Nobody can deny the importance of a successfully implemented Search Engine Optimization campaign. If one has an optimal set of keywords in place, and a savvy SEO technician implementing the tactics necessary the results can be rewarding.

As everyone knows, these results can take some effort to achieve and there can be a significant amount wait time for the search engines to pick up on the implementation. Paid advertising can fill that void by driving relevant clicks your way.

“I need it now”

Clientele that want high traffic results immediately while the organic implementation is in the works have an effective option – PPC or Pay per Click Advertising. The flexibility that PPC offers customers is unparalleled in terms of grabbing that “ideal” customer. The ability to craft customized ad copy and manage a typically  much larger set of keywords targets than a SEO campaign can drive that converting traffic within hours of set up.

A common tactic is to have the paid advertising gradually tailor back in terms of scale and budget as the organic results come in. Even with this said, it is best to keep in mind that continuously exploring paid advertising venues running in conjunction with SEO can fill in the missing pieces that SEO cannot always deliver.

“Sharing the goods”

Although the behavioral and geographical data paid advertising generates can significantly differ from the information collected during a search engine optimization campaign the ability to test and acknowledge traffic trends can prove to be invaluable – the more you know about the visitor the more you will benefit across both venues. In certain situations PPC can serve as a test bed for alternative methods of generating traffic in the future.

“Tis the season”

Where SEO tactics can fall short is the targeting products that are seasonal or a product line “one off “campaign. Clientele that offer these types of services can enhance their SEO initiatives by users querying seasonal Keyphrases or even phrases that are only available for a limited time. Once again, PPC can fill the void.

“I don’t even sell my goods there”

Although organic optimization has improved over the years with its ability to target specific geographical markets, paid advertising still is the winner in this category hands down. If one was selling carpet cleaning locally a well optimized paid advertising campaign can be “turned off” form the rest of the internet world other than your local area of interest.

Even on a national scale the ability to selectively choose your geographical market has huge value. For example, companies that sell services that are not licensed to sell within some states or provinces can once again be removed from the targeted audience. The potential loss in investment is drastically reduced when you have this type of geographical control over your traffic.

“It’s really working with my organic rankings why do I need that PPC anyway?”

Simply put a page one organic ranking and a first position on the paid side of the search engine results packs the most punch. The on page dominance with this tactic has historically produced the best results for our clientele. One might ask “well if I am ranking #1 organically why would I want a first position PPC ad running at the same time”? The answer is clear once one takes a close look at the data over time. The brand onslaught during a query often leads to a proportionally much larger return with the PPC ad in place than when it is not running side by side with the SERP result. The added bonus is that more often than not the organic result is clicked over the paid result which can save your paid advertising budget for other terms not picking up organic results.

Working in Harmony

A well crafted Paid Advertising campaign and a skillfully managed SEO strategy running hand and hand delivers the best results and the highest return on your ROI.

The new “Opportunities” function replaces perhaps one of the most clicked Tabs within a My Client Center’s interface - Tools.  Well, rest assured the good folks at AdWords have not replaced the precious Tools section but have incorporated all of them under the new Opportunities section within the Adwords interface. You can find the familiar list of tools within this section along the bottom of the left column.

In an effort to continue with the amalgamation of tools and functions within the latest Adwords interface Google has released the Beta version of their popular Keyword Tool.  The Adwords Development team has not only given the Keyword Tool a face lift but has integrated some additional functionality.  The inclusion of a wide gambit of filters allows Campaign Managers to get the data they need faster and with more granularity. Here are some of the new features:

•    Compressive Advanced Options and Filters (Illustrated below)
•    All Match Types at a glance
•    Estimated CTR
•    Estimated Ad Position
•    Estimated Impressions
•    Estimated Cost
•    Category specific filtering
•    Search Share
•    Extraction web page identification
•    Sort by grouping results

Keyword Tool Filters

A trend that the Google AdWords Team has been on as of late is to allow users to have all of their information in front of them during a query. For example one can compare all of the match options for a phrase list in one glance; Broad, Exact and Phrase matches. This is a huge time saver as you do not have to flip between screens to compare the search volumes and other data that tend to differ greatly between match types. The excel export will also carry over all of your match types as well making campaign set up or refinement that much more enjoyable.

I have to admit Google has taken the world of keyword research to the next level with this Beta release and the only thing left for me to do is to see if over time if the new data being shared is indeed accurate in the real world of campaign management. Experience and historical knowledge is still by far the best ammunition for an AdWords Campaign Manager to be successful - good tools sure help though.

