The Work Media Internet Marketing Blog

Search Engine Optimization(SEO) - Pay-Per-Click Advertising(PPC) - Website Traffic and Path Analysis - Optimized Press Releases - SEO Copywriting - Blogging - Article Writing - Newsletters - Everything you need to know to be successful in your Internet marketing.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Just Say No to Paid Links

In the past, we have recommended using paid links (not paid search ads, but paid links) to boost a web site's external link count and improve its search engine rankings. Although much has been made the last couple of year's about Google's battle against paid search marketers who use paid links, the technique continued to work.

But that trend may have changed.

We recently noticed that a site for which we had been using paid links received a beatdown at the hands of Google in terms of its rankings. They plummeted. Around that same time, we noticed that Google had launched a new form where anyone can report a web site for using paid links. Then I guess the Google decency patrol will investigate and punish the site accordingly.

So...when it comes to something so important, so precious, as your search engine rankings, you can't take any chances. We think the environment for using paid links may have gotten too dangerous, now that Google has made it so easy and encourages narcing on other sites for using paid links.

If you are paying for links, our advice is to reallocate that money toward press release distribution. You will accomplish the result of generating new links, and you will be safe from punishment at the hands of Google. So protect your rankings and play it safe.

Stay away from paid links.

Call Work Media today at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net if you need some help with your search engine marketing.

Labels: internet marketing, linking, linking campaign, online press releases, paid links, pr, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, search engine rankings, seo, web marketing

Friday, June 27, 2008

A More Accurate Way to Estimate Keyword Traffic

The very best source of keyword data for your search engine optimization campaign may be your own paid search campaign. We use keyword research tools such as NicheBot.com a lot, especially early in the life of an SEO campaign. The problem is the data generated by such tools is only an estimate, and sometimes those estimates are highly inaccurate.

If you want concrete proof about the potential traffic for various keywords, take a look at the search queries people are using that have triggered your ads. In Google, you can run a search query performance which will show you most of the actual search terms that were used when your ads were displayed. One column of data in the report is impression share. If you run a report for a month, then divide the number of queries for any particular keyword by the impression share for that month, you will have a pretty accurate total for the number of times that keyword was used in that month. If you then divide that by 30, you will have an estimate for the number of times that search term is used on a daily basis.

The formulas are as follows:

Monthly Searches = Number of Impressions / Impression Share

Daily Searches = (Number of Impressions / Impression Share) / 30

You can then plug these search queries into NicheBot or another tool to get an idea of how many directly competing sites there are for the keyword. Or you can type the search query into Google surrounded by quotes to get an estimate of the competition.

The final data set created by doing this will give you a more accurate picture of actual search traffic and competition than simply relying on the information provided by keyword research tools. You can't go wrong with hard data.

If you need some help conducting keyword research for your search engine optimization or pay per click marketing campaigns, please call Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.

Labels: Google Adwords, internet marketing, keyword research, keywords, paid search, pay per click, search engine marketing, search engine optimization

Monday, June 23, 2008

Blog Post Starter Ideas

There are times when it is difficult to think of something to blog about, especially when you blog often. So here is a list of some starter ideas for blog posts.

1. Things you like or don't like.
2. Industry news.
3. Top list of reasons to do or not do something.
4. Results of industry research.
5. How to do something.
6. Sources of information about your industry.
7. Happenings within your business.
8. Sales or other company events.
9. Product or service reviews.
10.Recommendations.

Just take one of the above ideas and run with it. At Work Media, we specialize in the "how to" articles, because we want this blog to be an educational resource. But it is not necessary for your blog to be educational. More important is that it be entertaining and appealing to your target audience.

If you need some help with your blogging or search engine optimization strategy, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Don't be Discouraged by the Google Dance

Man, achieving a very high ranking in Google for desirable keywords can be tough. We have been heavily promoting our site for a few select keywords and are right on the cusp of positioning ourselves the way we want, but Google keeps bouncing us around. Now, I will say that these are very competitive keywords, and we're competing against lots of other companies that all know about search engine optimization...a pretty tough situation.

We actually rocketed up the rankings fairly quickly, then Google started moving us down, down, down. But we just kept working, and eventually we started rising again. The lesson here for you is that if you want high search engine rankings, you just to be patient and keep working. Never stop promoting. Never stop distributing content, writing your blog, seeking links partners, and all the other things you do to promote your web site.

Like we've said before: You can't outspend your competition, but you can outwork them. If you are intelligent in the way you go about your SEO campaign, eventually you will see results.

If you could use some professional help with your own search engine optimization campaign, call Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.

Labels: google, internet marketing, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, seo, web marketing, web site marketing

Monday, June 16, 2008

Find a Place to Blog

I'm typing this on my laptop on the way to the office (I commute with my brothers most days, which often gives me the opportunity to work in the car), typing as fast as I can because my battery is going dead. This is the place where my type out most of my blogs. Since blogging is a non-revenue generating activity, I don't like to spend too much time in the office doing it.
What's your strategy for getting blog posts written?

You need to find a place, and a regular time if possible, to type out your blog posts. If you can systematize the process, it will make you more efficient at getting blogs posted and make the process less demanding. I recently blogged about the SEO content cycle, in which I suggested that you re-cycle blog material into articles, articles into books, etc. If you can find a regular place and location to type, you can begin this kind of content cycle, which could have a profound impact on your business.

