Search Engine Guide : Small Business Search Marketing

Web Copywriting Voodoo: The 8-Step Secret Copywriters Might Not Want You to Know

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:14:27 -0600

by Karri Flatla

I might get in ca-ca for sharing this with the entire readership of Search Engine Guide, but it's time to reveal what a lot of web copywriters probably don't want you to know. Why? Because keeping you in the dark about how we crunch out great copy day after day keeps us in business.

Or so one would think.

Personally, I'd rather spill the beans. It's too much pressure to have everyone believing that we web copywriters and SEO copywriters are practitioners of witchcraft. While I readily admit that I cannot always explain how I craft each and every line of compelling copy, there are a few "tricks" that I use--and I'm pretty sure other copywriters use--when words fail me.

Voodoo That Will Help ANYONE Write Better Web Copy (Even SEO Copy)

The voodoo secret behind some (maybe even a lot) of the great copy you read online is what I call "freestyle copywriting." It entails temporarily suspending rules and formulas so you can get the creative juices flowing and ultimately, so you have something decent to work with later. Here's how it works:

Step 1: Do the requisite pre-work. Research your target market. Research potential keywords. Get your head around the main message for the page you want to write some great copy for. Write it all down in a notebook. Slam the notebook shut. Walk away.

Step 2: Get a good night's sleep. The brain works in mysterious ways. (Told you this was voodoo.)

Step 3: Open your notebook and review your pre-work. Chances are you suddenly have some additional insights you'd like to add to your notes. Write them down. Squeeze stuff in the margins. Use arrows and squiggly lines to connect related ideas and words. Try to keep this little brain dump all on one page if you can. This creative dance is the foundation for the witchcraft that follows.

Step 4: Open up a blank Word document. A new post or page in your WordPress or Typepad dashboard screen will do just fine as well. Take a sip of coffee and crack your knuckles a few times. Stretch your arms up above your head. This helps you feel like a real writer and puts you in the zone for some copywriting voodoo to happen. (No pressure.)

Step 5: Think about your key message and start typing like a mad scientist. Worried about the headline? I don't care. Start typing anyway. Not sure where to begin? Then don't start at the beginning; start in the middle or even at the end and work backwards. Just TYPE. Let the voodoo flow through you. Don't get up to go to the bathroom. Just type until you've got nothing more to say about the subject matter at hand.

Step 6: When the mad typing starts to feel redundant (and it probably won't for at least a page or two), STOP. Stretch out. Crack your knuckles. Take a sip of (now cold) coffee. Click save, and walk away.

Step 7: Get a good night's sleep.

Step 8: Turn on your computer and review your voodoo copy. Not bad, is it? It surely needs a lot of editing, rearranging, and a ton of ruthless deletion. But overall, I bet there are some real nuggets of gold in them there pages. This is where copywriting can actually be fun, because now you have the opportunity to take lots of raw, honest words and sculpt them into something concise, compelling, and able to incentivize action.

The point of all this? You've now got something much meatier than a blank page. You've got ideas, emotion, passion and hopefully lots of interesting facts and tidbits about what you're trying to pitch. Even if you have to look up some copywriting formula to know where to begin editing this mess, you've got an incredible starting point.

And that, my web friend, is how you win the battle. Find a starting point and jump off. It's what every web copywriter and SEO copywriter does when the words just won't come. Use this bit of copywriting voodoo next time you're stuck for words, and I promise, you'll end up with a call to action that is a helluva lot more inviting than something coerced by a template.

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Striking Out On My Own All While Staying Put

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:26:38 -0600

by Jennifer Laycock

Regular readers of Search Engine Guide probably noticed I've been less than active as an author and Twitter voice this past year. All of that's about to change. Over the next few months you'll all see me getting back into the swing of things here on Search Engine Guide and hopefully back to my chatty self on Twitter and other social media sites.

