Break Out of the Local Linking Same Old Same Old

It has come to my realization that I am in a rut. An external linking rut.

Well, I knew I needed to revisit linking strategies … it’s one of those things that I never sat down to research and really dig into because I have procrastinated incredibly well, but the past week has propelled me in that direction, not necessarily with my consent. But once I started digging into the data and ignoring the world around me, it was good.

It was good to see what I have been doing right and to discover those little opportunities that I have missed but can now take advantage of.

You Can Buy Brand Love on Twitter?

Need Twitter Followers for Your Client’s Brand? Buy Quality Twitter Followers Now!

If this statement appealed to you, you want to read what I have to say. If you read this statement and wondering what’s Twitter, stop reading right now. I’m serious - Go! This post isn’t for you. This post if for the Twitter marketing elite – the Twitterati.

This post will reveal the TRUTH about buying Twitter followers. The TRUTH is…

15 Great Ways to Fail at Increasing Website Traffic

We all know that one of the fundamental goals in designing a website is to provide information. Without an audience you might as well be a tree falling when no one’s around. So, how do you get an audience? As research shows the best way to get the best traffic is by telling your friends and family. They alone will get you all the traffic you need. That’s how the six degrees of separation works, right?

WRONG. While it is still important, it takes a lot more work and effort to grow your business than just word-of-mouth.

Yelp Review Filter Explained (How do I spam that?)

I was looking for more contact info for Luther Lowe and noticed his tweet about a blog post explaining Yelp’s Review Filter. Luther does a good job of explaining the Yelp Review Filter and Yelp has commissioned a video which tries to explain it in a friendly way. The review filter, Yelp’s legal woes and the general state of Yelpdom have been the topics of many conversations lately.

While in Portland last week presenting on Facebook Marketing at SEMpdx SearchFest I had a couple great dinners with some really smart people. One of those dinners included the aforementioned smart person Luther Lowe who is part of Yelp’s business outreach team.

Email Marketing for Small Business: 9 Things Not to Do

I am all about receiving e-mail marketing from eCommerce sites that I am interested in.  Seriously – my personal e-mail inbox has 2,445 unread messages – I sign up for everything With that said, you have to say something enticing for me to open your e-mail.  And, for some reason, today I opened an e-mail from a local small business that seriously frustrated me.  The guilty party will remain nameless.

Facebook Introduces Conversion Tracking for Advertisers

Data.

This is the most fundamental building block when trying to determine the success of a Pay-Per-Click campaign.

Data tells you if that “iffy” ad copy you wrote is actually paying off and it also tells you when something’s gone belly up and is stinking up your cost per lead. But despite being extremely useful, data is also extremely problematic especially when you are using third party report tool with unrelated PPC platform.  The data gets well… unpleasant. This statement has been especially true for me using tools such as Analytics to track Facebook advertising performance.

4th Annual SearchFest, March 9, 2010

Search Influence’s Will Scott will speak about Facebook for small business at SearchFest 2010. The 4th annual Searchfest is March 9th at the Governor Hotel in Portland, Oregon.

SearchFest is the largest search engine marketing conference in Portland. Dedicated to search marketing education from the industry experts and thought leaders, SearchFest’s mission is to educate businesses on the benefits of SEO and SEM.

DANGER! Your Google Business Listing Is at Risk

You need to watch out! I was just reading the Google Lat Long Blog and they’re telling people to edit YOUR Google business listing.

This is really, really, bad. Look at this picture. I didn’t want to steal the image from the Google blog post so I made my own which shows a business listing on Google in grave danger.

Your Google business listing is in danger!

We’ve talked in the past about the importance of claiming your Google. It’s critical. Do it now!

The Secret of Small Business Social Media - You Must be Present to Win

One of the questions we hear from pretty much every client is “Should we be on Facebook?” “Do I need to Twitter? Tweet? Twit?” or, if they are already on it, they ask how they can make better use of Twitter or Facebook for business purposes.

For a small business to be successful using social media, a small business must be an active participant in and on that social media platform, whatever it may be. Since Facebook is the most widely used social media outlet with more than 400 million members, and has the greatest variety of uses, we’ll illustrate how you can use it to your advantage. It may seem we talk about Facebook a lot on here, but that’s because people are interested in it, and want to know how to approach it.

Burying Negative Content - What to Do Versus What Not to Do

These days it is really easy to tarnish the online reputation of a company.  Just one bad review or article posted on a high traffic web site is all it takes.  In most instances it is impossible to have negative comments and stories removed.

The best way to fight negativity is through positivity.  The simplest way to do this is to drown it out.  Good news can chase bad news down the search engine ranks to the 2nd or 3rd page, where it is less likely to be found.

Here are some action steps: