Search Engine Marketing DC

The key to picking the right keywords (SEM 101)

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 08:21:00 +0000

The key to picking the right keywords (SEM 101)

Mark Twain once famously said, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” Twain never saw a webpage or performed search engine optimization (SEO) in his life, but his assessment of the importance of using the right words is, shall we say, illuminated. So why are words important in terms of SEO? Because users type them into search engines to try to find you! That’s what separates regular body text words from keywords. Focusing on the wrong keywords on your website may, at best, bring visitors who don’t see the relevance of and aren’t interested in what your site has to offer. At worst...

http://www.bing.com/community/blogs/webmaster/archive/2009/05/12/who-s-looking-for-you-sem-101.aspx

Resources | CSS Resources | Styleshout.com

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:53:00 +0000

Resources CSS Resources Styleshout.com:

"Welcome to the resource section. Here you will find a collection of resources and information about designing CSS based websites and also some useful tools for your webdesign projects. I will try to expand this list as new items come to my attention."

101 Design resource sites

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 18:01:00 +0000

101 Design resource sites

In Design News, Design Tutorials, Tech Interviews

We love prowling the web for the latest trends and design inspiration. Here we have composed a list of common resources we use. The primary focus of this list is inspiration, it can come from a photograph, font, or a website. The secondary focus is improving your design skills, which can be done by keeping up to date with tutorials and reading other graphic design blogs. We hope you enjoy our personal list of great sites, and we will be adding to this list in the coming weeks and months as there are a lot of great new sites coming online every other day now.

Free Font Downloads

Free Fonts and Other Resources: Web Page Publicity
Huge Collection of Free Fonts: Da Font
Nice Selection of Free Fonts: Urban Fonts
Fonts and Other Freebies: Simply The Best Fonts
1001 Free Fonts for Download: 1001 Free Fonts
Over 9000 Free Fonts: Creamundo
A Small List of Free Fonts: Best Free Fonts

Paid Font Sites

A Large Selection of Fonts for Purchase: My Fonts
Quality Fonts for Purchase: Veer
Information and Fonts for Purchase: Fonts
Font Resources and Sales: Font Haus

Stock Photos and Vectors

The Best Stock Photo and Vector Website: iStockphoto
Quality Photos for Purchase: Shutterstock
Stock Photos and Other Pay Downloads: Veer
Quality, Affordable Vectors for Purchase: Vector Stock
Stock Photos With a Great Selection: Jupiter Images
Stock Photos and Photography Network: Stock Vault
Quality Stock Photos: Corbis

Free Photos and Vectors

Submit Vectors or Download Others for Free: Open Source Vector Art
Tons of Great Free Vectors and Photos: Deviant Art
59 Pages of Free Vector Art: Free Vectors
Large Gallery of Free Vectors: Vecteezy
Quality Vector Downloads: Vector 4 Free
Neat Collection of Free Photos From Around the World: Free Stock Photos
Great Collection of Free Vectors and Resources: You The Designer
Great Free Stock Photos: Free Foto
A List of Free Downloads: Bittbox
700 Free Stock Photos: Free Picture Click

Website Templates

A Few High Quality Wordpress Themes: Evan Eckard
Over 2000 Free Web Templates: OSWD
A Small Selection of Nice Templates: Open Source Templates
A Large List of Free Templates: Free CSS Templates
Nice Wordpress Templates for Download: Free CSS Templates
A Combination of Free and Pay Templates: Free Templates Online
Affordable, Quality Templates: Templamatic
Free Blog Templates: Blogging Themes

CSS Galleries

The Best Sites on the Web: CSS Remix
A Frequently Updated Gallery of Sites: CSS Mania
An Organized List of Nice Sites: Most Inspired
CSS Gallery of Quality Sites: CSS Design Yorkshire
A Selection of Only Nature Based Sites: CSS Nature
A Selective List of Well Designed Sites: Web Creme
High Quality CSS Showcase: CSS Tux
Nice CSS Websites: The Designed Tree
A CSS Collection Organized by Category: CSS Elite

