Did you ever play King of the Mountain as a kid? I spent many recess periods trying to shove my way to higher ground for a few moments of schoolyard glory. Getting past a dozen other boys was no easy feat; it required strategy and perseverance (and occasionally gave me a few bumps and bruises to boot).
Similarly, an SEO campaign requires its share of strategy – except that Search Mountain has much greater stakes than schoolboy bragging rights. And the “mountain” is much higher. That’s why your initial strategy in this virtual struggle – and your selection of the right keywords, in particular – should prove critical in determining whether you ultimately join nine other climbers at the summit. Read more »
The customer is always right – even when they’re not visiting your website. You’ve got to meet them where they’re at.
Millions of potential customers are on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and more conversations about companies and products are taking place online than ever before. Yet many companies don’t have the strategy – or the stomach – to engage people on these online channels.
But smart companies are reaping the benefits of social media interactions – strengthening their brands and increasing their sales as they create lasting trust and goodwill. Read more »
If you missed our webinar yesterday with Compendium about creating relevant content, do not fear! The Guide to Content Creation is here.
The inverted pyramid. Who, what, where, when, why and how. These are some of the things my editors harped on back when I was a cub reporter learning the ropes of journalism.
Now I’m having a sense of déjà vu as I think about what it means to create engaging content for a company website. For this post, I’m going to focus on the “how” part of the equation. Read more »
Shopping – it’s the most American of activities, yet the modern shopping experience continues to change. According to Internet Retailer and eMarketer, the estimated spend in U.S. eCommerce sales in 2015 will reach 269.8 billion. It’s no secret that many consumers often prefer to bypass the brick and mortar stores entirely by shopping online. Or they might use online searches to peruse and compare products.
Recognizing this trend, Google maximizes the relevance of its search results by integrating product listings into its universal search results. Traditionally, searchers needed to click on the “shopping” tab to indicate their intent. Today, however, Google has become increasingly adept at telling whether you’re looking for information or intend to buy – and at offering product listings complete with images and prices. Read more »
Getting your eCommerce site to climb up those search engine ranking pages doesn’t have to feel like you’re climbing Mt. Everest. Your climb to the heights of eCommerce success can become much easier with some proper focus on content and architecture.
An eCommerce website is no different than any other site when it comes to the amount of content needed to climb in rankings. But how many different ways can you write about khaki pants? Or computer batteries? Or drill bits?
Get creative, or hire somebody who is – and make sure to avoid duplicate content. Uniqueness is key. Having a large amount of content is great, but search engines are also getting increasingly adept at gauging the quality of content in different ways. Read more »
Search hasn’t exactly been one of Twitter’s strengths to this point.
I became an avid Twitter user in my former career as a business journalist – regularly monitoring Twitter feeds for things like Indiana news, technology and the automotive industry. I’d perform tons of Twitter searches, but these internal searches tended to have mixed results. At some point, I decided it was much easier to find the appropriate Twitter feed by typing a query like “ener1 twitter” straight into Google.
Now, though, Twitter is rolling out a new version of Twitter search that’s intended to produce more relevant results when you search and click on trending topics. Read more »
May is race month here in Indianapolis, and I can’t think of a better way than racing to describe the importance of search marketing strategy. Having a great search strategy in today’s high-speed business world can go a long way in determining whether you’re on the lead lap of your industry – or crashing into the wall.
But what’s the best strategy for maximizing online sales? There’s ongoing debate about whether Pay-per-Click (PPC) advertising or Search Engine Optimization (SEO) delivers better return on investment.
PPC VS. SEO
Both PPC and SEO have their merits – and their share of success stories – but there are plenty of differences between the two. Read more »
In today’s globalized business environment it’s crucial to develop and refine your international business presence online. Even if you’re an industry leader, you’re likely missing out on significant sales if customers in other countries aren’t finding your website in their searches. International SEO can help you achieve top search rankings outside of the United States – putting your products and services in front of a truly global audience.
International SEO will help your website move toward the top of search rankings in international versions of Google and localized search engines. Much of the international push will involve ensuring your site delivers localized content that’s relevant to each particular audience.
Think about it: If you’re a searcher in Buenos Aires, you want information that’s relevant to Argentina. Search engines aim to deliver the most relevant search results for each keyword phrase; if your site doesn’t appear relevant at the local international location, you’re not going to get the results you desire. Read more »
Video killed the radio star, but your video isn’t going to be killer if it’s never viewed.
Search engine optimization is extremely important for videos – especially when you consider today’s integrated search results pages.
In the past, people searched for videos by clicking on a specialized video search; now YouTube videos frequently show up in the regular organic search listings.
Whatever industry you’re in, videos represent a tremendous market opportunity. YouTube has become the second-largest search engine next to Google.
Consider these numbers from comScore, the experts in digital business analytics:
There are now 33.9 billion videos on the internet. (That’s well over four videos for every person on the planet.)
YouTube now has 14.6 billion videos.
Each minute, 15 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube.
International SEO will help your website move toward the top of search rankings in international versions of Google and localized search engines. Much of the international push will involve ensuring your site delivers localized content that’s relevant to each particular audience.