Archive for July, 2008

As more users obtain high-speed internet connections, the practice of video marketing is expanding. There are many different ways of using internet video marketing, ranging from directly promotional advertisements to informational content sponsored by a particular brand or web site. Read on to learn more details about using video marketing on the internet.

Entertaining or informative online videos are often combined with an advertisement at the beginning or a brand/URL which appears during them. Businesses that purchase advertisements at the start of videos should make sure they aren’t likely to be played repetitively to the same users in a way that will annoy them. For example, a site with ten different videos on its home page shouldn’t show the same advertisement before each individual video.

Some web sites use purely promotional videos on their own sites as part of their marketing efforts. This works well for visually demonstrating how a product works. Also, some visitors are more likely to listen to a detailed description of a product or service than they are to read about it. However, promoters shouldn’t rely upon this technique to the extent that it excludes customers who have older computers or internet connections which cannot receive videos.

Another option for using internet video marketing is to create videos for YouTube (or similar sites) which display or demonstrate a company’s product in a reasonably objective manner. For example, a software company could upload a video demonstrating the use of their new web browser. This sort of marketing is more likely to have an effect if the product does something remarkable or different; otherwise, putting videos on the advertiser’s web site is more appropriate.

There are also some technical considerations when using internet marketing of this type. Lower quality videos will not look as good, but decrease bandwidth costs and don’t require as fast an internet connection for the viewer. On the other hand, a high quality video appears more professional and gives customers a better idea of what a product looks like. They should be in a format that most users can view without installing new software.

Overall, the best method for using internet video marketing depends upon the type of product or service being advertised. While using this type of marketing can be effective when applied properly, advertisers should keep in mind that no video may be preferable to one that is bland or amateurish.

In online marketing, link bait is the technique of creating content that other web sites and blogs will voluntarily add links to. Link bait often attracts links on message boards and social bookmarking systems as well. It eliminates the cost and/or effort of buying and exchanging links. However, what is considered valid link bait for web site operators to use?

Articles that are timely, original, and interesting often act as good link bait, especially if efforts are taken to make other web site owners aware of them before they become outdated. However, valid link bait of this type shouldn’t make exaggerations, use a deceptive title, or offer poor-quality content. Low quality link bait doesn’t benefit readers and may cause webmasters to eventually become wary of linking to the site in question.

Another example of link bait is to provide free web site tools (like a mortgage calculator) that people can add to their sites and have links embedded in them. A similar option is to give awards or certifications to web sites or products they offer (like software downloads), and hope for links in return. This type of link bait is more valid if the award is only given occasionally to deserving recipients, not to every site with a high PageRank.

Some blog and web site owners (sometimes including major news media) have sacrificed accuracy to produce sensational link bait. Unconfirmed “breaking” stories have sometimes spread throughout the WWW despite being partially or completely false. Most people don’t find this sort of link bait valid, as it distributes useless information and damages the source’s reputation (along with that of every site linking to it, to a lesser extent).

Other ideas for making valid link bait include analyzing or experimenting with something in a way that produces new data, reviewing a product which has just been introduced, or comparing different items in a unique way. Try using established facts to prove an unconventional but valid assertion about an interesting subject; just because data is publicly available doesn’t mean that anyone has drawn the most significant conclusions from it.

Basically, creating valid link bait is a good way to improve a web page’s search engine rankings and attract direct traffic. However, quality and accuracy shouldn’t be disregarded when applying this promotional method; the best and most valid approach is to write up-to-date content in an original style that effectively catches people’s attention.

Many online forums on the subject of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are available. They are useful for learning about changing SEO practices and discussing how to best implement different techniques. However, some forums are preferable to others, depending upon their level of activity and the subjects they cover. Read on to learn about how to find the most useful SEO forums…

To start, you can get a list of these forums on any search engine by searching for “SEO forum” or “SEO + Forum”. If you prefer, the DMOZ.org web directory also has a useful list of SEO and other internet marketing forums, which can be found under the subcategory “Computers / Internet / Web Design and Development / Promotion / Chats and Forums”. The next step is to separately evaluate these sites to see which one best meets your needs, works well on your computer, and has sufficient activity to be useful.