Inspiration

A Great Site About Everything Type: I Love Typography
An Incredible Illustrator: Burst of Beaden
A Great Designer and Illustrator: Fully Illustrated
Customizable List of Design Resources: Cork Dump
The Society of Graphic Designers of Canada: GDC
Freelance Advice Blog and Resources: Freelance Switch
Amazing Collection of Logos: Logopond
Stunning Desktop Wallpapers: Desktopography
A Graphic Design Magazine: Computer Arts

Tutorials

The Best Photoshop Tutorials: PSD Tuts
A Talented Photoshop Designer: Abduzeedo
Photoshop Tutorials and Web Design Resources: Web Design Library
Tutorials for Photoshop, Illustrator and More: Tutorial Vault
A Few Neat Illustrator and Photoshop Tutorials: Design Spice
Great Photoshop Tutorials and Downloads: PS Wish
Tutorials for Every Computer Program: Tutorialing

Free Photoshop Downloads

A Couple Free Patterns for Download: Design Spice
Free Photoshop Brushes: Design Fruit
Free Photoshop Actions: Visual Blast
Tons of Free Photoshop Brushes: Brusheezy
A Few Nice Free Photoshop Brushes: Obsidian Dawn
Great Grunge Brushes and Others: Photoshop Brushes
Free Background Patterns for Photoshop: Free BG
Over 150 Free Background Patterns: Squidfingers

Design Blogs

A Frequently Updated Design Blog: Veerle’s Blog
A Design Magazine and Blog: Smashing Magazine
A European Design Blog: Design In Europe
A Unique Nerdy Blog: Design You Trust
The Personal Blog of a Graphic Designer: Larissa Meek
A German Design Blog: David Hellmann
The Blog of a Canadian Geek/Model: Mostly Lisa
A Graphic Design Blog: Bittbox
A Blog About Freelance Graphic Design Advice: Freelance Switch
A Design Blog Full of Resources: You The Designer
A Popular Design Blog: Fazai 38

Colour Palettes

A Flash Site of User Generated Colour Palettes: Adobe Kuler
Using Colours From Photos: Colr
Colours, Palettes and Patterns: COLOURlovers
A Colour Palette Generated From Your Images: Color Palette Generator
See The Results of Your Palette on a Website: Color Spire
Create and Email Colour Palettes: Color Blender

Tips and Tricks

Vector Do’s and Dont’s: iStockphoto
The Web Design Polish: PSD Tuts
Promote Your Design Business: Freelance Switch
How To Increase Web Traffic: You The Designer

Coders

Quality Programming: XHTMLized
Professional Web Slicing: PSD Slicing
XHTML in 24 Hours: We Use Scissors
Affordable, Quality Coding: PSD2HTML
From Design to Code, Quick and Cheap: Front Enders

Designer Geek Merch

Great Nerdy Clothing and Accessories: Veer
Nice T-Shirt Collection: Design Loot
Graphic Design T-Shirts and Accessories: Cafepress
Geek Merchandise For Everyone: Think Geek
Graphic Design T-Shirts: Zazzle
Unique T-Shirt Designs You Can’t Find Anywhere Else: Allmightys

Newly added resources (Thanks everyone for the link suggestions)

A fantastic resource for finding information on corporate brand identity: Brands of the World

MediaPost Publications Traditional Media Buy = Social Media ROI 02/05/2008

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:11:00 +0000

MediaPost Publications Traditional Media Buy = Social Media ROI 02/05/2008

IAB - Industry Stats & Data by eMarketer

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:08:00 +0000

IAB - Industry Stats & Data by eMarketer

Interactive online Google tutorial and references - Google Guide

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:43:00 +0000

Interactive online Google tutorial and references - Google Guide:

"Google Guide is an online interactive tutorial and reference for experienced users, novices, and everyone in between. I developed Google Guide because I wanted more information about Google's capabilties, features, and services than I found on Google's website. --Nancy Blachman"

