat.com Tuesday announced plans to introduce a "pay-per-call" service enabling marketers and private label partners to choose pay-per-click and/or pay-per-call advertising options.
posted by Howler @ 9:09 PM
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Engineered Aluminum Fabricators - Aluminum Profile Fabricators
JENOPTIK Laser Technologies USA - Plastic Cutting Laser Systems
TechMaster - Industrial Makeup Air Systems
Tiger Technologies - Industrial Hose Assemblies
K & E Electronics - Industrial Electronic Repair
Southern Carbide Die - Custom Carbide Dies, Carbide Punches, Carbide Nibs, Carbide Mandrels
National Filters - Custom Hydraulic Filters -Replacement Filters for Pall Filters, Parker Filters, Vickers Filters
posted by Howler @ 1:25 PM
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iProspect's Search Engine Marketing Advisor Newsletter: Negative Matching: The Quiet, Yet Powerful Paid Search Strategy Saves you Search Engine Marketing Budget and "Targets" the Phrases that You Want.....
posted by Howler @ 1:18 PM
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The Need for Web Design Standards (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)
Summary:
Users expect 77% of the simpler Web design elements to behave in a certain
way. Unfortunately, confusion reigns for many higher-level design issues.
posted by Howler @ 8:49 AM
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Increasing Your Rate of Conversion:
"Most sites that suffer from low conversion rate do so as a result of focusing on the business itself, rather than the customer. The website problems range from poor Web design and navigation, to weak sales copy, to difficult shopping cart use, to simply failing to meet the potential customers needs and expectations. "
posted by Howler @ 7:32 PM
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DMNews.com | News | Article
Yahoo Tests Travel Search Engine........
posted by Howler @ 1:35 PM
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AllBusinessNews: The Most Targeted Traffic You'll Ever Get (Part 1)
Get Search Engine Traffic that Can Buy Your Products and Services
posted by Howler @ 1:02 PM
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MarketingSherpa.com : Practical News & Case Studies on Internet Advertising, Marketing & PR:
"How to Build Your eRetail Business with a Blog (6-8% of Readers Convert to Buyers)"
posted by Howler @ 10:18 PM
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posted by Howler @ 8:20 PM
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WebProWorld :: Business.com Banned in Google:
"Lately, search engines have started to ban websites because they're doing the wrong type of redirect from the 'additionally bought' domain name to the main website's address. Web hosts, including self-service online control panels that allow you to add domain names and perform redirects, are programmed to redirect one domain name to another using what is called a '302 Temporarily Moved' redirect. A 302 redirect is the wrong type of redirect to use. The 302 Temporarily Moved' redirect should only be used if a website or web page has temporarily moved to another location for less than 24-48 hours. Any longer use of the 302 can result in a website being banned and removed from a search engine. "
posted by Howler @ 5:12 PM
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SEM Marketing Leverage
If you haven't already explained search engine marketing (SEM) to your CEO, CFO, president, or marketing VP, now's the time. Senior management will be pleased to learn about the revenue, profits, and return on investment (ROI) SEM provides. Explain to the top brass that unlike most other types of marketing, the concept of marketing leverage should be used to justify significant budget increases. Marketing leverage and business leverage are based on very similar concepts.
posted by Howler @ 7:03 PM
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Creating Compelling Search Engine Ads and Landing Pages
Effective search engine advertising goes far beyond simply bidding on keywords. With both ads and landing pages, you have scant seconds to capture the imagination and clicks of a searcher.
posted by Howler @ 9:23 PM
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SiteProNews is a free newsletter and webmaster resource site
Google can now index Flash
posted by Howler @ 8:23 AM
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Mastery, Mystery, and Misery: The Ideologies of Web Design (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)
Summary:
Simple, unobtrusive designs that support users are successful because they abide by the Web's nature -- and they make people feel good.
posted by Howler @ 12:03 PM
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posted by Howler @ 3:22 PM
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MarketingSherpa.com : Practical News & Case Studies on Internet Advertising, Marketing & PR:
Take surfers to exact the information that they requested not to the home page all of the time.
"Conversions more than doubled, rising to 0.7%. 'We were like, 'Oh, we got something here.' We lose fewer people by getting them immediately to where they want to go,' "
posted by Howler @ 2:55 PM
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Search Engine College - online courses and classes in search engine marketing:
"Learn Search Engine Marketing Online
Search Engine College is an online training institution offering instructor-led short online courses, online classes and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and other Search Engine Marketing subjects. "
posted by Howler @ 1:33 AM
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USATODAY.com - Recording studio on your laptop could make you a rock star:
Read the article and listen to the tune "Found It On Google" by Kevin
Maney, the USA Today technology editor. You know the you must be found on Google when the technology editor of the newspaper
with the largest circulation in America records a song with this title.
posted by Howler @ 8:10 PM
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Driving SEM Campaigns Using the Rearview Mirror
More on web analytics and the constantly moving search engine marketing
landscape.
posted by Howler @ 7:35 PM
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Web Analytics for Retailers: Part 1
Not only retailers, but any company engaged in search engine marketing
MUST know its statistics for effective management.
posted by Howler @ 12:20 PM
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Web Analytics for Retailers: Part 1
Not only retailers, but any company engaged in search engine marketing
MUST know its statistics for effective management.
posted by Howler @ 12:17 PM
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Google Buying Monster.com?
