Recently in Best of Blogs Category

Search Is Changing, Are You? It's a good question, and this post from Dr. Peter J. Meyers summarizes what all these changes are, and when a business should adapt. The answer isn't the same for all firms, and as with anything, there tradeoffs. There's a risk in waiting, and there's a risk in jumping in to new search engine marketing strategies too early.

A solid, pithy tip from George Ajazi on PageRank sculpting. Links within yourself can have a great deal of impact on Google PageRank, but how many firms have an internal link strategy? Here's a way you can get an edge on the competition.

Ann Smarty details 16 Examples of Huge Brands Using Twitter for Business. For those who view Twitter as a cross between alchemy and voodoo, this post will be illuminating. The fact is, Twitter has huge potential as a way for large and.or highly niched firms to enhance customer service and sales.

 

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• How to Manage Your Social Profiles and Create Virtual Business Cards

Blogging

• Marty Weintraub explains categories, bookmarks, and tags.
• Darren Rowse put together an instructive pictorial post on adsense split testing and how it can increase revenues.

New Media

• John Keister asks, Can Newspapers Be Saved? Beyond sentimental value, what can newspapers offer in a digital age?
• BusinessWeek reports that Facebook has overtaken MySpace as the most trafficked site on the Web. Opportunities abound for savvy companies that understand the dynamics of social media.

Search

• Tad Chef outlines 33 Website Success Metrics that are more meaningful than the old standards.
• George Ajazi previews Google Customized Search. More ways for your SEO investment to pay off.

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• Wow, what a shock: Many users hate the new Facebook redesign
• Yahoo announces social networking app for iPhone
• How to Use Link Building Through Social Media and Social Networks to Your Advantage

Andy Komack delivers 7 Search Marketing Strategies for Manufacturers and Distributors. Good to see attention being paid to these underserved groups that are underutilizing SEM.

Hurray - more! Erik-Jan Bulthuis offers a careful analysis of B2B Content SEO, where keyword selection has its own set of issues and traps.

From Ken Jones, a truly comprehensive guide to making Google love you.

Suffering from abandoned shopping cart syndrome? Natalie Hart gives us outstanding tips for ecommerce Web site design.

From George Ajazi, a quick heads-up on an important deep link enhancement from Yahoo.

And finally, a tidbit from Brian Ussery, on a topic I've often wondered about - how does the use of TinyURL affect SEO?

Few question the allure of free shipping, especially these days. But Holly Buchanan asks, Do Women Respond to "Free Shipping" More than Men? Must read post and conversation for consumer products marketers.

From Traffikd, A Small Blogger's Guide to Social Media Marketing. I don't think you have to be a blogger to enjoy this simple explanation of these new and still somewhat mysterious online marketing tools.

An incredibly thorough review of email marketing from Adam Audette, An Email Marketing Tip Sheet.

16 Things to Look for in a Website Health Check from Glen Allsopp focuses on SEO elements that people frequently overlook or underestimate the importance of.

A  technical SEO post, 5 Common Crawlability Mistakes that Kill Your SEO Success, might be a good basis of discussion between business owners and their Web developers if SEO results are not up to snuff.

Flash animation used to be useless from an SEO standpoint, but that's all changing now that Google is crawling indexing Flash content, as reported by SearchEngineLand. This breakthrough has major implications for Web page design.

It's the economy, stupid! Brad Williamson explains why High Gas Prices Are Driving Relationships to the Web. Will walk-in traffic disappear at $4.50/gallon? $5.00/gallon? Smart marketers must be ready with robust online marketing programs.

Before leaving the economy, take a look at the boldly titled How Search Engine Marketing Can Save the Economy. The fact is, search engine marketing has always been a highly efficient way to attract customers. But until this recent nosedive, not everyone cared. Now everyone has no choice but to care.

Social media is a definite boon to online marketers, yet still more of a potential boon than something that produces hard and fast results. Learn more about The Limitations of Social Media.

Still, we shouldn't turn a blind eye to the potential of social media. Here's a new tool called twizon, where Twitter meets Amazon. Grass roots, conversational marketing for the biggest e-commerce site on the planet.

Still more:

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With a long weekend coming up, let's not spend it in front of the computer! This installment of readable SEM links is short and sweet.

E-commerce spending increases double-digits every year. Expect the trend to accelerate thanks to sky high gasoline prices. More reason than ever to invest in online marketing.

Here's a readable, non-technical overview of Social Media Marketing for Small Business.

Social media is all the rage, but Traffikd warns us not to overdo it trying for social media traffic.

However, if you're embracing social media, here are excellent Tips for Building Communities, Online and Offline.