SEO Toolbar

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:41:00 +0000

The current release of the toolbar includes our own SEO Tools such as

Validation Tools

Content Tools

Keyword Density Analyzer

Keyword Density Compare

Web Speed Report

Meta Tools

Popularity Tools

Search Engine Saturation

Alexa Rank Comparison

Search Engine Tools

SEM Tools

Duplicate Keyword Remover

Search Engine specific SEO tools such as
Alexa : Back Links, Overview, Traffic, Related Back Links

And other important third party SEO tools such as

Other Tools
Site Map Generator	Google Ads
Site Report	Whois

SEO basics course, SEMPO Institute's The Insider's Guide to Search Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 02:03:00 +0000

SEMPO Institute's The Insider's Guide to Search Marketing
Your entry into the fastest growing marketing job sector

The Insider’s Guide to Search Marketing gets you the knowledge you need to start your career in this growing field. The tools and references you will learn in this online, self-paced course are the stepping stones to success."

Insider’s Guide to Search Marketing will teach you:

• How search engines rank Web pages; what an algorithm is; how SEO
techniques affect search engine indexing; challenges search engines face; and
SEO Best Practices

• Poor quality links (including link farms), identify good quality links, and identify
good sources for links

• Research, find, and identify the right keywords for your marketing
campaign. With this knowledge, you will be able to develop performance goals and
set up a framework to help measure future success

• Prepare your site to achieve better rankings and support theme, relevancy for your keywords, and have a base of knowledge to lead you into more advanced topics

• Copywriting for the Web as well as the basic differences between writing for organic search and writing pay-per-click ads

• The roadblocks that will stop the search engines from
indexing your site’s contents or other potential content related issues

• When you need to submit your Website to search engines, and when you don’t. As well
as which submission activities are best practices and which should be avoided.
We will also cover bulk submission using the new Sitemaps protocol. Sitemaps
provide an easy way for you to inform search engines about the Web pages on your
site that are available for crawling

• Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising programs work

• Set-up and management of a pay-per-click (PPC)
advertising program

• Innovations such as social networking sites, video search, mobile search, pay-by-call advertising, search engine reputation management, and more

• Intellectual property issues

• A wide array of tools, forums, newsletters, and blogs to aid you as you continue your Search
Marketing education

Certified SEM Professional

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:50:00 +0000

Certified SEM Professional
Student Certificate:

David Giacomin met requirements of SEMPO Institute by successfully completing in-depth training on Insider's Guide to Search Marketing, and received SEMPO Institute Certificate Number 4612 effective 1/21/2009.

Developed by leading Search Marketing professionals (See Authors), peer-reviewed for Best Practices and updated with latest trends in a fast-moving industry, this SEMPO course:

Presents expert Search Marketing lesson content, structured with Learning Objectives, paced review quizzes, Real World case study examples, hands-on exercises and Lesson Summary;
Trained on Resources, Tools and Software Applications in working demos;
Measured knowledge gained in a comprehensive, graded Final Test for each course lesson, employing multiple test formats (Multiple Choice, Matching, True/False, Fill-In).

10 SEO Techniques All Top Web Sites Should Use

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:16:00 +0000

10 SEO Techniques All Top Web Sites Should Use

This post focused onelements relating to design, content and development. This time, we?llmove onto the important issue of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

SEO is such a hot topic these days. How do you get your web site withinthe first page or two of the search engines? How do you increase yourGoogle page rank?

There are companies who dedicate themselves full time to doing SEO at apretty penny. Something a lot of people can?t necessarily afford to payfor or spend the time on.

However, there are some simple things you can do when building your sitethat will help increase your chances of having good results. In noparticular order, below are 10 of these items?

1. Title Tag
Near the very top of a web site?s source code you?ll find various metatags ? the standard ones being the Title, Description and Keyword tags.The title tag is technically not a meta tag, though it is commonlyassociated with them. The title tag plays such a large role in theindexing of your web site, that it is considered the most important ofthe three.

A page title is the first thing a search engine will look at whendetermining just what the particular page is about. It is also the firstthing potential visitors will see when looking at your search enginelisting.