A bit more under the hood with Google AdWords…

Placement Tool

The Placement Tool gives you the ability to seek placements with any combination of keyword, category or website URL within the same interface. One can utilize the advance options as well which include filters to segment by Country and / or Language, Ad Sizes, Demographic, and Impressions per day. One other very handy feature is the ability to search for placements via youtube.com.

Visual Search operates by showing a grid of images, which does exactly what it says: searching visually without knowing the exact name of what you are looking for. The searching seems to function at its best when trying to shop for technological items, public figures, and music and film related things. Basically, you start with something you recognize and then essentially pare down into exactly what you are looking for.  This new searching feature is powered by Silverlight, and the content for Visual Search is provided by several sources, one of them being MSN of course. This is all very similar to the new user interface that is popular with Apple these days.  Interestingly, Google does not have a comparable feature to date.

What does this do for SEO?

For now, the standard way we do business is fine. We are probably doing things right, and for today we don’t need to change a thing; Aliens have not landed and it did not rain frogs, but it is a curious change to say the least. This is a new gadget that is exciting, and easy to use, and is only on BING right now and not really anywhere else. If this interface catches enough interest however, I would bet that you see a new Google product which utilizes some sort of visual searching methodology. Right now, the Google comparative product is non-existent, but I would not expect that situation to remain.

What concerns me is tomorrow.

I still enjoy my Blackberry curve, but I did break down and get an iPod touch. I have to say that the interface is easy to use, intuitive and very addictive. This BING interface reminds me of how the iPod touch and iphone work. To me, this user interface is truly the wave of the future; these new interfaces combine familiar real world visual methods of searching with state of the art technology. The end result is finding exactly what you were looking for, by actually looking at, and not simply describing what you want to a piece of software. In this new world, enforcements are going to skyrocket, as we have to face the idea that people are going to use “similar to”, or “ripped-off”, images to re-direct traffic. Copyrighting of imagery will most likely hit an all time high as well. Ironically, the Apple “Look and Feel” lawsuit with Microsoft will probably be more relevant than ever, now around 20 years later.  In addition, I imagine laptops will be changing to suit this new way of searching. I could envision giant iphone-styled devices with touch screens and the keyboard embedded as an application not a peripheral. I am aware that similar devices exist already, but they are not universally affordable and not prolific, yet.

What happens if the other search engines all follow suit and this is the new way we search for things?
We need to be prepared in this industry for just that very likelihood. I doubt that this technology goes the way of mid-1990’s virtual reality because this is actually in people’s hands as we speak. Teenagers and older are familiarizing themselves with “Aps” and are getting used to searching visually.  In this industry, we should all probably take notice and at least start thinking along these lines.

Travel companies are paying close attention this time. Southwest Airlines lists nearly 70,000 “fans” on its Facebook page, and Virgin Atlantic has approximately 20,000 followers and American Airlines has more than 10,000 followers. JetBlue leads the pack on Twitter, with well over 700,000 followers. Southwest has more than 100,000 followers.

Last week, a Los Angeles-based blogger and her kids were stuck waiting for their Virgin America flight to take off. The blogger twittered her situation on her iphone. “Dear Virgin Air,” she wrote. “My children have been on the tarmac for one hour with 90 more minutes to wait. I am at JFK gate b25. Pls RT.” “RT” is shorthand for “retweet” her message, or rebroadcast it. And re-tweet they did. Within minutes, Virgin had phoned the blogger. “Within 20 minutes of that conversation, the plane took off.”

In Atlanta, people communicated by traditional methods during recent flooding, but others exchanged information, photos and videos via social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook. In emergency situations the social networks you’ve been building up that sometimes seem like a waste of time, suddenly become useful,” says a professor at Georgia Tech. Many times, you can learn more, faster than you can from a professional media outlet.

Crowd Science Inc., an online measurement service, reports that 1 in 10 Twitters admitted posting while driving at least once in the past 30 days. Crowd Science also determined that 5% of other social media users have posted while driving. 17% of Twitter users confessed to using the micro-blogging site from the bathroom, while 12% of other social media users said they had done that. In addition, 31% of Twitterers said they tweet from restaurants, and Twitterers are twice as likely as non-Twitterers to access their social networking site from a theater during a movie or live performance.