Overwhelmed by the complexity of search engine optimization? Good news from SearchEngineLand - the most powerful SEO tactic is simplify, simplify, simplify.

A very fine overview from Lidija Davis on How to Be an SEO Rock Star. Again, nothing overwhelmingly complex, but you have to cover all the bases.

From Omniture, five landing page fundamentals.

Jeff Paro makes a strong case for investing in "old fashioned" pay per click marketing. Just because PPC isn't making headlines right now doesn't mean you should overlook it.

From Galen De Young, Six Mistakes B2B Marketers Continue To Make With Organic Search.  Absolute must reading if you're developing a new Web site or upgrading one.

From Matt McGee, a superb search engine marketing case study that demonstrates how a business of any shape or size can succeed online with the right approach.

Jeffrey Smith asks, Should You Target Competitive Keywords, The Long Tail, Or Both? Fortunately he provides clear answers in this technical post.


In another highly detailed post, Steven Brier explains How to Optimize Local Business Profiles for Free Local Directories. Solid, cost-saving advice for local businesses looking to expand their customer base.

List lovers will love this list from Richard Burckhardt, 55 Quick SEO Tips  Even Your Mother Would Love.  What's your favorite? Lately, mine is #45.

Here's an article from USA Today - Circulation continues to fall at most top newspapers. Yet another indication of the importance of integrating new media into advertising and marketing campaigns. Compare these lackluster results to how Google is doing.

Whoast wears a white hat, but we recommend reading Why Whitehats Need to Know Blackhat SEO. Alas, the world is gray, but for those who know that, SEO results can be gold. 

If you're trying to figure out how your company can tap into the power of social media, read this detailed and insightful social media guide from Carsten Cumbrowski.

Along similar lines, Dosh Dosh explores ROI and social media. Is it possible to cost justify social media marketing efforts? You'll have to read the post to find out.

Tune up your search marketing by reading Ian Lurie's post, The Internet Marketing Unlist: 49 Things You Are Probably Doing But Shouldn't. Practical tips you can put to work right away.

From the Dallas Business and Marketing blog, Why Google is Scared of Social Media. Important insights for search marketing strategists, because the dynamics of search habits are being profoundly affected by new website models.

Matt Lester offers 10 Tips for A More Effective Paid Search Campaign. Always smart to review the basics.

Have a business blog? Darren Rowse, ProBlogger, offers high quality advice for Using Social Media to Grow Your Blog's Readership.

Speaking of social media, Lee Smith-Bryan writes an excellent post evaluating 7 Social Media Websites and Their Impact on SEO. If you're confused about how sites such as Twitter, Delicious, and Digg fit into the search marketing equation, this post will clear your head.

Jeffrey Smith advises that to improve your SEO, learn from your competition. Good advice for not only SEO, but any sales or marketing endeavor.

Here's a technical post from Patrick Altoft, Guide to Geo Targeting for SEO and Usability. Today companies can sell their wares anywhere around the globe regardless of their size. But to do so effectively, their Web sites must be nuanced country by country. Read this post to see how to build a geo targeted site.

With a recession here or looming, companies are scaling back. But Thomas M. Schmitz asks, B2B Marketing: Is It Time to Expand Your B2B Internet Marketing Strategy? For most companies the answer should be "yes".  As Schmitz points out, more and more B2B buyers are using the Web to do research and make decisions. It's no longer good enough merely to have a Web "presence".

And speaking of recession, Matt Bailey reveals Three Recession Proof Tactics You Can't  Afford to Miss. What are they? Search engine optimization, usability, and analytics. He's right - it's hard to imagine a bigger bang for your buck than taking full advantage of these three disciplines. 

Ronald Patiro makes two good points in his post on SEO strategy. First - test your hypothesis. Second - have a hypothesis!

Suffering from the same old same old? Small Fuel Marketing ofers 15 Simple Ways to Refresh a Marketing Campaign.

Diane Aull makes a really, really important point about why quality SEO costs money.

Here's a press release on Stumpedia.com. It's a new search engine model worth keeping an eye on, based on human rhythms rather than algorithms.

An interview with Andrew Shotland on the SEO Igloo Blog sheds light on local search.  

Wiep.net makes the case for why small business can outperform big business when it comes to Internet marketing.

From Utah Web Services, A CEO's Perspective on SEO, SEM, SMM, PPC, and ROI.

Scott Fish offers excellent advice on reputation management and reputation monitoring. These tasks are becoming more important by the day because of the widening business use of social networks and blogs.

Ian Lurie explains why you should bid on your brand name in PPC .

From Daniel McGuigan, an entertaining and instructive pictorial review of The Good, The Bad & The Pay-Per-Click Ugly.