It?s important to include a keyword or two in the title tag ? but don?tgo overboard - you don?t want to do what?s known as ?keyword stuffing?which does nothing but make your web site look like spam. Most peoplewill include either the company name, or title of the particular pagehere, as well.

2. Meta Tags

Meta TagsThere are two primary meta tags in terms of SEO ? thedescription and the keyword tag. It?s debatable whether the searchengines use the description tag as far as ranking your results. Howeverit is one of the more important tags because it is listed in your searchresult ? it is what users read when your link comes up and what makesthem decide whether or not to click on your link.

Be sure to include a few relevant keywords in this tag, but don?t stuffit with keywords either. The description tag should read like a sentence? not a keyword list.

Due to ?keyword stuffing? many search engines now completely disregardthe keyword tag. It is no longer nearly as important as it was yearsago, however it doesn?t hurt to include them in your source code.

When creating your keyword list, you?ll want to think of the specificterms people will type in when searching for a site like yours. Justdon?t go overboard ? too many duplicates are not a good thing (as in?web designer? ?web designers? ?custom web designer? ?html web designer??your state here web designer? - you get the idea). Those are allbasically the same, so pick one or two variations at the most and moveonto the next keyword.

3. Proper Use of Heading Tags

This is a very important element to consider when writing out your sitecopy. Use of heading tags helps users, web browsers and search enginesalike know where the major key points of your copy are.

Your main page title should use the tag ? this shows what your pageis about. Use of additional tags, such as and are equallyimportant by helping to break down your copy. For one, you?ll see avisual break in the text. But as far as the search engines areconcerned, it will automatically know what your topics are on a page.The various heading tags give a priority to the content and help indexyour site properly.

4. Alt Attributes on Images

Alt Image TagPutting alt attributes on your images actually serves twopurposes. In terms of SEO, putting a brief yet descriptive alt attributealong with your image, places additional relevant text to your sourcecode that the search engines can see when indexing your site. The morerelevant text on your page the better chance you have of achievinghigher search engine rankings.

In addition, including image alt attributes help the visually impairedwho access web sites using a screen reader. They can?t see the image,but with a descriptive alt attribute, they will be able to know whatyour image is.

5. Title Attributes on Links

Including title attributes on links is another important step that anygood web site will have. That?s the little ?tool tip? that pops up whenyou place your mouse over a link. These are especially important forimage links, but equally useful for text links.

As a note, you should use descriptive text for your links. ?Click here?doesn?t really tell a person - or more importantly, the search engines ?what the link is. At the very least put a title tag that will explainthat ?Click Here? really means ?Web Design Portfolio? for example.Better yet - make the main link text something like ?View my web designportfolio? ? this will give some value to the link showing that theresulting page is relevant to searches for portfolio?s.

6. XML Sitemap

My last post referenced the sitemaps used by web visitors to help them navigatethrough your site themselves. However, there?s another version ? XMLsitemaps ? that are used by the search engines in order to index throughyour site, as well.

This list of ALL pages / posts / etc. of your site also includesinformation such as the date the page was last modified, as well as apriority number of what you feel the most important pages of your sitesare. All elements that help the search engines properly find and link toall content of your site.

7. Relevant Content

Having content relevant to your main page or site topic is perhaps themost important SEO aspect of a page. You can put all the keywords youwant in the meta tags and alt image tags, etc ? but if the actualreadable text on the page is not relevant to the target keywords, itends up basically being a futile attempt.

While it is important to include as many keywords in your page copy aspossible, it is equally as important for it to read well and make sense.I?m sure we?ve all seen keyword stuffed pages written by SEO companiesthat honestly don?t make much sense from the reader?s point of view.

When creating your site copy, just write naturally, explaining whateverinformation you?re discussing. The key is to make it relevant, and tohave it make sense to the reader. Even if you trick the search enginesinto thinking your page is great ? when a potential customer arrives atthe site and can?t make heads or tails of your information and it justfeels spammy to them ? you can bet they?ll be clicking on the next website within a matter of seconds.

