Pay-per-click can be an incredibly costly experience and all of you who have tried it with lackluster results are the ones who have made Google the giant they are. But, it doesn’t have to be that way. There are a few fundamentals that I want you to know from the start.

First, think TARGETING. “Movies” is an extremely broad keyword and can apply to various topics – movie reviews, buying movies, movie plot, movie prop, etc. Each of the preceding are slightly better than just “movie.” You will find the better targeted your search terms are, the more clicks you will receive and the less those clicks will cost you.

Think about it this way. If I type in “movie reviews” as a searcher, I have yet to fully qualify my thought. But if I type in “reviews of the Inception movie” I have fully qualified my thought. This is a long query, but it means I have truly thought enough about my intent to expose my intent to the search engine thereby resulting in the correct result set.

This will take you a long way to reducing the total cost-per-click. Why? Because these terms are much less competitive and therefore cost much less. Most search advertisers go for the terms like “movies”, which blows through their budgets and the conversion rate is exceptionally low.

The second point here is how one figures out the correct keywords. Search for Google Keyword Tool and you will find a great resource. It will show the search volume, the relative number of world searches and help you understand how people think about their searches. But again I throw caution at you. It will suggest words, but only if you are thinking in the right frame of mind. Consider my first point when discovering relevant keywords and phrases.

Now we come to budget. Most people will start with a small number like $1/day ($30/month), actually that’s where I started when I began search marketing. You won’t get many clicks, your budget will get eaten up quickly, but it’s a good way to learn to be frugal from the start and begin testing the waters. The reality is that when it comes to budget you need to think beyond the cost to the Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). If it costs your $85 in clicks to get one sell and your sell is worth $1,000 then arguably that is a great return – most would say yes. Conversely, others would say $5 to get $10 is a good spend. The answer resides in your business. Is the lifetime value of a client greater than the initial outlay? How much budget can you afford to test with as you capture the right balance? A lot of thought goes into this and each business is unique in its numbers and what is reasonable. I can help you get to your number – call (208) 639-0781 and ask for George.

Last point here; I’ll let you get on with your day. You will get a better sense of what “works” by creating LOTS of ads with very few keywords in them. Lots of keywords in one ad to try and catch everything actually dilutes your results, and confuses things. Very few of my ads exceed 3-5 keywords, and most of those are variations – example, scifi movie, scifi movies, sci-fi movie, sci-fi movies, science fiction movie, science fiction movie (those are still very broad, just examples.)

We are search marketers and we will provide you leadership and direction. Please give us a call and we will guide you, your team or your marketing partner in obtaining that return on ad spend. My name is George Seybold and I woudl lov eot earn your business.

For sake of context here I am going to provide some definition around Twitter. Many think Twitter is a one-to-many chat session; it simply isn’t. Twitter is a life stream, a right-now stream of social consciousness. So what do you do with that? Consider this:

• A promotion that is time sensitive
• Reporting successes
• Addressing customer inquiries, complaints and accolades
• Encouraging brand engagement
• and many more I’ll leave off for brevity sake.

Using Twitter as the entry point for commerce will largely be a let down for small business. The SMB segment continually works to measure the “return on investment” in marketing as a line item in their budget. The reality is that most are not sophisticated enough in their business plan to determine and measure the value of the “return on engagement”.

I’m intentionally vague here, so bear with me:

A company recently felt accosted by a prolific Twitterer. The person stated her feeling about the product and service and the company swiftly and openly proclaimed that it was false. There was an exchange, hurt feelings, etc. and the company was placed at the mercy of the Twitterverse as the group retaliated. In short, the engagement was bad. You wouldn’t do this in your business, why would you do it in person?

We’ll play opposite world here:

The company is accused on Twitter and they immediately follow up with concern and caring. They seek the details, accept that there may be fault and arrange a meet offline. The Twitter feels heard and the situation is diffused. In short, the return on engagement is huge because the customer is heard and the business is validated as caring about it’s customers.

How do you use Twitter for success? Use it like you would any other communication tool, and remember that humans are on the other side of the screen and generally they are good people simply wanting to be heard.