The Crowd Science survey also showed that many people are using Twitter mostly because of peer pressure. 17% of Twitterers said that they are reluctant users but fear that their social status would be hurt if they stopped tweeting. 32% of Twitter users said that they spend too much time using social media, 22% said they have written things on social media that they later regretted, and 16% reported that they often neglect important activities to spend time on social networking sites… Other findings reveal that almost 60 percent of people have tweeted during work hours, 17 percent from a restroom and eight percent from a movie theater or live performance. 40% of Twitter users have accessed the service through their mobile devices, compared to 32 percent of Facebook users; accessibility seems to account for the odd locations.

At Adweek’s Social Media Strategies event in San Francisco an online reporter observed the following comments made:

“Trying to remove something from the Internet is like trying to remove urine from a swimming pool.”

“You can’t just aim to get people from Facebook to your destination. People are the destination.”

“If everyone agrees that word of mouth marketing is one of the most important tools for marketing products and services, why wouldn’t they leverage social media? “

“There are many components of social media: entertainment, thought leadership, customer service, etc. So there’s no one solution fits all. Before getting into the approach or platform, first you must consider what your objective is and then determine where and how you can achieve it.”

“What’s the next Twitter?” Meaning, what’s the next hot company in the digital media space? Responses were video overlays, augmented reality, virtual currencies and location-based mobile tools.

“Focus on the numbers. I don’t agree with this now. Instead, find people and create engaging conversations only with those who truly matter to your business.”

“I used to think social media efforts wouldn’t last forever. But I realize today that they do. There’s value in conversations and campaigns that happened a year ago.”

Social media has changed the way we do online business. If you were formerly on the fence with regard to a social media build for your business entity, you may want to quickly re-think those reservations.

We all want to develop our online presence but are we preparing properly for the challenges that follow our success? Social media, as we are all now aware, is a fantastic way to grow your online presence and is an amazing SEO too; large search engine gains are possible in a short amount of time, the customer base can grow with a substantial provable ROI, and the increased traffic counts are indisputable. However, as Miley Cyrus  of Hannah Montana fame found out recently,  social media can be similar to the Las Vegas tagline;” what you put online, stays online”. Ms. Cyrus is at the age where she wants to do what other teens do and putting suggestive pictures on myspace is a fairly common practice these days. Unfortunately, even if your profile is set to “private”, pictures on the internet have a way of getting out for public consumption, especially the suggestive pictures. Obviously she was ill prepared for that attention but given her popularity, it should have been expected; and it could have been prevented. Even Twitter with its limited characters and images has backfired on ill-prepared users as I have discussed in a prior blog. You can be sued for what you say.

While your company may have the foresight to not post risqué pictures or slanderous comments online, if you are actively trying to develop your online presence, you are only partially prepared. As your online presence grows, so does the attention to your company and its initiatives, both by customers and people with less honorable intentions. In my experience, there is a tipping point where one day earlier you were enjoying the new traffic and the very next day you see a near exact duplicate of your site phishing your customers or misdirecting your intended traffic. In many cases, this is a wake-up call and you realize that you have misjudged your efforts and have not covered all the bases. Here is a basic checklist to see if you are vulnerable:

1.       Have you purchased your main branded domain names? While in most cases there is no reason to buy every domain globally, picking up the basic Gtlds is always a good idea. The .net, .org, etc can be used for secondary content, or redirect to the main site or simply as a parked page that prevents others from owning it. It is beneficial to think of this in strategic terms.

2.       Do you have online monitoring in place? We have the ability to see when most anything posted, registered or purchased regarding your brands appears online. This is invaluable to show what is being targeted and potential weak spots in your portfolio.

3.       Do you have a legal solution ready to address all infringement? Cease and desist strategy and a defined escalation process and pre-arranged resources will make life much easier. Proactive beats reactive in almost all cases.

4.       Are you using SEO services or is your search engine strategy working to its fullest potential?

While we want to grow our businesses and make sure the traffic that is looking for us finds us, we are also turning the light on a giant lighthouse. The bigger the target that we make of ourselves, the more attention we receive, both good and bad. However, with a little preparation and strategy in anticipation of this new-found attention, we can enjoy the success that comes with our greater online presence.

The tools that really are of high value are the ones that can save the “guess work” being done. There are two benefits to access of these types of resources with the first being saving time to perform a task or develop a strategy. Secondly, these time saving tools can have a positive impact to a budget’s bottom line. If one can find a balance between a given keyword’s maximum bid and the volume of impressions it may accrue over time without using a best guess approach this may help eliminate unnecessary clicks and cost. Typically it can take a few days of monitoring and manipulating bids (and yes, ad copy and landing targets as well) before one understands the users click behavior resulting in a more firm bid setting. This can, in some cases slowly chip away at your budget without any initial results.