Returning to My Roots

As of this week, I'm back at Search Engine Guide full time to resume my position as Editor-in-Chief. I'll also be launching my own consulting company so I can continue to work with small businesses and larger corporations to build practical and impactful social media strategies and campaigns.

Regular Search Engine Guide readers know that apart from a false start on a new Facebook series last month, I've been fairly quiet this past year. Those in the industry know my lack of writing was because I'd joined my good friend Matt Bailey as his new Director of Marketing for SiteLogic and simply didn't have the time to develop content. After five years of churning out thousands of words of content a day, I was severely burned out and was itching to get my hands dirty with client work again.

While I've enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to go back inside an agency, I've missed Search Engine Guide and my readers immensely. As such, after eight months with SiteLogic, I've made the decision to strike out on my own as a social media strategist and consultant to give myself the freedom to spend more time with my children and to once again get back to cranking out the type of content Search Engine Guide readers have come to expect from us.

Want to Hire Me?

I'm obviously exploring my options right now, but for those of you who may be interested in working with me, there are several types of services I'll be offering. You'll continue to see me on the speaking circuit at shows like Search Engine Strategies, PubCon and various others. I'm also available for corporate training, local events and speaking at anything else social media, blog or reputation management related. Of course you'll also find me over at Market Motive continuing to crank out training courses and content for their Social Media classes and expert certification. (In fact, their next round of social media certification starts in January, which makes it a great time to get your budget approved and sign up!)

I'll also be accepting a limited number of social media consulting clients. I'd like to keep my load light to allow plenty of time for Search Engine Guide, but this past year has taught me how much I really do enjoy the strategy side of things. While I'm open to working with all types of companies, readers here know that my heart lies with small business. My ideal client is the type that has internal staffing and resources or a willingness to put some time in themselves, but needs guidance, strategy and creative ideas from someone with experience in the industry. Coming along side those types of businesses to help them build their internal processes and learn how to create and manage their own campaigns is what I really enjoy.

As always, you can feel free to get in touch with me about any of these things via email. (I wouldn't complain if you spread the word to friends and associates about my new availability either!)

What Type of Content Are You Looking For?

I've got quite a few content ideas up my sleeve, starting with the Facebook series that I haven't had a chance to finish. I'll also be diving back into social media strategy, a new take on creating a viral marketing campaign, various social media tools and perhaps a new series on blogging. If there are specific topics, tactics or tools you'd love to know more about, leave me a note in the comments and I'll add them to my list of ideas.

Photo Credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiropractic/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

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5 Worries That Can Blow Your SEO Budget

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:20:29 -0600

by Stoney deGeyter

Many small businesses are at a financial disadvantage when it comes to marketing their website. Too often they don't have the funds, time, or resources needed to engage in as much marketing as they would like. Unlike larger businesses with deep pockets, small business often have to rely on do-it-yourself strategies built upon free advice gathered from blogs, forums, and social networking sites.

This gives them a lot to worry about, making sure they are doing it right and that the results will be all they had hoped for. And hoping it doesn't break their budget in the process.

Every small business owner wants to get the most value for the money they spend on their marketing efforts. Simply put, the ROI must be there. But even with a good SEO and a good campaign outline, you can still break your budget--or render your SEO campaign ineffective--when you let your worries get the best of you. Worrying about smart things is smart. Worrying about the other stuff, well, that just sets you up for failure.

Here are five things you should stop worrying about if you don't want to blow your SEO budget over the top:

1) Worrying about perfection

SEO isn't an exact science. Nor is usability. There are many trials and errors along the way and if you're not prepared for that then you'll likely spend too much of your time trying to perfect what can't be perfected.

There are many trade-offs made when optimizing a site. Ultimately you want to do what's best for your visitors, while doing what's best for the search engines. While the search engines like to believe those are one in the same, the truth is that they are often two different things. But the differences are not always that great between them. The problem is when you want perfection on both, when you may need to settle for less than perfect in order to get a perfect balance.

