Archive for the 'SEM - Search Engine Marketing' Category
I received a private message at a forum I have been a member of for many years and it was from a relatively senior member that was promoting some discounted listings reviews in his network of web directories. The directories themselves look pretty nice, good templates and category structure but I took a quick look through the backlink profile of one of them and I was quite shocked!
I found backlinks from porn, coming soon sites and even from a page that was simply 10k+ links jammed full of porn, gambling and rx - I was going to post a screenshot of the page but it crashed my browser twice so I figured I better not push my luck.
Most good SEO’s always check backlink profiles before building links but there are many ‘cut-rate’ services out there that won’t spend the extra time doing this type of due diligence. So be very careful or your website might just become part of a ‘bad neighborhood’.
When it comes to engaging your grassroots demographic, forums are the best bang for your buck. I recently started at thread for a client that garnered 1,300 views and 4 pages of replies within the first week. I was able to have 3 live signature links and two additional text only links pointing to my clients site.
Now it is important to remember you won’t retire on this type of advertising but it is a great, low-key way of getting your brand out to those that matter. Long-term this type of promotion is invaluable to your online marketing mix.
Update January 21, 2010
Let’s fast-forward a couple of weeks and take a deeper look at this method of promotion. I am also able to compare it to forum posts started the same day in the commercial advertising area of the forum - the number of views is completely lopsided and this just proves that forum promotion is valuable but only if done correctly!
I can tell you from personal experience because my better half loves looking around for houses. One of her initial criteria in choosing a potential new home is the area, includes how the neighbors upkeep their lawns and how nice the local parks and amenities are. And she could start her search using Google street view…
What if you could put a virtual ‘for sale’ sign on your property by simply filling out a Google Sell your Home form and boom, 20 seconds later it would be available blended with Google search results for local search queries related to buying homes in that geographical area? What if this cost only a fraction of the thousands and thousands of dollars reactors charge to sell your home?
I smell a new revenue stream for Google and a very handy, affordable way to sell your house. A company like Google could even act as the escrow agent, after all who wouldn’t trust a company with 50 billion cash in the bank.
If I was not a fan of this guy already for the simple fact that he gets $1,000 an hour for SEO consulting, I am even more impressed with his recent post on his experience this year securing additional Venture Capital for SEOmoz. He gives a ton of great information and even though he holds back some of it (understandably for privacy reasons), the amount of transparency exhibited is commendable.
I think he could have easily released this info as a white paper and charged $200 a download, it is that good!
Just check out some of these images he gives:
Thanks again Rand, great read and super interesting for an SEO like me that one day will be raising capital for a project of my own. Head over and read this post if you ever wondered what the inside of the VC process looked like, SEOmozs Venture Capital Process.
John Dvorak over at pcmag.com wrote an article yesterday where he complained quite mightily about how SEO is ruining Google search results by:
“tricking Google or Bing or Yahoo into ranking your particular Web site higher than the competition by reverse-engineering the tricks used by Google, et al to rank sites in the first place.”
and
“It’s killing the Internet if it hasn’t already.”
and his proof of this is:
“Try and find the best cell phone deal on the Internet. Do it by using a search engine. Every hit is some commercial site trying to sell you something.”
So basically he typed in ‘best cell phone deal’ and he was upset that they results that came up were various websites that wanted to ‘actually’ sell him a cell phone. Ummm, ya….if you type in cell phone deals or some hybrid of that query you are likely in the market to ‘actually’ buy a cell phone, ergo the results that come up will be sites trying to do just that.
The real truth is that Google and other search engines encourage SEO as a way of putting your websites best foot forward and they don’t have any problem with this as long as you represent your website and its content in an honest way. In fact here is a link to Googles SEO starter guide - which by-the-way is available in 40 languages due to its popularity.
After making the above wildly unresearched statements John continues to hoot-and-haw about how everyone is out to trick him but then he gives SEO a little free promo by stating:
“My advice to Web site managers, when you see this sort of result, is to contact THAT site and hire the consultant doing SEO for it. This sort of thing is no accident.”
Maybe he was just spouting off to attract readers but some of these comments, obviously made by search engine marketing folk got pretty nasty:
“I wonder if you have any understanding of business and marketing if you think commercial sites coming up when you are actually looking for a deal is a bad thing. That really made me laugh.”
“You’re right John, if I type in “best cell phone deal” I definitely don’t want to see sites offering me the ability to get good deals on cell phones. What I’m REALLY looking for would be a wikipedia article talking about the future of cell phones followed by a bunch of sites featuring cell phone news and tips on using cell phones to order pizza.”
“Congratulations!! You have created the worst article that I have ever found on the internet.”
“John…seriously???? you just lost all credibility.”
“What a pity to read your post! What a pity for pcmag to let you write about SEO! I do recommend reading some basics SEO before you put up another post.”
“Which is worse? SEO, which you woefully misdescribe, or linking keywords in your article to adverts so that they pop up without warning in a really intrusive way?”
“John, a long long time ago, I respected your intelligence. Today, that’s completely gone.”
Ouch, I hope John does not take all this criticism too hard but I do agree - this article did seem quite ‘light’ on research.
I eat through a lot of online marketing news, tips and information each day and I have found about 50% of it to be useless (or even false and misleading) and another 45% to be marginally useful, only 5% or less of the publically available information I come across is actually valuable.