Some ways of determining whether or not a forum is active include checking how many members there are, how recently new messages were posted, and how many users are currently logged in. Check to see if SEO categories you find interesting are covered – different forums include specific subjects like web directories, small search engines, Alexa rankings, blogging, specialized searches (image, news, product, etc) or domain names. They might also feature other marketing topics like affiliate programs, PPC, or banner ads.

Certain search engine optimization forums provide useful boards for particular activities like offering to sell SEO services, initiating link exchanges, selling web sites, requesting paid SEO services from other members, or asking for web site reviews. Other forums don’t allow some of these actions. Make sure the forum doesn’t have a lot of offensive posts or “spam”; some boards have too few moderators to find and prevent this behavior. Looking around the forum will also confirm that its pages load fast enough for your internet connection and it is compatible with your web browser.

After reviewing these factors on each forum you find, register for membership in the active forum which offers the most useful features for you. Evaluating the individual SEO forums in this manner before signing up will save time, which otherwise might be spent registering for forums which turn out not to be useful for one reason or another. Finally, don’t forget to save your password and bookmark the site’s URL after registration.

Rank Sense is an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) software package. It features tools for researching SEO keywords, creating progress reports, analyzing links, creating sitemaps, and optimizing individual pages or blogs. The developers of Rank Sense emphasize that the software is easy to use and up-to-date.

According to the Rank Sense web site, this software applies methods which follow search engine guidelines, rather than employing “black hat” or otherwise questionable techniques. One method it uses is to analyze other relevant web sites with high rankings, then make suggestions on how the user’s site could be adjusted to improve its rank accordingly. The software can operate in either “Smart” or “Classic” mode; the “Smart” option provides the user with assistance and goes from one step to the next, while the “Classic” mode lets users choose which tool to use. It also includes web site editing tools and support for the major blogging systems, including Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad, and LiveJournal.

The software does not concern itself with minor search engines; its tools are designed to improve rankings on the major engines like Yahoo, Google, Live/MSN, and Ask.com. At the same time, Rank Sense encourages users to focus upon individual search engines and keywords separately, rather than trying to simultaneously gain high rankings on every search engine for the same keyword. As part of its aim to be convenient and easy to use, the Rank Sense software stores information from previous sessions so that users don’t have to re-enter details.

Rank Sense software is available on a subscription basis at four different levels, ranging from a free option for bloggers who have a single blog to a professional version with additional features and more support. A fourteen day free trial version of the software can be downloaded as well, either at the Rank Sense site or Download.com. The system requirements are fairly high, so make sure it will work on your computer before downloading or purchasing it. A form including some personal information (telephone, address) must be completed before using the free trial software. It can be easily removed using the “Add or Remove Programs” feature in Control Panel; you will still have to delete its directory/folder manually.

The company which produces Rank Sense, NEMedia S.A., was founded six years ago and is based in the Dominican Republic’s capitol. It has an office in the U.S. state of New Jersey as well.

Efficient Frontier recently released new numbers for search advertising spend that show Google continues to be the market leader with 77.4% of the U.S.’s search advertising spend in the second quarter of 2008. The data tracked by Efficient Frontier includes 23 billion ad impressions and 390 million clicks.

Over the past 12 months Google has been pulling away from Yahoo as they continue to gain shares in ad spending. This is an unfortunate turn of events for Yahoo who had counted on Panama, the ad system launched last year, to help increase the amount of advertising spending within the company. Another aspect of the decline can be attributed to the loss of overall search share, which leads to fewer impressions.

Even with a decline in their share of the search spending pie Yahoo could still earn money as long as the overall spend in search advertising grows. Unfortunately, according to Efficient Frontier, the growth that is occurring isn’t benefiting Yahoo, or Microsoft for that matter. In all actuality Google receives more of the new money as well.

This may sound great for the search engine giant Google, but in actuality it’s likely going to hurt their chances at winning government support for a plan to have some of its search ads carried by Yahoo. Microsoft is sure to fight against a Google-Yahoo deal as a potential monopoly.