In comes Google’s latest addition to the new AdWords interface the Bid Simulator. Released on August 3rd 2009 the Bid Simulator helps alleviate some of the guess work behind where to start with a given bid and to which keyword groups to allocate your over budget to. The Bid Simulator provides a range of keyword data from the previous seven days and compares it to your actual current bid during this time. Basically it answers the questions “What if I had a lower bid back then… would I have had significantly lower impressions?” or “Should I have doubled the bid as I am not having a high impression rate on my ads?”. Although the Bid Simulator in Google’s words “cannot predict the future” it has the ability to point you in the right direction.

This feature in no way can replace the historical knowledge and decision making a Qualified Google AdWords Professional has gained over time but it is another small interface addition that can make my day a lot easier. I highly recommend reading “Bid like a pro with the bid simulator” from the Google Adwords Team.

First, let’s cover the renewal issue. Most domain name customers buy a one year term. This is largely due to the recent low priced buy-in that many service providers like Godaddy are offering. Some extensions such as .info have been as cheap as .99 cents for a one year registration. However, when you read the fine print, you will be paying around $9 on average at renewal time per domain. This is assuming that there is a basic understanding by the customer that there exists an annual renewal. The ugly truth behind domain names is that you actually own nothing; you are “leasing” the right to use a word that represents a numerical location on the World Wide Web. This lease is due annually. Also this is not the same as a website and hosting, as many first-time domain buyers wrongly assume.

Next, the list doesn’t end at .com; everyone knows the .com extension and most people know the .net, .org, .tv and the notorious .xxx extensions, but when .biz, .info and .cc make their appearance, most people are unaware of what that means. Throw in the mix country extensions like .ca for Canada, .ru for Russia and .bz for Belize and you are usually greeted with a look of bewilderment; add to that confusion the second level .com.ru, .com.bz and the many province extensions for Canada such as .on.ca and you really see eyes glaze over. With over 200 more extensions available which have pre-requisites such as “local presence”, “local address non-contractible, ISP certificate, Trademarks, incorporation documents, apostile, local proxy agent, and a host of other country-specific requirements, then you realize that there is an element of expertise needed. What seems to be not as obvious to customers is that expertise comes at a price.

I have a difficult time with the idea that anyone could believe that someone would manage the many varied requirements, field complex e-mails from a foreign registry, (many times late at night due to the time difference) and secure local agents and process highly technical and legal documents, on the client’s behalf for no fee whatsoever?

This is until I realized that this is mainly due to ignorance. I found that many people believe that the $9 fee they paid once for the .com domain bought them also a turnkey business that required neither labor nor maintenance on their part and no further investment and a domain name that they own for life. In addition, according to one “infomercial” you are able to “make money while you sleep” on the internet. This is the reason there are those domain name stickers on the backs of vehicles that read similar to this: www.mlmschemeofthemonth.com/ignorantofdomains/preyonthisignorance/customersactualdomainnamehere. Beyond simply buying into an MLM scam, and a completely asinine URL that no-one could remember, this ignorance can be much more dangerous. For example, if you are from the US and you decide that a .ir domain sounds like a good choice, then be prepared to perhaps have a knock at your door from the US Secret Service. That is the extension for Iran and it is against US Law to engage in business transactions with any country on the US sanctioned list. The penalty is approximately 10 years in prison and fines from $100k and up. Cuba and Libya have recently moved off of this list but prior to that a .ly or .cu name could buy you more trouble than you could have imagined.

To me, this begs the question: How much is domain expertise worth now? I know from experience that expert domain managers earn their pay and are worth their weight in gold, but you can (and should) purchase their services for much, much less.

In the United States, we have the Bill of Rights. These are the first 10 amendments to the constitution which lists certain freedoms that the Federal Government cannot infringe upon.
For example: The Fifth amendment guarantees the right to due process, double jeopardy protection, eminent domain and, protection against self-incrimination. When in court, you have the right to exercise your 5th amendment rights and cannot be compelled to become a witness against yourself; basically, this means you have the right to shut up. As Americans, we have a huge problem sometimes remembering that.
We also have the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. This means that as long as you don’t hurt someone else, you can say pretty much whatever you want, and it is 100% legal. Many of our US citizenry (and those in other countries) would be well served to review the fifth, as shown below:

Recently here in the US: A 43 year old man in Fostoria, Ohio, allegedly told a telemarketing sales representative during a May 18 telephone call that he would burn down the building and kill the employees and their families. He was indicted for making a terrorist threat, a Class D felony; and he could be sentenced to up to four years in prison if convicted. Before passing judgement, consider the following: both parties insulted each other, the man is on painkiller medication for a compound wrist fracture, and the said medication has a listed side effect of irritability. In addition, the telemarketer was selling a renewal for a factory warranty that had expired years ago. This man felt victimized by the telemarketer person who called him, not the other way around, and lashed out at his perceived aggressor, verbally.

