Have you ever thought about how to get your website or blog included in Google News? Well, you wouldn’t be the first. Business owners, Internet marketers, online reputation management and public relations (PR) professionals, and SEO specialists all recognize the value of having their content show up in one of today’s biggest online news aggregators (and search engines). Why get listed on Google News? If you’ve never given a thought to getting listed, consider these benefits and key features of Google News. Millions of people use it to keep abreast of what’s happening. (It cannot be a bad thing to be able to tap into that, right?) These users access Google News using a variety of ways: via search, personalized Google News pages, regular E-mail alerts, mobile device or a tablet (like the iPad), RSS or Atom feeds, and more. Get listed and immediately you have a multitude of ways to reach out to an audience (search engine marketing, mobile – Read the full article
I publish this to you guys because in the time I have spent working for Lakeshore Branding, I have learned a lot in what is SEO. As I will be taking a drastic turn in my life and begin working for the man, there are a few important lessons I have learned. First, a quick background. After graduating from the University of Iowa, I helped a colleague start up a webhosting company, Host Duplex. Afterwards, I joined Lakeshore Branding as an SEO Hero (self modified title ) to expand my technical knowledge in the SEO industry and further develop my web development skills. Here are the lessons I have learned as an SEO Hero. 1.) You Don’t Know Jack! One of the many lessons I have learned through life is that real life experience is king. From research and different books, I had thought that I knew my fair share of how to optimize a website. It wasn’t until I began – Read the full article
Tumblr is easy to fall in love with – especially if you’re looking for a light (and awesome) blogging platform. It’s going to be even easier once you’ve read the reasons why you should “Tum-blog” and taken note of the fact that the company has significant plans to expand next year. If you’re big on SEO, however… umm. Okay. So here’s the thing: Tumblr isn’t exactly the best blogging platform to support your SEO (search engine optimization) campaign. Unlike WordPress sites or even blogs hosted by Google’s own product, Blogger, Tumblr sites don’t rank well on search results. Which isn’t to say that Tumblr never ranks well – because with a few tweaks, tips, and tricks, you can position your Tumblr blog in a way that gives you an edge in the search rankings. Optimize your page titles: Here’s one good thing about Tumblr: it allows you to modify the HTML of your posts. HTML! Isn’t that a form of – Read the full article
There’s a high-potential marketing platform that’s slowly and surely attracting corporations, small business owners, advertisers, and marketers alike. Observers say that this is a big one – an avenue through which one can reach a good portion of billions of consumers. It’s called SMS. You know: text messaging. No, you’re not reading an article from our 1998 archives. This is 2010 all right, but you know what? In the age of tablet computers, flashy apps, smartphones, and social media, SMS marketing has indeed become one of the most viable and important platforms for businesses today. Here are some numbers: An estimated 3.5 billion text messages are sent and received every day. 57 percent of all cell phone subscribers use SMS on a regular basis. According to the New York Times, 97 percent of text messages are opened, and 83 percent of these are opened in less than an hour. Despite the explosive growth of smartphones and mobile technologies like the – Read the full article
According to eMarketer, shoppers are expected to spend 14.2% more shopping online in 2010 than in 2009. Are you part of the trend? Should you care if you aren’t? Shopping online has much more to offer than an expanded selection. You may not have thought about how much gas you spend driving to multiple stores or the impulse buys that creep into your cart. Before you dive in head first, consider these hidden benefits to shopping online versus shopping at bricks and mortar stores. Wish Lists Eliminate Guesswork: Many of us have had it with giving (and, if we’re honest, getting) bad gifts. We’re pretty confident that Uncle Alfred doesn’t want another necktie, but we inevitably buy one for him anyway. Most sites know that we’re frustrated with guessing how to buy for someone and put wish lists directly on their sites. Feel weird about telling people what you want? List Ideas, Kaboodle, and Boxed Up make it a cinch to make your own lists – Read the full article
Writing content for your website, company blog, and social media networks? Unleash your inner comic. If you don’t have one, hire a writer who has one. That’s because a great sense of humor will go far in helping you get noticed on the Web. Sure, your brand may be as serious as serious can get. Maybe you’re in the business of selling insurance, or dental services, or something of the sort that makes you sit straight up in boardroom meetings, wear a crisp suit to work every day, and conclude that funny does not bode well for the bottom line. But in the age of the Internet, in the vast and competitive landscape known as social media, it’s probably a good idea to take a cue from those who can make people laugh. Why? Because humor lengthens the attention span: Thanks in part to Twitter and to our link-clicking habits, Web content has been reduced to a matter of 140-character – Read the full article
The VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) market is so competitive these days. There are so many different companies trying to vie for the same market, it is unreal. While many consider only three companies – RIM, Google, and Apple – to be in real competition, Facebook might just make an appearance. The key to making any of these services be in high demand is to create the right buzz through Internet marketing programs. The right program should the right people to the technology. Here’s the reason why people feel that a Facebook-created physical mobile phone is such a bad idea: they believe that the popular online social media website has no business being in the ring with the rest of the heavy hitters. The best bet being thrown out for Facebook is to create a VoIP like Google Voice and stick to creating a “softphone” instead. The softphone can easily be marketed through Facebook itself as a natural progression for – Read the full article
Now that Google Instant has aged a bit and search professionals have had the opportunity to test its effect on SEM campaigns, the general verdict seems to be that Instant has not had a dramatic effect on SEO. Like Google Caffeine earlier this year, Instant seems to be aimed at improving user experience rather than search results. Indeed, in spite of all the SEO anxiety accompanying each change made by Google, the fact remains that their recent upgrades have focused largely on three main factors: * Greater personalization * Better targeting * Increased efficiency And while these are all things that professional SEOs are already optimizing for, now may be a good time to look beyond search results and consider how Google’s changes are affecting search behavior. With the release of Google Instant, it seems clearer than ever that Google wants to make search as easy and as intuitive as possible – and the way it’s doing that is by – Read the full article