Good SEO Firms often offer a strategic approach to internet marketing. Some of them feel that achievement of top ranking alone does not serve any goal if customers are not really buying your products. For this they offer a customized internet marketing option which not only gives you visibility and ranking but ensures that your website successfully completes deals.

An Internet surfer does not have the time or inclination to sift through the thousands of pages listed for his keywords by a search engine. On an average he is bound to look up only the first ten. So, if your website is not search engine optimized, it is unlikely to show up on the first page of a search engine and you would miss out on potential traffic. Further, if your website is not linked with the most popular keywords that relate to your potential customer base and target group, your website is likely to be missed out completely in a search.

You will end up regretting it. Consider all the specialized benefits that they can bring like user friendly web designs projecting your brand, pay per click campaigns, SEO Buzz marketing services backed by continuous tracking, measuring and reporting to help project your website, at the same time protecting it. In a nut shell, a professional SEO Firm will be a 100% guarantee to increasing your sales and profits. Harnessing the full potential of your business requires expert help from SEO firms.

It is only a professional who can put your website in the prime location for search engines with right key words and links. An SEO marketing company is liable to bring you results and there is no better result other than getting the visibility by the search engines. So it is so assured that the SEOs work for the good of the client and are reliable.

Of course one can attempt to do some search engine optimization on their own. But, in the bustling Internet marketplace, where professionals are working round the clock to garner top rankings in search engines, it is unlikely that an untrained SEO novice or amateur can beat the competition. SEO firms keep tabs on the latest happenings in the industry and know exactly what your site needs.

Now the whole world haven’t yet relived from the grim days of recession. This is a golden chance to keep the bricks back on the pavement and to light the torch for a new beginning. The cuts in the budgets can be easily made good of by cost saving procedures through the efforts in driving, traffic sales and profit.

It’s time sensitive for the developers to make the change, as:

1. Pages will start dropping out of the index (Google hates sending visitors to bad pages, and can see the bounce rate skyrocket). When Googlebot comes to visit your site, it will probably receive a “404 Error Page” as well as a 404 HTTP error code. A 404 error code is the surefire way to get a page out of Google’s index.
2. Humans that have bookmarked the old page will be stranded. Depending on the 404 error page (Your server’s default is simply awful), your loyal return visitor may think the entire site is down.
3. Search engines will stop counting the power of the links coming into broken pages, and rankings will drop. Search engines do not count links to missing pages. The wonderfully diverse link profile you’ve built over the years can disappear as links to subpages are no longer counted.
4. Webmasters linking into subpages might notice the 404 and remove their links. Some webmasters routinely monitor where they are linking to, and remove links to broken destinations.

Don’t make the most common of 301 redirect errors: Sending everything to the home page. to preserve a diverse link profile, you’ll want to keep those links spread naturally across your site’s homepage and subpages.

Hope this helps.

Every time some tool come out that brags about being able to rank influence and reputation, people immediately jump on it as bunk or as a sign of narcissism and a lack of real priorities– of course, those same people jumping on the tools and clumsily Tweeting out their scores (whoops!) is purely ”research” (right?).

Klout is an interesting tool that has got attention lately- and been getting bashed a little too (but it must be pretty good because my score isn’t particularly high- yes, I did “research”). A more elegant debunking comes from Edward Boches at his Creativity Unbound blog, where he says he won’t rely on Klout or similar scores to hire social media strategists. He then lays out a lot of excellent traits to look for that may or may not affect an influence score.

Should we disregard these scores then? No, but we shouldn’t rely on them for real “influence” either, as that exists both in and outside of social media. However:

• Comparative scores can help people decide which online “influencers” are worth paying more attention to vs others in a chosen set;
• Comparing your own- or a client’s- score over time as it rises (or.. um, rises- our clients never regress) can help you decide if things you are trying are working;
• If you are keeping a clear head about what these numbers mean (that is, they don’t mean everything), you can use them in a pinch if you are short on time, or combine them with your own analysis to confirm your thinking

People work hard creating these tools– often, they are good for something, though as Edward says, probably not a good sole indicator of hirability.