When it comes to both engines and visitor usability the paths to the perfect site is always changing because what would have been perfect yesterday is not perfect today. While I don't advocate settling for poor performance, sometimes you have to accept what you have, get it out there and then move forward perfecting it later. If you try to make it perfect first, you'll be spending your budget on that while you get no improvement from the search engines. Isn't it better to start getting the benefit of the changes sooner, and perfect it later?

2) Worrying about getting #1 rankings

Wouldn't it be nice if getting that #1 spot were easy (and cheap?). Unfortunately we don't operate in a vacuum and there are many competing forces out there.

If you're in a highly competitive industry, it's not just your competitors that you're up against. Informational sites such as Wikipedia, blogs and other informational sites can often dominate the top search engine rankings for your most profitable keywords.

Achieving top search engine placement for all your keywords is great, but sometimes your money is better spent making improvements elsewhere. Once your site is optimized you can often get better return on your investment by improving your website and visitor's experience. Instead of wanting to be #1, why not build a site that actually deserves to be #1.

You may never outperform sits like Wikipedia, and you may never be able to outspend your competition. Get your self settled on this and you can direct your, and your SEO's, efforts on things that will make a real difference in your optimization campaign.

3) Worrying about competitor movement

Do you see a competitor climbing in the rankings? Are you worried that they will over take you? Do you see them outperforming you on some keywords? While this may be disconcerting, you can't expect your SEO to jump in and stop that from happening. Yes, you can invest in more SEO or links or social media... and maybe you should, but short of that, a site can only get so optimized for certain keywords.

Honestly, the question here isn't whether your SEO is doing their job or not. The solution isn't to demand that they start doing better. The real and only viable solution is to assess your campaign and make changes as needed. This may require spending your money in new areas, or spending more money altogether in order to remain competitive.

The problem with worrying about how your competitors are performing is that there is so much you don't know. How much are they spending? Are they profitable? Are they focused on the right things? These questions are just a few you need to know before you decide what, precisely, is worth worrying about.

4) Worrying about traffic over conversions

We all want rankings so we can get traffic. But why do we want traffic? Traffic alone isn't worth much unless it converts into paying customers. We often lose sight of that as we optimize sites. We pay our SEOs to deliver traffic and are often happy to see traffic come, even if the conversions do not follow.

While traffic is a required result of the SEO campaign, conversions should matter more. Before worrying about traffic increases or declines, look first to see what your conversion rates are. SEO can often result in more traffic but less sales. How does that benefit anyone?

If your traffic improves, your conversion rates need to be monitored. If you're getting more sales, great. But if you're losing in your conversion rate then you may need to focus on improving that before looking to improve traffic any further. Why bring more people to the site if fewer and fewer are going to convert?

5) Worrying about slow growth / instant success

SEO is a long-term process that rarely, if ever, brings over night success. One of the most difficult expectations to overcome when pitching SEO services is the expectation that results will come fast.

Some sites can be optimized and see near immediate benefit. Other sites take longer to get optimized therefore the benefit in rankings takes longer. Newer sites have a much longer hill to climb before they see success.

Before beginning an SEO campaign be sure that your expectations are in line with reality. Don't look for a get-rich-quick solution, but instead be willing to invest in a long-term strategy that will pay off only as you let it mature.

Small business budgets are tight and they have to make the most of every dollar. But sometimes trying to squeeze every bit of juice from a dollar ultimately squeezes the life out of it. Worrying too much about the performance of your SEO campaign can lead to jumping the gun on bad intel and making a seemingly bad situation worse.

Give time for your SEO campaign to work before jumping in to make changes. I know, it can be difficult if you are spending money and don't see things going your way. There is risk in everything, including worrying about something that you shouldn't. Worry less, and let your SEO campaign perform more.

