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PERSPECTIVES
- SEO: In it for the Long Haul
Paid-search advertising can have a remarkable impact on a business's bottom line. It is a critical element of any well-balanced search-engine marketing campaign; but it is not the only element. Today, many SEM professionals are fighting an uphill battle when it comes to convincing clients to abandon this all-or-nothing approach. The challenge is finding a balance between the immediate gratification of pay-per-click and the long-term benefits of search-engine optimization.
- Paid Search “Purr-fect” Fit for Local Pet Shops
Competition with big-box retailers is not limited to discount chains and general-merchandise outlets today. Businesses operating in niche markets – like pet supplies, for instance – have plenty to contend with from the well-funded national chains. Beyond carrying rare animals, exotic fish and organic animal feeds, many local pet-store owners are left wondering how they can stay afloat in the sea of bargain basements.
- Ringing Down the Doors: Pay-Per-Click vs. Pay-Per-Call
For business owners and consumers seeking immediate gratification, paid-search providers bring a new option in advertising – and although the leads are Internet-generated, this one does not even require a Web site!
Welcome to the burgeoning business of pay-per-call.
- Top Seven Open Source Anything
The concept of open source is perfectly American. Its foundation is built on people sharing a knowledge base and working together to create a better end product. The movement's success finally is taking a strong foothold, and now it seems no matter where users, administrators or developers turn, there is a useful, viable open-source solution waiting – and all are free!
- Chicago Trends in SEM
With a population of more than 11 million in its city and suburbs, the Chicago area is a hot bed of buyers and sellers trying to connect with each other every day. There is competition in almost every conceivable industry, and advertisers constantly are on the look out for more-exact ways of reaching their target audiences.
- Yahoo Catches Up with MSN & Google: Will it dominate geo-targeting?
Not only has Yahoo finally joined the geo-targeting world; it appears the search engine giant is staking claim to a “best practice” status among its biggest competition. The company is well on its way to mastering the match between location and search.
- Yahoo! Finally Get Your Ad Up Faster
Competition is a good thing, not just for the consumer, but also for the producer. It tells the customer they have choices, and although they may still choose the leading provider, there are alternative solutions. It drives the providers to stay focused on building the brand and improving options.
- Great Expectations vs. Real Results: Honesty in ROI
A solid search engine marketing, or SEM, strategy often closely resembles a modern investment portfolio. Some attention is given to short-term gains; some to middle-of-the-road opportunities; and, some to emerging markets. But most of the core portfolio is dedicated to models with proven results, accurate tracking and long-term profits.
- Buy Low – Sell High: The Ethics of a Middle Man
The volatile race to capture conversions has given the legendary commodities market a run for its money. But the “buy low, resell high” philosophy, known as search arbitrage, has left some in the search engine marketing, or SEM, community questioning the ethics of this new word brokering.
- Buyers for your ball washer and lefty glove?
For golf pro shops, the upcoming months will be critical for a profitable 2007. If sales were below par last year, search engine marketing, or SEM, is the way to reach the top of the leaderboard. Americans conducted more than 5 billion online searches in 2006, and that number will grow by double-digits in 2007. The most common consumer search? Product-plus-location.
- Top 7 Ways to Improve the Bottom Line in 2007
Advertisers in North America spent close to $6 billion on search engine marketing, or SEM, in 2005. And, analysts expect a whopping double-digit increase in 2006. Now that SEM has a high profile in the corporate marketing budget, the pressure is on to get results.
- Page Tagging vs. Logfile Analysis—Helping Clients Decide
The fact that search engine marketing can be thoroughly quantified makes it highly appealing to advertisers. But two major questions remain—what should the client measure, and how?
- Vegetarians Eat Up Web Analytics
For online marketers, here is some food for thought: approximately 10 million vegetarians live in the United States. Millions more admit they want to adopt a “more vegetarian” lifestyle by reducing their intake of meat and dairy. The first step to cultivating this market is a well-designed Web site. But to make competitors green with envy, companies must utilize Web analytics.
- Top 10 Reasons to Understand Your Web Traffic
Some companies improve Web site traffic and search engine marketing by relying on internal brainstorming sessions, intuition and sometimes even the latest fad. A few don’t bother making changes at all.