8. Link Building

We?ve probably all heard of Google Page Rank ? it seems to be every website owner?s dream to have as high a page rank as possible. While thealgorithm for determining page rank encompasses many elements, and isconstantly changing, one item is the number of links pointing to yourweb site.

Now, you?ll want to steer clear of link farms and other spammy attemptsat getting links to your site. However there are many reputable andniche directory sites that you can use to submit your web site, orspecific blog articles to.

With genuine content ? especially if you have a blog ? you?ll be able togenerate links with other web sites and blogs, as well. It?s somewhat ofa give and take, in that if you link out to other sites, you?ll findsites linking back to you ? and hopefully see your page rank going up,as well!

9. Social Media

Although technically not SEO, Social Media is such a growing factor ingetting your web site noticed, that it?s an important element to includein your plan.

Social media ranges from social networks like Twitter, Facebook andLinkedIn ? to social bookmarking sites such as Delicious, Digg,StumbleUpon and many more. There is a lot of relationship building involved, butas you build your own networks and build quality content on your website or blog, you?ll see traffic to your web site increasing, as well.

As with any relationship, it is a give and take. Don?t just expect tojoin a site like Twitter for the pure sake of pushing your content. Thatjust won?t fly ? your true intentions will stick out like a sore thumband do nothing but turn people off.

Even if you are on the site purely for networking reasons, the key is tomake friends. Help out members of your network if they ask for a?retweet? or Digg, give helpful advice if asked, etc. You?ll see thesame in return.

If you write a great post and have built meaningful relationships withpeers in your niche, you?ll often find that friends will submit yourposts and give you votes on the social bookmarking sites. The more votesyou receive, the more likely your post is to be noticed by others andshared around, often resulting in additional link backs from otherblogs, etc.

10. A Few SEO Don'ts - Flash and Splash

Flash PlayerAlong with any list of Do?s come the Don?ts. As far as SEOis concerned, two of these items are splash pages (often consisting of aflash animation) and all flash web sites.
Yes, flash is pretty! Full flash web sites can actually be amazing tolook at ? their own bit of interactive artwork. But unfortunately thesearch engines don?t get along well with Flash. Although there is talkof possible advancement in this area, for the most part the searchengines cannot read Flash.

All that great content that you wrote for your site will not be seen bythe search engines if it?s embedded into a Flash web site. As far as thesearch engines are concerned, your all flash web site might as well beinvisible. And if the search engines can?t see your site content, a goodchunk of potential customers will miss out on what you have to offer, too.

Equally as ?pointless? are splash pages. Once very popular, the splashpage should no longer be an important feature of any site. While splashpages used to serve as an introduction into a web site (often with aflash animation), it is no longer seen as helpful, and often times mightactually annoy visitors.

For one ? it?s an extra click to get into your content. Worse is whenyou don?t give a ?skip intro? option or set of links into your main sitecontent ? because you?re essentially forcing your visitors to sitthrough the full animation. If you?re lucky, this will only annoy them?if not ? they?ll just leave without giving your main web site a shot.And without an html link pointing into your site, the search engineshave no way to continue either (unless you made use of a sitemap.xmlfile ? but still?)

A good alternative to both issues is to make use of a flash header.There?s no problem to include a flash animation at the top of your mainsite, or as a feature within the content area, etc. Because this is anaddition to your web site, as opposed to a full separate element.

Back Over To You? What Are Your Favorite SEO Tips?
There are so many tips and tricks to good SEO. These are some of themore obvious ones, but I know there are more!

What are your best SEO tips, tricks or tools? Please share in thecomments below!
*Note: *Please only share ?White Hat? or ?Ethical? SEO techniques! No?Black Hat? or sneaky tactics that can backfire and actually get youbanned from the search engines. Thanks!

web tools by Peter Forret | web.forret.com

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 01:21:00 +0000

web tools by Peter Forret web.forret.com:

"This is a set of small utilities I developed. They are all web-based and free to use."

