Pronet Advertising

What is a #1 Google Ranking Worth?

Neil Patel — Sun, 11 May 2008 21:39:34 -0800

Aaron Wall wrote an interesting article the other day about the value of a Google ranking. As we already know being number 1 on Google can drastically affect your business, but the question is, what is it worth? According to the data that AOL released a while back the number 10 listing gets 14x less clicks than the number 1 listing. And to go one step further, 89% of the clicks that users make when searching, happen to be on page 1.

Overall there are a lot of factors that can affect the value of a Google ranking and Aaron did a great job breaking down the value. So instead of summarizing everything Aaron wrote, I highly recommend that you go read the article.

Webmaster-Talk.com and Earners Forum Merge

Neil Patel — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:57:04 -0800

I am not sure how many of you are into forums, but Webmaster-Talk.com and Earners Forum have just merged to create a better community. Now users have access to an enhanced marketplace, informative articles, blogs, interviews, and valuable tools.

I personally love the merger. When I first started out in the SEO world I used to surf forums like Webmaster-Talk.com and find everything I needed on a budget. I was able to find people to help me out for free, cheap web designers, and a community that was willing to help promote my site.

If you haven't seen the forum after the merger, I highly recommend you check it out. And while you are there, you should also check out the contest that they are running which contains a lot of free giveaways.

SEO Catchup

Neil Patel — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:13:26 -0800

There has been a lot of new stuff been going around the SEO industry lately, so I thought I would do a quick blog post talking about the two things that were interesting for me:

The first is that Best of the Web just brought on a team of editors, which will help take their directory to the next level. DMOZ is a popular directory that was filled with talented editors, but through bad management over the past few years it has been dying down, which leaves a lot of talented editors without a home. BOTW has now swooped up 6 of the most active metas in DMOZ to become part of their team.
At Elite Retreat, Aaron Wall showed me his rank checker tool. If you want a free automated way to check your rankings for US search engines as well as international Google search engines, I highly recommend you checking it out. Aaron also is well known for his SEO Firefox extension which is a must have for any SEO.

Who's Attending SMX Social Media?

Neil Patel — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:02:07 -0800

Just out of curiosity, how many of you have attended a marketing conference in the past? Or to take it one step further has anyone attended a conference that purely revolves around social media?

Last year was the first time that SMX held a social media conference and due to its success this year they are holding another social media conference. From April 22nd to the 23rd, SMX Social Media is taking place in Long Beach, California. I know many of you think it is a conference just about Digg, but it actually is a conference on everything social media related.

If you are looking to learn about social media, I highly recommend signing up for SMX Social Media. Plus if you are looking for advice from social media experts, what better place to get than a conference that revolves around it.

Clickbooth Setting the Pace for Affiliate Marketing Companies

Neil Patel — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:01:33 -0800

As many of you can tell, I haven't been blogging as much lately. One of the main reasons for this is because of Clickbooth. I have been spending a lot of time on the Clickbooth network because it pays out really well for affiliates.

For those of you who aren't too familiar with them, think of them as a mix of AzoogleAds and Commission Junction. They have tons of offers and great payouts, which makes it an excellent network.

On a side note, one of the main reasons I am doing this blog post is because a lot of people have been talking trash about them lately, but they are actually a good company. The trash talking started when some affiliate spammers where using the service and did not get paid because they were "breaking the law" as well as Clickbooth's terms.

As a company owner I would do the same. If I promoted users to spam and to break the laws our government set, what kind of example would I be setting.

Either way, I highly recommend that you guys check out Clickbooth.

Social Media Marketing - Weekly Wrap Up - 02.27.2008

Muhammad Saleem — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:39:39 -0800

Every Wednesday Pronet Advertising will be highlighting some of the best posts related to social media news and marketing. As always, please feel free to comment and if you have any recommendations, let us know so we can include them in the next week's wrap up.

Linkbait - Will Search Engines Ever Regulate Your Linkbait?

Is it possible that search engines will start regulating your linkbait? Seems highly unlikely - after all, good content is good linkbait. However, what if it does happen, do you have a backup strategy?

Design - Top-10 Application-Design Mistakes

Applicable both to traditional desktop applications as well as web-based applications (such as Facebook Apps.) or localized widgets. Keep these 10 application design mistakes in mind and do your best to avoid them.

Social Media - From SEO to Social Media: Content is Still King

As you evolve your marketing strategy/campaign from purely SEO to a mix of search engine optimization and social media optimization, keep in mind that content is still king.

Blogging - Comparing Six Ways to Identify Top Blogs in Any Niche

Don't just rely on Technorati (or any one method). Instead, check out these six different ways of identifying top blogs in your niche, and for best results, use them in conjunction with each other.

Digg - SocialBlade: Digg Front Page Stats and More

SocialBlade is a terrific tool that helps you study your habits and your successes on the socially driven news site, Digg. The tool can be incredibly helpful in further understanding what is working for you and what isn't.

Del.icio.us - Del.icio.us Bans Search Engine Spiders

I guess they're having an acute case of Arachnophobia. The site has started blocking spiders from major search engines from crawling their index.