While Google continues to dominate the U.S. market it is of worth to note they have a 50/50 split with Yahoo in Japan, which shows some weakness in the giant search engine. Additionally, Google is behind the competition in China, South Korea and Russia.

Online videos has steadily become a more and more important part of marketing. Reasons for this range from more broadband connections to the rise of sites like YouTube which make video hosting and sharing a relatively simple thing.

If you are a company, creating a video to host either on your own site or a site like YouTube is a great marketing idea. However, you still need to optimize that video for the search engines. Here are a few tips on making that happen.

First and foremost, you should always offer your content in as many formats as you can. Doing this helps your video be accepted by more search engines. Plus, human users will be able to choose the format that works best with their computer and Internet connection.

Also, make sure that your title, description and keyword tags are complementary to your site. Examine them the same way you would the meta data with your site. Be sure to use appropriate keywords in the video filename and URL as well as in the link text for the file.

Don’t forget to optimize the page the video is on for the search engines. And offer a textual transcript of all of the content – audio and video.

Finally, host your video or a link to it everywhere you can think of. You’ve got to get the word out that it exists. Keep in mind you can help publicize your video with an RSS feed. However, make sure you’re logo is displayed on the video for proprietary reasons.

Videos are indeed popular, but you still have to make them appealing to both people and search engine robots in order for them to be successful.

There is a fair amount of discussion on organic Search Engine Optimization at forums, blogs, and web sites about SEO - but how do you know if your SEO strategy is actually organic, or what could be changed to make it more organic?

It isn’t quite as simple as just not using PPC ads. There are a number of characteristics which determine whether or not an SEO campaign is organic. To know if your SEO is organic, see if can you agree with the statements in the following checklist:

- You don’t use paid/guaranteed inclusion services or pay for expedited submission on any of the search engines.

- Your web site’s inbound links (preferably not bought) appear on web pages which have relevant or similar content.

- You don’t use software or online scripts which “mass-submit” your site to huge numbers of search engines or directories.

- None of your site’s search engine listings were bought through pay per click (PPC) sponsored search result programs.

- You don’t apply techniques like “cloaking” or “doorway pages”, which are aimed at deceiving search engine spiders/robots.

- The site doesn’t have lots of useless, automatically generated, or basically identical pages designed to attract hits.

- You haven’t reciprocally linked to web sites which have little or no relevance to the site you are promoting.

- Your SEO strategy includes an emphasis upon optimizing the web site itself (META tags, keyword density, navigation, etc).

- You know that none of your affiliates or other promoters are using any of the above-mentioned techniques to advertise your site.

If you were able to check all of these items, your SEO methods are probably considered organic. However, there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with using non-organic SEO, as long as you know that your techniques are effective, up to date, and ethical.

Organic SEO usually provides a more long-term effect than other strategies, and generates traffic from a wider range of search engines without separate efforts. It’s also well-accepted by search engines, isn’t affected by “click fraud”, and generally has a lower ongoing cost.

However, organic SEO techniques typically take longer to start producing hits than PPC or paid inclusion listings. They are also more time-consuming and don’t allow the effectiveness of different keywords, phrases, or page descriptions to be tested as easily.

Actually, not one but several Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct lists can be found on various SEO related web sites. They vary from one to the next, but generally address ethics regarding how the search engines, other SEO firms, and clients should be treated. Read on for more details about the concept of an SEO Code of Ethics.

Most people involved in SEO agree that ethical practices include making realistic claims about the services offered to clients and avoiding deceptive “black hat” search optimization techniques. These measures can be found on most of the above-mentioned Code of Ethics pages.

Many of these Code of Ethics lists also refer to matters of professionalism, such as abstaining from negative public statements about customers or other firms. This prevents retaliatory statements and helps preserve a more positive image of SEO in general.

However, there are some issues in which the role of ethics remains unclear. Some say that guaranteeing high rankings for particular keywords is unethical, while firms offering these guarantees might argue that it is only unethical if the guarantee isn’t genuine.

