Ever wonder why the search engines seem to contradict themselves when you consider Internet directories? I have and the arguments both for and against are compelling. Matt Cutts (Supreme Allied Commander of Spam at Google) recently released a video over at Youtube explaining Google’s position.
Aaron Wall turned me on to a cool CSS Directory Submission Service. Not a bad deal at all… $20 gets your site submitted to 102 CSS Galleries within 24 hours. We’re gonna check this out and will get back to you. But heck… for $20 why wouldn’t you do it?
About a year ago, we were approached by a young lady inquiring about the steps she should take in preparing to launch an ecommerce web site designed to sell scented candles to consumers. It was truly a unique situation in that she had not made any progress toward developing the site. In fact, she hadn’t even secured a domain yet. This was an incredibly clean slate and an opportunity that I’ve rarely encountered in my years as an online marketing consultant.
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At Google I/O 2009, Google has demonstrated an amazing new tool for anyone that wants to collaborate with people on the web. This tool is poised to replace many offline and online tools that currently exist. In order to truly understand the power of Google Wave, you need to watch this video and see the current uses of their technology. When you begin to understand exactly how Google Wave can be utilized you will also need to consider that this is only the beginning of what it is capable of. When developers get their hands on this technology and start developing extensions to this framework as well as the applications that can be created that will integrate this technology, the possibilities will only begin to be understood.
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There was an article on Marketing Pilgrim today that discussed the results of a survey conducted to determine the effect of sales on Social Media Marketing. The survey results are heavily leaning towards an underwhelming conversion rate from this form of marketing. Nevertheless, this isn’t a perfect case study on Social Marketing and you need to read between the lines when taking these results into consideration.
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Is the search engine marketing industry ready for the real-time web? Sadly, not many search engine marketers are ready to embark on the challenge that faces them. They certainly should have taken notice of the changes Google made to promote the real-time web at Searchology. Google unveiled functionality that makes it easier to show the most recent results of your respective search. Although this feature won’t be utilized by most, strategies need to be addressed to take full advantage of this real estate. Twitter has also announced a new algorithm based search that will follow the links posted by users on the popular micro-blogging platform.
I recently ran into Backtype when doing some social marketing research. Their service allows you to keep track of the conversations that you find interesting or relevant to your business. You can follow individuals and their comments on Blogs, keywords that can identify discussions that you would like to get involved with and branded keywords such as your name and your company name for obvious reasons. Another useful feature it provides is the ability to claim your comments and provide a profile where someone can view all of your conversations and potentially follow you.
The season finale of Chuck is on NBC tonight and apparently this may be it’s last episode or will it? In a recent episode of Chuck, there was a funny and paid product placement for Subway. The placement referenced the successful “$5 footlong” campaign. Fans of the show enjoyed the product placement so much that Subway sales increased greatly after the broadcast of the episode and now they are including Subway as part of a campaign to save the show from being cancelled on NBC. The star of Chuck, Zachary Levi, has also joined the campaign and brought fans to Subway from a convention.
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Social Marketing isn’t a form of Rocket Science. Anyone can do it and do it well, with little training. The most important aspect of Social Marketing is the amount of time that needs to be dedicated. Social Marketing takes time and consistency to provide desirable results. These are 5 simple ways to effectively market yourself or your business on the Social Web.
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Search Engine Optimization was once a misunderstood and powerful tool to increase the traffic of your website. If you knew what you were doing, SEO could have been your sole method of marketing on the web. Now, SEO is more understood but more costly to actually impact your traffic. Google has even made some recent updates that favor big brands that makes it even more difficult for the smaller players to invest in SEO. Now Social Marketing is the cost effective method of driving traffic to your website but it can be intimidating to know where to begin.
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