LinkedIn - How to Use LinkedIn to Create Authoritative Content

Who would've thought that one of the best professional networking sites would also be a great source for article ideas and for creating authoritative content?

Social Media Marketing - Weekly Wrap Up - 02.13.2008

Muhammad Saleem — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:22:21 -0800

Microblogging - Learn SEO: The Unexplored Values of Twitter

Everyday people are learning more about Twitter and understanding the power of the tool. Find out how you can better understand and leverage the microblogging tool.

Design - 10 Principles Of Effective Web Design

Increase your site's usability and leverage that to increase its stickiness and grow your audience with these 10 principles of effective web design.

Linkbait - Five Simple Linkbait Metrics (& How To Measure Them Cheaply)

Don't just into social media marketing because everyone else is doing it and you think you should too. Identify your goals, determine if social media is a good fit for you, and learn how to identify and measure social media metrics.

Social Media - 6 Successful Elements For Social Media Success

From understanding your audience to delivering on the promise that drew them to your site, use these elements to gain an edge in social media.

Facebook - Facebook Ads Don't Work. Here's Proof

Could it be? Here's one person's experience. Learn from it so that you don't waste your time.

StumbleUpon - How to Write Posts That Set StumbleUpon on Fire

Skellie has written an excellent and in-depth post on how to write the perfect post that will capture the imagination of the StumbleUpon community. Sure enough, the post went viral on StumbleUpon.

The RKG Duck

Neil Patel — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:31:00 -0800

I'm not sure how many of you run/manage advertising campaigns, but I just found a useful tool that makes it easier to sort ad groups.

Hopefully the tool can make your life easier like it did with mine. Click here to download the RKG Duck tool.

Banner Blindness Gets Creative

Neil Patel — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:20:11 -0800

When most companies are trying to create buzz they usually ask bloggers to blog on their company or they higher a marketing firm to do it for them. Although these are not bad ways to create buzz, with a bit of creativity you can create an organic buzz around your company.

I was surfing YouTube web last week and I noticed that a company called Banner Blindness drew a picture of me.

What better way to get attention then drawing pictures of some of the top bloggers like Shoemoney and John Chow.

Social Media Marketing - Weekly Wrap Up - 01.31.2008

Muhammad Saleem — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:08:28 -0800

Every Wednesday (sorry for the delay) Pronet Advertising will be highlighting some of the best posts related to social media news and marketing. As always, please feel free to comment and if you have any recommendations, let us know so we can include them in the next week's wrap up.

Microblogging - The Rise of Twitter as a Platform for Serious Discourse

As time passes by and more people embrace Twitter (or at least accept that the service is hear to stay), the way the service is used is evolving, for the better. The community is slowly moving away from posting random thoughts and stream of consciousness notes to posting important news stories, sharing links of interest and continuing conversations started elsewhere.

Community - From 0 to 2000+ Subscribers in 90 Days

In this guest post for ProBlogger, Tina Su has written a phenomenal manual for anyone wanting to launch a site and create a community around it. Read this once, read it again, and read it once more for good measure.

Design - The Ultimate Resource For Free WordPress Themes

Dawud is a Wordpress evangelist and I have to admit, so am I. A great platform is only made better by a community that is continuously pumping out great new themes to embellish it.

Social Media - How To Create Compelling Social Media Profiles

In short, be natural. In this great post Brent details how to create the perfect social media profile. Don't try too hard but don't be too lax. Read these 8 points and paint your canvas accordingly.

Digg - 12 Tips To Make The Front Page of the "NEW" Digg (Humor.....Kind Of)

Digg has a lot of people down lately (since the algorithm change). But then again, with Digg it's always been a picky relationship. Here's some humor (...kind of) to lighten up your day.

StumbleUpon - The Most Popular Social Bookmarking Site for (Pro)Bloggers

There was a time when this used to amaze me, but not any more. StumbleUpon gets almost 40% of the vote, with Del.icio.us and Digg coming in second and third with 21% and 19% of the total vote.

Sphinn - Is Sphinn Bad For The Industry?

Could it be that the site that was supposed to be a safe haven for the industry is actually ruining it?

Triple your income by attending Elite Retreat

Neil Patel — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:45:17 -0800

One of the best conferences I attended last year was the Elite Retreat. Many people were skeptical of a conference that charges $5000 for 2 days, but ALL of the attendees felt that they got their moneys worth.

When I was at Pubcon in December, one of the Elite Retreat members came up to me and stated that he tripled his income within 30 days, which meant that he made more than the conference fee within 30 days. And to top it off Andy Liu, one of last years attendee, made his money back within 30 days and is now a speaker at this years Elite Retreat.

So if you are looking to gain knowledge from individuals like Aaron Wall, Shoemoney, Andy Liu, Brian Clark, and me then you have to attend this years Elite Retreat. Plus every week there is an Elite Retreat masterminds call where you consistently get help from these well known experts.

So get up and head over to register for Elite Retreat because there are not too many seats left. And if you happened to attend any previous Elite Retreats, you will get half off.