RGB color palette | web.forret.com

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 01:20:00 +0000

RGB color palette web.forret.com

Microsoft Answers beta website launched

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:48:00 +0000

Microsoft Answers beta website launched
Microsoft has launched a new web site just for Windows Vista users: answers.microsoft.com. Microsoft Answers, currently in beta (the site is often down and under maintenance), is a support forum in the Q&A format. There are three ways of using the service:

Use the search bar at the top of the page to find existing answers to your question.
Browse specific category pages under Find Answers.
Ask the community how they fixed a problem or how they did something.

The idea behind the website is a great one: have an official forum for Windows tech support that is run by actual Microsoft employees willing to help out users. Furthermore, you can subscribe to your question and be notified via your browser, e-mail, or RSS when there is an answer posted. Unfortunately, signing up is mandatory: there is no way to see questions and answers without being signed in. This is a very bad decision on Microsoft's part; anyone should be able to read the solution to a problem as a guest and registration raises and unnecessary barrier to entry.

I find it very interesting that Microsoft is limiting the website to just Vista-related questions and answers. XP is going out the door, but what will happen when Windows 7 is released? Will the site be divided into two, or will Microsoft convert the site to only cover Windows 7 questions?

http://answers.microsoft.com/

Contentinople - Networking the Digital Media Industry

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 03:55:00 +0000

In 2007 Light Reading launched Contentinople.com, a new website covering the rise of the digital media industry.

The Market
Sophisticated digital consumer devices such as the iPod, Xbox, and Zune – along with the broadband networks that connect them – have quickly moved the distribution of content to the digital world. This is driving massive demand for new digital content distribution networks, in addition to an entirely new ecosystem of business and technology relationships.

In a period of just a few years, these changes have altered how the multibillion-dollar entertainment markets function – and provided huge opportunities for technology companies. Companies are making the move to new content distribution standards and systems. Old-line entertainment and telecommunications industries are trying to adapt, but they are struggling to come up with workable business models that tap into a potentially lucrative and massive global market for digital content distribution. A new generation of startups is trying to fill in the holes by developing new devices and tools to facilitate the creation of the digital content network.

All this activity reaches across a wide market for technology, embracing categories as diverse as:

Content aggregation and distribution platforms
Digital content development
Video sharing
Digital advertising infrastructure
Mobile content platforms
Media servers
IP-aware set-top boxes and connectors
Content delivery networks (CDNs)
P2P technology and platforms
Streaming video standards
Digital rights management (DRM) software
Networked consumer devices
Content management platforms

These technology tools will enable the formation of the new digital content distribution system. It is early days, and we believe that the deals and decisions made in the next 12 to 24 months will have huge impacts on the market down the road.

We believe this is a unique situation in that an entirely new industry is being formed. The competition is drawing players from diverse markets – including media companies, internet companies, and telecommunications companies. All of these companies are trying to formulate new business models to make money in the distribution of this new content. They will also need to build new networks to support these business models.

IYP Video SEO with YouTube – The Yellowbook Interview

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 15:55:00 +0000

Early last month, The Internet yellow pages company Yellowbook announced the launch of a new YouTube channel, exclusively for their customers with video ads produced by Yellowbook, with optimization of those video pages for YouTube and Google search results. Today we interviewed Patrick Marshall, Chief New Media Officer for YellowBook, on how the rollout of this program of is coming along, and tips for their customers with video ads on how they can enhance their own traffic and leads with the YouTube program.

Small Business Search Marketing by Matt McGee | SEO and Marketing Discussion for Small Businesses

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:10:00 +0000

Small Business Search Marketing by Matt McGee SEO and Marketing Discussion for Small Businesses

SEMPO Search Engine Marketing Research Tools and Software

noreply@blogger.com (Search Marketing DC) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:04:00 +0000

SEMPO Search Engine Marketing Research Tools and Software

The following is a list of commonly used search engine marketing research tools, software and resources. The websites are separated into those with primarily free tools and software and those with mostly paid resources. Some free sites require personal information such as an email address in exchange for usage licenses, and may sell upgraded versions. Many of the paid resources provide for a discounted or complimentary trial period, as well as a selection of free tools.