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When Should I Build a New Website & Invest In SEO

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:17:16 -0600

by Jeff Howard

The Holidays are no further than one week away, and on the other side of everyone going bonkers is a new year. Chances are at this juncture new budgets will be set, taxes paid, and 2010 business goals established. If you're on the fence about shifting marketing funds toward SEO, or whether or not to build a new website here are objective methods packed into two PDF guides that can assist in the decision making process.

Many factors come into play when deciding whether or not to build a new website for your local business, aside from the obvious such as who will build it and what it will look like, first its best to understand all the reasons for building a new website. Without those reasons it's hard to make a clear decision as to whether the time investment, and monetary invest is worthwhile.

From a local perspective, now Google and search engines have become the number one resource to find local business information, more than the Yellow Pages. It's also been shown that 1/3 website visitors who finds a business online will take action by calling or visiting the store (source). These trends make a strong case for building a new website and to engage with SEO in the upcoming year.

On the flip side investing resources in local search marketing, or creating a new website does require time whether doing the work yourself or with the help of others. These two guides will help pave a clear path if a new website and SEO can help build more business in 2010. Here are the topics covered in the guide:

What are the critical reasons for building a new website.
What are the important and emerging reasons for building a new website.
How to find out if people search for a business like yours on Google.
How to audit your current website's search engine traffic performance.

Finding answers to these questions will help make the decision on a new website, and SEO a clear one. Download each guide by clicking on the links below.

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5 Worries That Can Kill Your SEO Campaign

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:43:16 -0600

by Stoney deGeyter

Small businesses are often seen fumbling around in the dark when it comes to figuring out which SEO strategies really work and which don't. There is an onslaught of information freely available online, much of it contradictory or confusing. Small business owners who attempt to perform SEO for themselves don't often know which strategies are more important than others, which are worthwhile and which are worthless, or how do you tell the difference.

Slogging through SEO forums, blogs and article sites can provide a great deal of good information, but it can also leave the small business owner confused on what--or what not--to do.

Those that choose to hire an SEO provider can push some of their SEO decision-making burdens off onto someone else, but some then open the door to a whole new set of worries that can circumvent their online success, even with a successful SEO working for them.

Spending nights worrying about your SEO campaign can eat up a lot of energy that is better applied to other, more important matters. While every business owner needs to be fully aware of the progress being made by their SEO's efforts, they also need to trust that the SEO knows what is needed for them to succeed. For that to happen, here are a few things the business owner need to stop worry about. Failure to do so can kill an SEO campaign in its tracks.

1) Worrying about making page edits

Without changes there is no SEO. You can focus on link building, social media, ad campaigns, etc, which can bring you limited success on their own. However, if you want your site really perform for your targeted keyword phrases, you have to be willing to make keyword focused and other architectural edits.

All too often site owners don't want to make necessary changes to their site's because they are afraid of losing customer focus. This is a legitimate concern but also one that is often misplaced. Site improvements designed for search engines often align with site improvements for your visitors. If searchers are using specific phrases in their search, it makes sense that your visitors will be served seeing those very same specific phrases on your site.

Don't be afraid of making changes to your site. The goal of any good SEO is not to just improve your search engine rankings, but help you increase your business.

2) Worrying about shifting rankings

It's a simple fact of life that search engine rankings change. New sites are always going online, old sites are disappearing, new information is added to the web, and new competition with fresh marketing dollars emerges. Add to that the fact that search engines are always tweaking and adjusting their algorithms and you've got a search engine ranking roller coaster.

That doesn't mean that you ignore keyword rankings completely, but if you're compelled to monitor your rankings, don't do it on a day to day basis. Most search engine ranking changes are insignificant and just part of the normal fluctuations that occur.

What you do need to be concerned about is overall trends. If you do start seeing a month to month trend of a loss in rankings dropping that's when you need to start looking at things more closely. Don't sweat the small stuff, but instead look at the bigger picture.

Another problem worrying about small shifts in rankings is people often get concerned about the wrong keywords and the wrong engines. Google drives the most traffic, but isn't always the best at converting. Improvements in other engines that may convert better may be worth a sacrifice of lower rankings in Google. Again, it's about the big picture.