- What’s the Difference? A Comparison of Web Analytics to Web Statistics
For interpreting site performance and managing paid search campaigns, this information is invaluable. Knowing that a high number of users leave the site from a particular page suggests the page may contain confusing navigation, weak content, and/or faulty programming. Knowing a particular search engine drives 80% of the traffic indicates how Web marketers can get the best return on their paid search expenditures.
- Blogs Can Make Money for Clients
Once a company blog is launched, management quickly turns its attention to monetizing it. Depending on the size and demographics of the audience, it is not unheard of for blogs to earn in excess of $10,000 a month. But although companies have several revenue-generating options to choose from, they can easily go wrong. Savvy managers tap their search engine marketing, or SEM, partner for direction.
- Blogging for Chocolate
Small, niche businesses can use blogs to build customer loyalty and create new sales opportunities, particularly when their product has broad appeal. Few products capture the public’s imagination more than chocolate.
- Top 7 Ways to Get Booted Out of the Blogosphere
The blogosphere is a tightly knit community. Business blogs that employ certain styles and tactics risk being shunned, or even attacked, by readers and high-profile bloggers. The result: a tarnished company image and lost business. Here is how companies stumble into the danger zone.
- Take This Blog and...
You’ve decided your company will start a blog. You’ve developed a strategy, picked and configured a platform, set a few general goals and put someone in charge. You are off to a great start.
- Troubles on the Back End
If MSN® adCenter has an Achilles' heel, it’s on the back end. While this new pay-per-click, or PPC, advertising platform has some innovative targeting and analytic features, search marketers find using them can be messy.
- Quitters Search, Too!
How many of us have a habit we would like to get rid of? A safe estimate: just about everybody. Microsoft® has introduced a new pay-per-click, or PPC, advertising platform that enables advertisers to tap this enormous market. With MSN® adCenter, institutions and private firms offering services to consumers looking to kick a bad habit can reach the right audience at the right time.
- Top 10 Ways to Max Out on adCenter
Now that you plan to use Microsoft®’s new advertising platform, adCenter, there are ways to maximize your investment. With pay-per-click, or PPC, advertising, taking shortcuts is easy and tempting, but also costly. Cover these 10 bases, and you will get the most from your adCenter spend.
- MSN adCenter Stretches Ad Dollars
Microsoft's® recently released advertising platform, adCenter, gives pay-per-click advertisers yet another powerful avenue to penetrate the vast Internet marketplace with greater accuracy than ever before.
- Are blogs effective Search Marketing options? For who?
Most companies can — and we believe should— make blogs an integral part of their search-engine marketing, or SEM, strategy. Those that do will gain a competitive advantage in search-engine visibility they may never have to relinquish.
- Stressed Out? Journal it on your blog.
Not everyone blogs for fame and fortune. Sometimes, the reasons are deeply personal: for many, frequent blogging provides therapy for the mind, soul - and even the body. While every person’s motivation is, in some way, unique, there are some common ways blogs can relieve stress.
- Seven Steps to Blog Success
So blogging is as easy as one, two, three, right? Perhaps that's oversimplifying it a bit. Whether you intend to blog for business or pleasure, success requires preparation and implementing a few simple techniques.
- If Andy Rooney can blog, so can you!
Everybody is talking about blogs: but what are they? Weblogs, or blogs, are simply a particular type of Web site, with emphasis on simple. Where a traditional business Web site usually requires considerable programming skill to build, maintain and update, you can be up and running with a blog in a matter of minutes without even knowing how to spell HTML.
- Shooting Fish in a Barrel: Convincing Clients It’s that Easy
Local search tools are evolving rapidly. Yet, business-to-business and business-to-consumer firms are slow to adopt them into their Internet strategy. Search engine marketers, or SEM's, find this frustrating, and for good reason. Nearly 45 percent of all search-engine users utilize search engines to find local products and services. By far, the most-common search phrase is “industry” plus “location.” With so few sellers doing local search-engine marketing, new local customers are there for the taking.
- Finding the Best Back-to-School Basics On-line
Thanks to advances in local Internet search technology, you can get the kids ready for school, support the local economy and save gas — all at the same time. Local search sites and geo-targeted advertising make it simple to find the best deals on back-to-school supplies at stores near you.