Although these sites have been approved for inclusion onto this web page by the SEMPO Education Committee, SEMPO cannot formally endorse the tools. The use of all tools and software found at any of the below websites or their affiliates is bound only by agreement with the providers.

Free Tools and Software

Alexa
Ask Sponsored Listings
Digital Point Solutions: Keyword Suggestion, AdSense, Ranking Monitor, more
Google: Alerts
Google Analytics
Google AdWords Traffic Estimator
Google: Trends
Google: Webmaster Help Center
Google: Zeitgeist
Instant Position
Jim Tools
Free Link Popularity and Link Quality Checker
Linkpopularity.com
Live Keyword Analysis
Marketleap Free Tools: Link Popularity, SE Saturation, More
Microsoft adCenter Labs Advertising and Keyword Research Tools
Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions
NetMechanic HTML Code Checker
Report a Google Spammer!
Search Engine Decoder
SEM ROI Calculator
SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool
SEOmoz: Page Strength
SpiderSim
SpyFu: Competitive Analysis
WeBuildPages: Query Combination Tool
WeBuildPages: Strongest Subpages
WeBuildPages: Top 10 Analysis
Yahoo! Search Marketing Resource Center
Yahoo! Search Marketing Console

Paid Tools

KeywordSpy.com - Competitive Intelligence Tool
SEOTool Set
Solo SEO
Trellian SEO Toolkit
WebPosition Gold
WordTracker
Web CEO
Web Trends

Ranking Tools and Software

ZoomRank

SEO Software

SEOSamba - SEO-friendly CMS

Landing Page and Site Quality Guidelines - AdWords Help Center

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 01:29:00 +0000

Landing Page and Site Quality Guidelines

As part of our commitment to making AdWords as effective an advertising program as possible, we've outlined some site-building guidelines to better serve our users, advertisers, and publishers. We've found that when our advertisers' sites reflect these guidelines, two important things happen:

The money you spend on AdWords ads will be more likely to turn into paying customers.
Users develop a trust in the positive experience provided after clicking on AdWords ads (and this turns in to additional targeted leads for you).

Furthermore, following our site guidelines will help improve your landing page quality score. As a component of your keywords' overall Quality Scores, a high landing page quality score can affect your AdWords account in three ways:

Decrease your keywords' cost-per-clicks (CPCs)
Increase your keyword-targeted ads' position on the content network
Improve the chances that your placement-targeted ads will win a position on your targeted placements

Learn more.

Below we've outlined the three main components of a quality website: relevant and original content, transparency, and navigability. Note that these guidelines aren't exhaustive, nor do they replace any of our Editorial Guidelines, which your ads need to comply with in order for you to advertise with AdWords.

Please be aware that there are some types of sites that we've found provide a consistently poor experience for our users. These sites will receive low landing page quality scores. Learn more.

Relevant and Original Content
Relevance and originality are two characteristics that define high-quality site content. Here are some pointers on creating content that meets these standards:

Relevance:

Users should be able to easily find what your ad promises. Link to the page on your site that provides the most useful information about the product or service in your ad. For instance, direct users to the page where they can buy the advertised product, rather than to a page with a description of several products.

Originality:
Feature unique content that can't be found on another site. This guideline is particularly applicable to affiliates that use the following types of pages:

Bridge pages: Pages that act as an intermediary, whose sole purpose is to link or redirect traffic to the parent company

Mirror pages: Pages that replicate the look and feel of a parent site; your site should not mirror (be similar or nearly identical in appearance to) your parent company's or any other advertiser's site

Provide substantial information. If your ad does link to a page consisting mostly of ads or general search results (such as a directory or catalog page), provide additional, unique content.

Transparency
In order to build trust with users, your site should be explicit in three primary areas: the nature of your business; how your site interacts with a visitor's computer; and how you intend to use a visitor's personal information, if you request it. Here are tips on maximizing your site's transparency:

Your business information:
Openly share information about your business. Clearly define what your business is or does.
Honor the deals and offers you promote in your ad.
Deliver products and services as promised.
Only charge users for the products and services that they order and successfully receive.
Distinguish sponsored links from the rest of your site content.
Your site's interaction with a visitor's computer:
Avoid altering users' browser behavior or settings (such as back button functionality or browser window size) without first getting their permission.
If your site automatically installs software, be upfront about the installation and allow for easy removal. Refer to Google's Software Principles for more guidelines.