3) Worrying about trying new things

Good optimization and marketing isn't a linear process. Every site is different as are the site's needs. Many changes recommended will be standard fare while some will seemingly come way out of left field. Give all proper consideration, and don't be afraid about doing something different.

One thing to keep in mind is that success comes through trial and trial produces error and failures. We've all heard the story that when Thomas Jefferson failed thousands of times for every success he ever made. Hopefully you won't have to fail that often in your website marketing, but be prepared for some things not to work.

Fear of failure is not a reason not to try. We tell the same to our kids and we need to take that to heart in our businesses. Step out, and be willing to try something new.

4) Worrying about making large-scale changes

Before a site can be optimized for your targeted keywords, it needs to be optimized for search engines. I call this having a "search engine friendly" website. A lot of sites are build by developers that don't know much about SEO beyond meta tags. The sites they build may look good but won't perform well in the search engines because the site architecture isn't search engine friendly.

The last thing you want to do is to pay a lot of money on an expensive optimization campaign if your site isn't in a position to be optimized. That's just putting SEO frosting on a website dung pile. Big changes need to be made before you can really start focusing on the actual on-page keyword targeting. In many cases you have to be willing to burn the site to the ground. Other times it's less severe but many structural changes will need to be made before any SEO can be effective.

Failure to make these big changes will ultimately result in poor performance of any optimization campaign you implement. Don't be afraid to make the big changes necessary for your small SEO changes to succeed.

5) Worrying about investing in long-term SEO

SEO is a long-term investment, not a one-time expense. The changes you need to make to optimize your site will cost you both time and money.

All too often businesses looking for an immediate boost turn to SEO as if it's some sort of magic bus ride to the top of the search engine rankings. They don't want to spend much money but they have very high expectations. Unfortunately, SEO isn't like building a fence. There is much more to it than having a bit of knowledge and a few tools to work with.

Those who are afraid to spend what it takes for their SEO campaign to succeed rarely ever do succeed. They limp along with sites that under perform and ultimately cost more to market than if the money was spent sooner to make the changes requires.

Worry tend to cause bad decisions. When we worry, we tend to make decisions based on how we feel at the moment rather than basing our decisions on facts and evidence. When you turn your SEO campaign over to another person, or even do it yourself, there is enough to worry about without adding to it.

As business owners you have enough on your plate. Make wise SEO decisions but leave the worries over superficial matters behind. By focusing on the wrong things you can sink your SEO campaign before it even has a chance to get off the ground.

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Are you ready for Bing?

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:32:35 -0600

by Mike Moran

Image via Wikipedia

No, not that Bing--Microsoft's Bing search engine. And no, I haven't been living under a rock. (Who does that, anyway?) I know Bing has been out for months. That's not what you need to be ready for. You need to be ready for approval of the Yahoo! deal with Bing, because once that happens, everything you've been doing with Yahoo! will change. And if you haven't been doing anything with Yahoo!, you might want to change that, too.

The latest guess is that a regulatory decision will come in the first quarter of 2010, but the government follows no timetable, so it could come sooner or later than that. If approved, and many think it will be, Yahoo! will start dismantling its organic and paid search platforms and substituting Bing, country-by-country, probably starting in the U.S.

What will that mean to the search business? It means that Bing, which holds around a 10% share of U.S. searches today, will suddenly get close to 30%. You might have easily ignored Microsoft before, but it's hard to turn your back on a 30% market share. Those people buy stuff, too.