Another example is the use of automated SEO software. One site’s Code of Ethics lists not using automatic software. On the other hand, it could be said that there’s nothing wrong with software that works properly and applies ethical techniques. Issues involving more than one client competing for the same keyword can also become problematic.

Nonetheless, there are many issues the vast majority of SEO marketers can agree on. Submitting clients’ sites to “FFA” link pages, artificial “keyword stuffing”, trying to deceive searchers into visiting offensive sites, or creating “doorway pages” is generally seen as unethical. The same goes for any practice likely to worsen a client’s search rankings.

As in most professions and industries, the ethical practices of one individual or company providing these services has an impact upon the reputation of SEO in general. Upholding ethics encourages clients to continue using it for promotion and search engines to apply favorable policies.

Basically, ethical SEO practices clearly include being honest to customers and search engines, while forgoing undesirable practices like web page “cloaking.” However, there are disagreements over issues like paid links, social bookmarking, and ranking guarantees which make it difficult to create a single, specific Code of Ethics everyone can agree with.

A competition analysis allows you to measure the strengths and weaknesses of your business, current competitors and potential competitors.  The analysis helps a business assess opportunities and threats as well as providing help creating business strategies, including the implementation and monitoring of them.

Although competition analyses are different depending on a variety of things they do share common points. A competition analysis should show you who are the major competitors in a market along with what share of the market they hold. Another point included in an analysis is if any significant changes have been seen in the market shares of the competition over the past few years. You should also identify which competitors tackle the various segments of your market and who is the strongest in each field. Finally, a competition analysis should tell you about your competitors’ strategies in reaching your target market.

You can find this information in a variety of ways. First you can check out your competition personally. Visit the business if it’s a brick and mortar place and see whom they cater to and how they do business. You can also research your competition online. There are tons of free ways to do this research such as following any press your competitors receive. The government also offers free research options.  Another option is to join a trade association in your field. Trade associations tend to have a lot of information about their fields and with the price of membership you can usually have access to it. Finally, there are plenty of paid searches you can do to find out specific data.

Make sure you know your target market before beginning a competition analysis and don’t forget to identify direct and indirect competitors. The solid base of information that comes from a strong competitive analysis can provide insights to your product and positioning, your company’s strengths and weaknesses and help you determine which areas in your market you can succeed the most as well as what places you shouldn’t worry about. And that is one of the best ways to successfully run a business.

When you research keywords to use in your web site or blog, it’s important to find words that people really search for, while avoiding keywords that you cannot realistically compete for. Here are some suggestions on how to research keywords more effectively and efficiently.

1. Create a list of potential keywords and phrases related to the subject of your web site. Try using a thesaurus to obtain more related keywords you might find desirable. The keyword research tools referred to in the next step are also useful for finding related keywords. Some sites effectively obtain traffic by creating content centered around commonly misspelled words.

2. Research how many people are searching for these keywords. You can use Wordtracker, Keyword Discovery, and various other keyword research tools to easily and effectively obtain this sort of data. Some of these tools are free, others require a subscription fee. If no one is looking for a particular word or phrase on the search engines and you don’t have any reason to believe that will change, it probably isn’t worth producing content on that subject.

3. Use a major search engine to query keywords you are interested in; if all of the first and second page results are supplied by major (high PageRank) web sites, your site will have difficulty surpassing them in this subject (unless the site is already very well known). It is a good sign if there are few results or most listings aren’t specific to the keyword of interest; you may be able to effectively serve this niche.

4. Keep in mind that your goal (probably) isn’t just to increase hits to the web site; you want to effectively attract interested visitors who will click advertisements, purchase products, or otherwise benefit the site. For example, if a laser printer dealer were to go to the effort of attaining high rankings for words like “printer” and “printing”, it would needlessly attract many users who are only interested in other types of printers (also wasting bandwidth).

Unfortunately, no matter how effectively you research keywords, not all of them will produce a lot of traffic. Search query data isn’t always accurate, the things people are interested in vary from time to time, and new competitors may appear. Generally, the best strategy is to target niche keyword phrases which specifically relate to your site’s content and aren’t overly competitive.