Visitors' personal information:
Unless necessary for the product or service that you're offering, don't request personal information.

If you do request personal information, provide a privacy policy that discloses how the information will be used.

Give options to limit the use of a user's personal information, such as the ability to opt out of receiving newsletters.

Allow users to access your site's content without requiring them to register. Or, provide a preview of what users will get by registering.

Navigability

The key to turning visitors into customers is making it easy for users to find what they're looking for. Here's how:

Provide a short and easy path for users to purchase or receive the product or offer in your ad.
Avoid excessive use of pop-ups, pop-unders, and other obtrusive elements throughout your site.
Make sure that your landing page loads quickly. Learn ways to improve your load time.

Turn to Google's Webmaster Guidelines for more recommendations, which will improve your site's performance in Google's search results as well.

IAB - About the IAB

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:17:00 +0000

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 375 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C.

For more information, please visit www.iab.net

Demos and Guides - AdSense Help Center

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:32:00 +0000

Demos and Guides - AdSense Help Center

Learn how to get started with Google AdSense. The following written and multimedia tutorials explain the basics of how to set up and activate your AdSense account.

Google Maps API - Google Code

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:19:00 +0000

Google Maps API - Google Code: "Google Maps API

* Home
* Docs
* FAQ
* Articles
* Blog
* Group
* Terms

How do I start?

1. Sign up for a Google Maps API key.
2. Read the Maps API Concepts.
3. Check out some Maps API Examples.
4. Read the Maps API Reference.

Featured Video

Watch other Maps API presentations

What is the Google Maps API?

The Google Maps API lets you embed Google Maps in your own web pages with JavaScript. The API provides a number of utilities for manipulating maps (just like on the http://maps.google.com web page) and adding content to the map through a variety of services, allowing you to create robust maps applications on your website."

Google AdWords™ Building Blocks

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 07:07:00 +0000

Google AdWords Building Blocks: "Google AdWords™ Building Blocks

Hello,

As a new advertiser, you probably have a few questions. You might be wondering whether the settings you chose during signup were correct or if you’re getting the most from your advertising spend. To help you start off on the right foot, we’ve developed AdWords Building Blocks, a five-part series of weekly emails. Each week we’ll highlight key issues facing advertisers like you, share tips for creating successful campaigns, and point you to additional resources.

Questions? Concerns? Feedback? Drop us a line at AdWords-BuildingBlocks@google.com.

-- The Google AdWords Team"

Google AdWords | Industry Knowledge Centers

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 06:49:00 +0000

Google AdWords Industry Knowledge Centers
Welcome to the Tech B2B Industry Knowledge Center

Whether you market your technology products and services to businesses, resellers, or service providers, you've come to the right place! This is where you'll find tips, guides, and success stories designed to help you get the most out of AdWords. You'll also learn about additional Google products that can enhance your marketing strategy and support your business."

Five things you should know about Quality Score

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 06:35:00 +0000

AdWords Tech B2B Industry Newsletter:
Five things you should know about Quality Score

Quality Score is an important factor in your account - it measures how relevant your keywords are to users' search queries and influences your costs-per-click (CPCs) and first page bids in your account. When we heard some common misconceptions about Quality Score, we wanted to set the record straight. Here are a few important things to keep in mind:

Google AdWords Tech B2B Industry Newsletter (December 2008)

noreply@blogger.com (dajocko) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 06:17:00 +0000

Google AdWords Tech B2B Industry Newsletter

December 2008

This issue of the AdWords Tech B2B Newsletter brings you tips and tricks "by the numbers." Find the most popular uses for AdWords Editor, key ways to optimize your campaigns, and some vital information about Quality Score inside this newsletter

Top 10 uses for AdWords EditorLearn more »

What research tells us about optimizingLearn more »

Five things you should know about Quality ScoreLearn more »