• Yelp/Google Local. Critical for local businesses, optimizing in these community pages should be priority number one. Don’t forget: credible reviews play a role in both algorithms. Instead of creating a five Yelp accounts and spamming reviews (bad idea), see if some of your supporters (a.k.a. customers) are on Yelp. Ask them if they’d mind spreading the word about your great work. As for Google Local, take some time and care in creating your listing.
  • Tags matter: Use keywords in your titles, descriptions, and tags.
    

• YouTube. YouTube is a fantastic way to establish thought leadership or create that perfect piece of viral content to bring your brand into the mainstream view. The quintessential example is Blendtec’s, “Will it Blend?” an oddly fascinating web series in which the Blendtec people demonstrate their awesome blending power in tidy two minute videos that have reached more than 100 million viewers. The lessons of Blendtec are simple: use your product to tell a story that will mesmerize your audience.
• But I’ll warn you, creating “viral” is hard. In fact, most agencies struggle with this and will avoid the subject all together. Another great example is when I was trying to fix a bike earlier this season. I searched for adjusting caliper brakes and bicycle and there was a step-by-step video. It established credibility, competency and helped me as a customer – I even visited their website after as I consider purchasing new bikes in the Spring.
  
  So with regard to developing thought leadership, try developing a series of “how-to” guides to position your brand as informed experts. It’s a less sexy permutation of its viral counterpart, but a great way to drive keyword friendly searches in a competitive landscape that’s likely still wide open. Delallo’s Pasta Channel is a solid example.
  
  • When optimizing YouTube content, remember these important steps:
  • Encourage user interactions (they matter): These interactions include comments, ratings, views, favorites, likes, embeds, and incoming links.
  • Fascinate your audience: Don’t waste your time creating YouTube videos if the content isn’t going to compel your audience to share it.
    

• SlideShare. Have a killer presentation? Slideshare is frequently one of the best places to share your authority documents as the domain has been trending much more highly in search engine results pages. Like YouTube, optimize your titles, tags, and summaries. A few incoming links won’t hurt either.
  
  
• Guest blogging. Top search rankings in Google aren’t always realistic, especially if you’re working with start-up resources and a fresh domain. Try leveraging the authority of a strong domain by offering to guest post. It’s a win-win scenario in which the domain owner receives traffic and the poster benefits from increased recognition. When selecting opportunities for guest posting, look for domains:
  
  
  • That frequently update.
  • With a solid following (comments and compete data are great sources).
  • That have at least the PageRank of the top result for the keyword you’re looking to optimize.
  • When optimizing blog posts, remember:
    • No keywords in title, no ranking: Semantic relevance is nice, but a bit unrealistic. A keyword-rich title tag is still a necessity when looking to rank traditional content.
    • Don’t forget to link: An incoming link to your site won’t hurt, so long as there’s relevancy, right? Be sure to link with best interests of your readers in mind.
    • Add some attractive images, then optimize them: Try to summarize all of your thoughts into one attractive image and chart. It will be a powerful way to communicate your ideas and will be quite link friendly, as well.
    • 500 words, minimum: Don’t skimp on the content. Make sure the search engine has enough crawlable content to determine your information to be rank-worthy. The length of content needed to rank will vary based on competition, query-type, and user intention, but a 500-word minimum is a great rule of thumb.

The key s to be present in these high-traffic websites. I am here to provide you guidance, but remember if you ned leadership and direction you can hire us to help. Contact me and we can help you get that lift you’ve been needing.

• Those who Facebook first tend to engage with brands for entertainment or to stay informed about the brand’s activities
• Email-first consumers are happy to “like” your brand if they will get something of value in return
• For younger targets, focus on collaboration and entertainment on Facebook, and keep clear distinctions between Facebook and email content
• Marketers need to develop coordinated strategies across these channels

To read the complete article, click here.

With so many hats to wear, we know you don’t have much time to play the role of marketer. But attracting potential customers is an essential part of growing your business. With that in mind, we designed Google Tags, our newest online advertising offering through Google Places that lets you personalize your Google.com and Google Maps listing with specific information such as a coupon, video, website, menu, reservations, photos or a custom message.

Read more >

After all, the tools themselves are dead simple. You need a second hand on your watch to track how long it takes to set up a Twitter account, for example.

But developing a social media voice is a more complicated proposition.”  Read More