Despite our 1st amendment protections, this man’s words still may have put him in prison. Now think about the last time you spoke your mind on the internet, especially if you were upset. Do you feel protected and free to say what you like in blogs and on social media sites? Read the following example and see if you still believe this to be true:

In May, a  Chicago resident using twitter, tweeted THIS: “You should come anyway. Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s ok.”  Horizon Group Management promptly filed a lawsuit against her, alleging that her statement damaged the company’s business reputation. The defamation lawsuit seeks $50,000 for her Tweet of less than 140 characters.
According to the complaint filed in Cook County court the Twitter user “maliciously and wrongfully published the false and defamatory Tweet on Twitter, thereby allowing the Tweet to be distributed throughout the world.” Keep in mind the user in question only has 20 followers on Twitter.

I believe the implications and possible precedents that could be set, are astounding and far reaching. What used to be so simple and innocent has suddenly become very complex and dangerous. Think of it in these terms; the next time you blog, you may need an attorney.

For a short period of time, it seemed like every other car on the road had either a set of these wheels or the hub cap equivalent. If that doesn’t ring a bell, how about hydraulic dump beds on mini trucks, just for show? Admittedly, that may date a few of us, but there was a time when I thought that a dump bed on a mini truck seemed like a great style accessory. Many of my fellow mini truck enthusiasts added these styling cues to their own personal mini-trucks.  The big question is “Where is this style now?” There will always be die-hard’s who hold onto something long after the wave of popularity has passed, for a number of reasons. This can be Nostalgia, circumstance or many simply didn’t get the memo?

In my own experience, I personally got interested in “traditional” hot rods and kustom cars in the early-1990’s because the six figure show car scene was getting way out hand, and I felt mini trucks had ran their course. I stayed in the traditional movement to this day because I fell in love with the style of the cars, the emphasis on 1940’s, 50’s and early 60’s history, and the shared vision that started the movement. Unfortunately, by 2006, it became infected with “Johnny-come-latelies” who didnt understand the history and ideology behind it, and corrupted the scene with the (now cliche’) “Rat rod”. This took the entire scene and its shows into “side show carnival” territory and to me, it was mutating into the very thing it was a backlash against. Suddenly our small scene was transformed into an overblown pop cultural sensation, laden with cliche’s…just like the show car scene that we hated. Fast forward three years, and the new “Rat rod enthusiasts” who didn’t get into it for love of the cars, or ideology have moved on to the “next big thing” and the traditional movement is slowly moving back into the pure, yet small, scene it was before.

While I am a Traditional-style car enthusiast in my free time, I am also involved in the SEO and social media world in my professional life and I see something in this SEO and social media world that parallels my car scene experience: Twitter.

Twitter is a wonderful social media outlet for those who use it regularly and properly; Ashton Kutcher, Oprah, Barack Obama, and Britney Spears are notable users, and I am sure that they have plenty to do with Twitter’s 1st quarter of 2009 massive surge in users. However, like my traditional car scene, it appears that many of the new users responsible for the 1st quarter growth have already moved on to the “next big thing”. Perhaps they followed their own favorite celebrity to Twitter and then didn’t get the use out of it they imagined? Current Nielsen research has determined that 60 percent of Twitter users leave the service after one month. That means that 40% of the users consistently remain on Twitter. Comparatively, while on the decline in popularity, Facebook and MySpace still enjoy an audience retention of approximately 70%. This is according to Nielsen ratings, who also suggest that if Twitter doesn’t turn this trend around, there is a point in the near future where those users leaving will soon outpace new members joining. This will be a difficult situation to rectify. In my car experience, a small scene is desirable to weed out those who aren’t using it properly. But for a social media outlet, even those users who misuse it, are still wanted and needed to some extent.

This leaves me wondering: Will Twitter eventually join Spinner rims, mini-truck dump beds, and Rat rods or will Twitter users use it properly and stay for the love of the social media community that it represents?