Why You Have To Attend Search Marketing Expo

Neil Patel — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:10:29 -0800

As many of you already know, last year Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman kicked off the Search Marketing Expo (SMX). The conference series started with SMX Advanced in Seattle and it was a hit. Compared to most conferences, people actually came away learning new information as well as actually being happy with conference food for the first time (no more boxed lunches).

This year, they are planning on expanding the conference series with a few new additions such as SMX West and East. If you haven't attended any SMX events before, I highly recommend doing so for the following reasons:

More knowledge - you'll actually learn something new. Even old people like me that have been doing this stuff for years, still learn new things from SMX.
Networking opportunities - One of the main perks about going to conferences is that they provide networking opportunities. The only problem with many of these networking opportunities is that they take place at parties, which are usually invite only. At SMX all the parties are open for anyone to attend.
Intimate setting - when you attend large conferences with 5000 plus attendees, it can be overwhelming and in many cases you don't get much out of the conference due to the size. With SMX, the atmosphere is very intimate which means you will get to know others on a personal level and hopefully gain some business out of it.
No sales pitches - compare to most conferences the speakers at SMX are willing to help you for free. When you have questions they don't mind answering them and more importantly they don't care for your money, but instead just want to help you.
Great food - the food at SMX is great. I know I mentioned this earlier, but I can't emphasize this enough because when you are hungry you usually don't think straight. But at SMX they have gourmet lunches and snacks throughout all the sessions.

I hope to see you at future SMX events such as West and Social. If you have any questions about SMX feel free and leave a comment.

Social Media Marketing - Weekly Wrap Up - 01.17.2008

Muhammad Saleem — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 01:30:49 -0800

Every Thursday Pronet Advertising will be highlighting some of the best posts related to social media news and marketing. As always, please feel free to comment and if you have any recommendations, let us know so we can include them in the next week's wrap up.

Microblogging - 17 Ways You Can Use Twitter: A Guide for Beginners, Marketers and Business Owners

Microblogging, and more specifically Twitter, has to be one of the most polarizing platforms today. Love it or hate it, Maki makes an excellent case for why you don't need more than 140 characters to market yourself.

Blogging - Creating Passionate Readers

Continuing in her tradition of excellent content, Skellie teaches us how to create passionate readers. As we know from Kathy Sierra, your audience doesn't necessarily have to like you, they just have to be passionate about your content or service.

Design: 7 Essential Web Design Principles to Earn Trust. And 4 Things to Avoid!

It's shocking, how many people fail to recognize web design as an integral part of any marketing strategy. Learn from the masters so you don't get left out in the cold.

Digg: 7 Tips To Win The Social News Beauty Pageant

Getting noticed on socially driven news sites is like getting noticed in a beauty pageant. Doesn't matter what you think, what matters is what you think other people will think. Here's how to get the right mix of beauty and character and take home the crown.

StumbleUpon: The Idiot's Guide To Getting StumbledUpon

StumbleUpon is definitely one of my favorite social platforms and whenever someone writes about it, I stop whatever I'm doing and start reading. The first step towards Stumble nirvana is to admit you're an idiot and read the guide.

Mixx: Silly Marketer... Mixx Is For Kids

In its own right, Mixx isn't doing too poorly. If you're a marketer, however, listen to what Brent has to say and move right along.

Are you are Shoeperstar?

Neil Patel — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 13:31:54 -0800

Shoemoney is throwing a contest called Shoeperstar where one lucky winner is going to get an all paid expense trip to SXSW, plus $1000 in spending cash.

Want to rock out like a big money blogger? This is your chance. Register below for a chance to meet up with Jeremy Schoemaker of ShoeMoney and Ted Murphy of Izea at SXSW in Austin, Texas on camera for a special episode of RockStartup. One lucky blogger will grab a free flight to Austin (within the continental US), 3 nights hotel, conference pass and $1,000 spending cash. All you need to do is register below and blog about why you should be selected as the ShoeperStar!

So get out there and sign up if you want to be a Shoeperstar!

Digg Adds Image Functionality

David Chen — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:10:50 -0800

Day before yesterday, Digg launched its new image functionality feature. Although its primary effect on Digg will probably be to silence the countless users that keep complaining about no image section, it also makes some interesting changes to the submission process that are worth mentioning.

Go to submit a story and you will now be greeted by a choice to submit it as news, video, or image:

Once you click "Continue," Digg will scan your article for all media:

If it's a news article, you are now given the option to choose a thumbnail with an image from the article, which will be displayed next to the digg submission. This is optional.

The choice of topic is now performed with a neat click menu:

And Digg also scans for duplicates automatically:

Overall, this makes the process of submitting a story lengthier, but it also allows for more customization - the choice of thumbnails and the ability to label the story as an image represent significant changes to how all digg users can view and organize their news on the site. In general, I would say that the process is more user friendly now and appears to be part of an effort by Digg to attract less hardcore users. Time will tell whether or not they are successful but their constantly-growing numbers and their skyrocketing valuation seems to indicate that they're doing something right.