If you are an early riser, maybe you can set aside some to blog early in the morning. If you're a night owl, then late at night might work better for you. If you're like me and often have time in the mornings on the way to work, then that might be the best option. But find somewhere and go to work!

Blogging is a very "soft" marketing activity. You're not actively displaying a marketing message to prospects. It's more like you are placing more and more bait out until cyberspace hoping to attract prospects. It's a long-term business strategy. This is one reason I suggest you do it as much as you can outside the office.

If you could use some help implementing a blogging strategy for your business, call Work Media today at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.

Labels: ad writing, blog, blog management, blogging, blogging advice, content creation, internet marketing, search engine marketing

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Lessons from the Presidential Primaries

There are some important lessons to be learned from the presidential primaries that relate directly to search engine marketing:

1. Successful search engine marketing requires diligence.
2. You must make the most of the visits to your web site.

For example, in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama ran an ongoing paid search campaign so that his marketing message was constantly seen. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, ran ads sporadically. Obama consistently collected names, email addresses, and donations for months on end, building a huge database of voters and bankrolling his campaign with millions in small donations.

And now we know the outcome.

Obama has won the Democratic nomination and will be running for President against John McCain. McCain himself has done a good job of consistently using paid search ads to build mailing lists and collect donations. Even though he had no competition late for the Republican nomination, McCain wisely continued promoting and building momentum. Chances are excellent that both candidates will continue to use search engine marketing all the way up to the election.

How can you use search engine marketing to gain an advantage over your competitors?

Let us know if you need some help with SEO or pay per click management for your business.

Labels: internet marketing, mobile pay per click, paid search, ppc, presidential primaries, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, seo

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Seven Questions to Ask Your Potential SEO Firm

SEO is a confusing service to purchase. Talk to ten different companies and you'll hear much of the same thing, yet get ten wildly different prices.
So here is a list of seven questions that will help you make the determination of what firm to hire.

1. How many hours per month will you be devoting to promoting my site? If you have received a quote that is very low, it may be because you're really not getting very much time for your money.

2. Who will actually be doing the work? Is it done in-house or farmed out to off-shore contractors?

3. What is your hourly rate? If a firm's rate is too low, is it a real business or some guy doing it from his house on the side? You should know this.

4. Can you give some examples of rankings earned for clients? This one is obvious.

5. What are your methods? Here is where it helps to have done some homework and know a thing or two about search engine optimization. Avoid any company that immediately starts talking about meta tags.

6. How do you decide on keywords? Your SEO firm should offer guidance to help you choose keywords that generate a reasonable amount of traffic with as little competition as possible.

7. Do you have referrals? Even if you never follow up with the referrals, you'd like to see that the firm is confident enough to provide them.

So there you have it. Ask these seven questions and you will have a much better understanding of what any particular SEO firm offers and what the true cost is.

If you need any help with your SEO or PPC management, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.

Labels: search engine marketing, search engine optimization, seo, web marketing, web site marketing

Friday, June 06, 2008

Measure Your Life's ROI

I was having a conversation with my brothers this morning, and a thought popped in my mind that I thought I would share. Much of what we do here at Work Media is based around the idea of maximizing our clients' ROI, or return on investment. Our clients give us money, and we try to return that much money plus more.

But the concept of ROI is much more globally relevant than in just figuring out the value of financial transations. Everything you do, say, and think has an ROI.

For instance, if you stay up late and get up in a tired, hurried state the next morning, then your ROI might be a chaotic, unorganized day. If you plan your day the day before and get a good night's sleep, the return on investment will be that you feel good and have a productive day.

Every moment in life is a choice, and there are usually numerous options. When you sit down for dinner in a restaurant, you have many choices for your beverage. You can have beer, wine, cola, tea, or water, among other choices. Over time, which one do you think will provide the highest return on investment?

And of course, the classic: you can spend all your money, or you can set 10% of everything you make aside for saving and investing. It's easy to figure out your ROI on this one, because it can be measured in dollars.

So my advice to you is to estimate the ROI of every decision you make. Noone can be good all the time, but if you make more choices that have a positive outcome than those that have negative consequences, you will get a much greater return on your life.

We don't really do much in the way of life consulting, but if you need some help maximizing the return on investment on your web site, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.

Labels: paid search, pay per click, ppc, return on investment, roi, search engine marketing, sem, sponsored search

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Are You Watching Your Web Site Stats?

You need to pay close attention to what your Web site statistics are telling you. There are pieces to a story buried in your data. The more you dig, the more of that story you will learn. For example, here are some of the types of things you can learn:

What keywords are profitable? This is especially relevant when using paid search. With paid search, you can know exactly what your return on investment is for individual keywords. If you are strictly looking at natural search, you can examine the funnel that resulted in people filling out your form. For example, what search engine and keyword did people use who filled out your contact form?

Is there anything that is particularly ineffective? For example, if you see that you have lots of content campaign links with a very high bounce rate, then that is a strong clue that that is a poor use of your marketing dollars.

What are the pages on your site where people most often leave? These pages may need improvement, or they may need some way to capture the user's email address before he leaves.

What non-paid keywords are people using to find your site?

What is your average bounce rate? If is is very high, then that is a sign that your site needs work on content, design, or both. It needs to be more "sticky" so that people hang around.

These are just a few examples of the things you can learn from an examination of your web site statistics. The more you know, the better you can fine tune your site for best performance. If you need some help with your online marketing campaign, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.

Labels: analytics, conversion strategy, Google Analytics, internet marketing, statistics, tracking, web site marketing