From the Search Engine Watch Forums.....................
posted by Howler @ 11:45 AM
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Why Nonconverting Keywords Will Drive Search Ad Spend
Very important to use the budget wisely!!!
At Target Marketing Solutions, we effectively and efficiently management your pay-per-click program.
posted by Howler @ 1:05 PM
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2004 Archives - SiteProNews
An incredible archive of professional search engine marketing and search engine optimization information. Target Marketing Solutions, the company that maintains this site, uses the best search engiene marketing techniques that are in these articles to get your site to the top of search engines. This information is literally worth thousands and thousands when applied to your web site. Believe me.
posted by Howler @ 12:52 PM
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Search Engine Ranking Via Optimization
By Jill Whalen.....who speaks at many SEO conferences.
posted by Howler @ 12:43 PM
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PremierGuide Gets Social with Local Search
The new features may be a sign of things to come in local search.
posted by Howler @ 12:38 PM
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PremierGuide Gets Social with Local Search
The new features may be a sign of things to come in local search.
posted by Howler @ 12:38 PM
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10 Psychological Triggers To Get Your Prospects To Click
Contrary to popular belief, banner ads are NOT dead, and can produce a significant amount of traffic, IF you know how to make them work.
posted by Howler @ 12:08 PM
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From Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox columns
Unless you have explicit links to product pages from article content users who visit articles directly from search engines might never realize that you sell related products. One of the first things they teach you in sales training is to ask for the order. Don't just chummy it up with prospective customers -- explicitly ask them to buy your product. Many websites forget this step.
posted by Howler @ 6:28 PM
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posted by Howler @ 12:32 AM
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More Than 40 Million Consumers In The U.K.%2C France and Germany Used Search Engines in April%2C According to comScore Networks Just came across some great stats from Europe
posted by Howler @ 8:18 PM
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Penn State Study Reveals The Truth Behind Search Engine User Behavior
Half of all users entered only one search query.
54 percent viewed just one page of search results per visit to the search engine.
Searchers typically visit only the top three search results.
About 55 percent of users checked out one result only.
Only 19 percent went on to the second page.
Fewer than 10 percent bothered with the third page of results.
More than 80 percent stopped after looking at three results.
Eight out of 10 times, the abstract dissuades searchers from going to a site.
Upon clicking through to a site, one in five searchers stay 60 seconds or less.
One out of every two search results, are relevant to what the searcher was looking for.
posted by Howler @ 8:42 PM
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The Worlds Largest Dental Search Engine New Launch...A Search Engine for the Dentures, Dental Lasers, Gum Disease, Childrens Dentistry, Teeth Grinding, Dental Filling Options...Etc.....
posted by Howler @ 7:52 AM
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Seven Steps to Optimize Your Welcome Message An e-mail marketing tip...
posted by Howler @ 1:04 PM
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Media Multitaskers May Miss Messages Business People, in a New Study, Say that They Pay Attention to Online the Most (41%)!!!!! Next Closest is Newspapers 20%
posted by Howler @ 12:47 PM
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Nielsen NetRatings Search Engine Ratings The latest, greatest stats say
Google, AOL ,Yahoo, MSN, Ask Jeeves and everyone else in search engine usage. You DON'T need to submit to 20,000 search engines.
posted by Howler @ 4:27 PM
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Attract and Keep Customers: Niche Target Market? Think Search!: This says it all about the value of search engine marketing. To reach her potential audience of luxury vacationers, Quist advertises on a couple of vacation portals, like VacationRentals.com. But her main marketing tool is buying keywords on the Overture search engine. 'I couldn't run my business without it,' she says."
posted by Howler @ 10:48 AM
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Jupiterwebinars: Turning Searchers Into Buyers Free Webinar from Jupiter..Very Valuable
posted by Howler @ 4:55 PM
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The More Keywords - The Merrier
OneStat.com released a new report on the number of words in phrases people use for search engine queries. Analyzing phrases ranging from one to seven words, one- and two-word phrases were on the decline, while longer phrases posted an increase.
posted by Howler @ 6:17 PM
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Ecommerce News: eBay Readies Local Search Local search is being launched by Yahoo & MSN also
posted by Howler @ 6:26 PM
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InternetRetailer.com - Daily News for Thursday,�April�10, 2003 The online store at media web site Discovery.com saw a 300% increase in shopper traffic it received from search engine Google.com after it redesigned its home page based on analytics information gleaned from Omniture, Inc.’s SiteCatalyst analytics tool. An article from April, but very good e-commerce info.
posted by Howler @ 5:10 PM
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posted by Howler @ 7:18 PM
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