- Top 10 Ways to Make Money in Your Neighborhood
Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz would have made a fantastic on-line marketer simply because she knew one plain truth: there’s no place like home. Print media, once the staple of local advertising, now has lost its appeal to many neighborhood merchandisers. In fact, an incredible 70 percent of U.S. households use the Internet to find local information, and 36 percent of all searches are for local businesses.
- Where in the World is… ?
With Internet use spreading across the globe, one advertising message no longer fits all. Believe it or not, Asians, Europeans and Latin Americans account for more than 60 percent of all Web traffic, and the percentage is climbing. At the same time, Internet shoppers everywhere are becoming increasingly hostile to generic pop-ups and banners.
- Connecting PR to SEO for a Complete Strategy
PR without SEO may soon mean no PR at all. A front-page story in a major newspaper might boost your ego, but a top 10 Google ranking will boost your business; if you have any doubt - read on...
- When Size Doesn’t Matter: PR for every business
PR can work wonders for any company; and, with the advent of Web site PR, the cost to spread your message has never been lower.
- Top 7 Stories Reporters Don’t Want to Hear
Developing newsworthy material can be tougher than you think. Reporters get barraged with scores of article submissions every day, so they eagerly look for reasons to ignore them.
- What is Web site PR Anyway?
Public relations is how a business conveys information to the public to build good will, credibility, name recognition and prestige.
- Summer Tourism: School is Back In Session for Travel Agencies
Hold on to your hammock: school is out, and Americans will be taking more than 325 million vacations in June, July and August. About 65 million of them were researched or booked on-line.
- Top 10 SEO Myths
When it comes to search engine optimization, there’s more than meets the eye. These Top 10 SEO Myths demonstrate why advertisers must avoid quick fixes and complicated gimmickry if they want consistently high search-engine rankings.
- Click Fraud: Playing dirty in the PPC World
Marketers beware: the ever-expanding pay-per-click arena is attracting plenty of unscrupulous players. Click fraud, once considered a minor inconvenience, has become a major concern for advertisers and search marketers. Estimates of advertising dollars lost to click fraud run as high as $500 million per year.
- Staying Ahead with Strategy
Industry consolidations, shrinking margins and complex supply chains have industries across the board clamoring to impact efficiency and effectiveness. No stone is left unturned - most especially Internet-related expenses, still seen by many businesses as having "unverifiable" return-on-investment figures.
- The Whole Package: Brains & Beauty
Staying one step ahead of the competition leaves little room for error, especially when you only have three-to-five seconds to convince customers yours is the right product or service to buy.
- Number Crunching: Know the Data
From the biggest boardrooms and the smallest business offices, executives gather around tables asking the same question, “Where's the data to prove it works?” Gauging return-on-investment, or ROI, for marketing dollars spent is one of the most-confounding parts of any marketing campaign.
- Ethics & SEO: An Oxymoron?
Often, life requires walking a fine line between right and wrong... the whole "shades of gray" thing. But when it comes to setting standards by which you operate your business and honor your customer, it's pretty black and white.
- Following the Movement: What Whoast Does and Why
When it comes to security, versatility and stability, there is no better solution in information technology than open source. From operating systems to Web development to just about any common application, the open-source revolution finally has taken hold. Businesses have started to truly understand the benefits of opting for open source, not only to save money, but also for the peace of mind it brings to their IT environment.
- Why Comply? The Movement to W3C Compliance
The Internet: a powerful tool with endless possibilities to advance business, connect people and share information. We believe that with those opportunities comes a real responsibility to understand its complexity and provide universal solutions to its issues.
- SEO: It matters today – and tomorrow
As an Internet-marketing firm, we quite often find ourselves introducing clients to the concept of search-engine optimization as one of the most-effective means to improving their Web site traffic.
- Pay-Per-Click: First in Line
As summer nears, so does the impending release of MSN's adCenter, a new option for sponsored links – and another major player in the pay-per-click mania sweeping the Internet marketing industry.
Whoast has rolled out the welcome mat for this new addition to the dynamic PPC world, and we strongly believe that while PPC does not replace solid search-engine optimization, it definitely is an option many businesses can afford – and benefit from – immediately.
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