Here is an example of a powerful tip that should be part of any successful search marketing strategy:
Post in relevant forums!
Plain, simple, easy and FREE. The only caveat here is to make sure to make those posts have value and don’t waste time spamming. One, well-thought out thread is more valuable that 10,000 spam posts and here is a great example:
In about one week this thread received over 1.250 views and already has 4 pages of replies. I was able to advertise my clients websites in three live signatures and in two other non-live locations. Even the text of my post did a little ‘low-key’ promotion for my client.
The value proposition here is that I am able to get out to grassroots potential customers in a very subtle, friendly and engaging way. With the cost being free and only having to devote minimal time to replies and watching the thread the ROI on this type of promotion is essential in providing a well-rounded, successful search engine marketing campaign.
In a previous post you might have seen that we won a Google Knol; Top Pick Knol Award - just today I noticed that my Knol profile lists me as receiving a Top Viewed Author Award!
It seems that some companies are starting to ‘get it’! It is amazing the number of SEO/SEM job ads I see that go on for weeks and weeks as the salary creeps up from the absurd towards reality ($30k-$35k, then $35k-$45k, next week $45k-$52k). Recently I saw a couple of nice postings where the companies are willing to pay what a good SEO’s value really is:
If your website was getting a lot of visitors searching for the weather or sports scores then, YES!
As Google attempts to become stickier how many websites will it hurt? Or does the fact that they are actually helping the searchers make it a wash because that is their core business? But they make money off the advertisers to the tune of 95% - so are they really biting the hand that feeds them. Will they sell the branding for these type of results?
Let’s play the game, “How Much is this Position Worth”?
Read the description below and then guess how much they are offering to pay. Here are some clues, the offer is less than a window washer makes and about 30% less than a bus driver earns.
Role:
The Internet / SEO Marketing Coordinator will be responsible for ensuring that the website and online marketing programs perform to their best ability in meeting company expectations. This person will provide leadership to identify, evaluate, and implement methods to maximize the effectiveness of the web site and online marketing opportunities. This candidate must have experience with and knowledge in online marketing campaigns including email marketing, search engine optimization and website management. This position is both creative and analytical in nature. The candidate will work closely with the President and Sales Department to execute online marketing initiatives that are effective and in line with the company’s overall marketing goals.
Web Site Management
• Write and publish content to effectively communicate company services
• Ensure that all webs site components are in line with overall website goals, brand and strategy
• Identify opportunities for fresh content to ensure a dynamic and up-to-date web site
• Review and evaluate integrity of the website by conducting website audits and ongoing content clean-up
• Review, evaluate and report visitor and site metrics to propose updates to site, including content, creative, messaging, features and functionality
Email Marketing
• Manage email marketing programs
• Develop and maintain calendar and project deadlines
Online Marketing
• Design, implement and manage online marketing programs focusing on building awareness and customer acquisition
• Drive strategy for search engine marketing and search engine optimization initiatives
• Manage search engine marketing, and online lead generation programs
• Track and analyze campaign date to proactively identify opportunities for performance optimization
• Enhance the user experience by improving the quality and relevance of search engine results
SEO Experience
• Experience in developing and implement SEO campaigns/strategies
• Monitor, track and report on paid search metrics, including trend analysis
• Create website content with SEO enhancements, title tags, Meta descriptions to optimize for SEO purposes
• Provide support for search engine optimization recommendations
• Assist in Keyword discovery and expansion
• Research and analyze competitor advertising links
• Monitoring overall search engine performance for SEM Campaigns
Social Media Experience
• Create a comprehensive social media strategy to define programs that use social media marketing techniques to increase visibility, membership and traffic across all Aareas brands and Implement and manage social media programs
• Experiment with new and alternative ways to leverage social media activities
• Monitor trends in social media tools, trends and application and appropriately apply that knowledge to increasing the use of social media at Aareas
• Strategize with and educate the management team and others across the company on incorporating relevant social media techniques into the corporate culture and into all of the company’s products and services.
• Measure the impact of social media on the overall marketing efforts
We are looking for an ambitious and enthusiastic individual who wants to capitalize on the rapid advancement of information technology. We expect that the niche market we operate in will see significant growth in the future and need a highly motivated Internet/SEO Marketing Coordinator.
EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS
The successful candidate will have a majority of the following experience and skills:
Sales/Marketing Experience in the new home / condo industry is a must,
University/college marketing degree or 2 years industry experience,
2-3 years online marketing experience, specifically email campaigns, web site management and search engine optimization
Experience in managing search engine campaigns by analyzing keyword performance, expanding and adjusting keyword lists
Experience in content development for electronic media
Strong organizational skills and ability to handle numerous projects simultaneously with superior attention to detail
Excellent communications skills (written and verbal)
Attitude and Personality: Enthusiastic, organized, self-motivated, take-charge team player with a willingness to learn in a constantly evolving environment,
Deadline driven,
Computer savvy on applications such as Microsoft Word/Excel/PowerPoint, Photoshop, and Illustrator,
Ability to work well both independently and as part of a team.
Social media tools and techniques
Did you guess yet?
How much would you take this job for?
Can a single person even do this job?
Last chance!
Compensation: 35k-45K per year
I know the SEO/SEM job market is quite young up here in Canada but come on there is no way any sensible person can expect to get the above qualifications and experience for $15.00 an hour when folks at the local McDonalds are making $11.00 an hour.
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