What will that mean to the search marketer? It depends on what you are doing with Yahoo! and with Bing today:

You don't use paid search. If you currently rank well in Bing organic search, but not in Yahoo!'s, it's a happy day, because now your rankings improve. Of course, if you are in the reverse situation, problems for our heroes. You might want to experiment to bring up your Bing rankings before it becomes critical.
You use Yahoo!'s paid search but not Bing's. Time to crank up that Bing account. It won't happen immediately, but Yahoo! will eventually send their ads packing and it makes sense for you to get familiar with Microsoft adCenter and start dialing up your campaign now.
You use Bing paid search but not Yahoo!'s. Get ready for an influx of traffic but also a hit to your budget. Your paid search costs will likely triple, if you haven't capped them. That might not be an issue if you are happy to get more profitable traffic, but you ought to be prepared.
You use both Yahoo! and Bing paid search already. How this affects you depends on how well you are doing with each search engine. Over the next few months, you ought to spend way more time optimizing your Bing paid search results.

Most of the companies that I work with tell me that they are using Google AdWords but are not working with any other paid search program. For you, nothing will change on the paid side if the deal goes through, but you might want to re-examine that stance. Perhaps it made sense to forego all the extra work of managing two vendors to try to get that 30% share, but should you make the same decision when it is half the work?

It's unclear whether Microsoft's latest search strategy will make any dramatic inroads on Google (I'm betting that it won't), but 30% of the market is nothing to sneeze at. (I'm not sure why sneezing is an issue, but just stick with me here.) If you've been looking for a low-effort way to improve your paid search results, doing some experimenting with Microsoft adCenter over the next few months might be a good use of time. If the deal is approved, you'll have already learned what works and you'll be reaping the benefits at a time when your competitors are just noticing that the world has changed.

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The 3 Variables of Google Local Search

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:01:12 -0600

by Jeff Howard

Sometimes organic search seems straight forward, type in a keyword and returned is a list of 10 recommended websites. Of course, getting to the top isn't so simple, but the notion that once you arrive at the top, traffic will ensue is a hypothesis hard to deny. Local search results don't play into this scheme. They have variables such as size of the map, and definition of a region's center that combine with trust, a citation, or sometimes what I call "sureness factors" to determine what businesses should be recommended. This post isn't a blueprint for better local rankings, but it certainly may provoke some thought as to the variables Google uses when providing local results. Here are the 3 variables of local search.

The size of the area as defined by the keyword search, or map space being viewed.
Google's sureness that in fact there is a business at the listed address doing what it says.
How Google defines the region's center, either by keyword or map parameters like zoom level.

Here is an example that will help explain the variables. Take a look at the results for "Pittsburgh Dry Cleaner," don't search this on the /maps, do a typical web search. Google returns a map very broadly defining Pittsburgh. It doesn't just show downtown, it shows an entire region. Google is classifying Pittsburgh as a large region, and not just a downtown area. This is the first variable taken into consideration when delivering local results. That is the size of the map which is signaled either by the map viewing size and zoom, or the keyword searched.

Within these results are dry cleaners from the city, suburbs, and a few in between. The reason I believe these results are picked out of all the possible dry cleaners around Pittsburgh is because Google is either a) trying to show there are dry cleaners randomly everywhere in Pittsburgh (possible, but I think not as likely), or b) Google is only showing the dry cleaners it feels the strongest about. In other words, it is most sure these dry cleaners are at the location specified, and of course that dry cleaning is actually going on there (it could all be a front:). Thanks to the handy work of David Mihm, Andrew Shortland, and Mike Blumenthal there are methods to let Google and other mapping search engines know where you're located, and in fact you do what you do. Some of these aspects include:

Having your address listed with major data providers.
Claiming your listing at the local business center.
Having reviews either at Google or elsewhere.
Listing your business in the proper categories once it's been claimed.

The third variable I believe that goes into play is the center of the region as defined either by the keyword searched, or by how Google is interpreting the center of a metro region. This is tricky to explain, and I hope to do it through an example below. My belief is that the center of a metro area is the weakest of the three variables.

Examples of the Variables at Work

Now let's take a look at some more examples, and how results change with searches. Here are the results for the web search "Pittsburgh Dry Cleaner"

A. Galardi's 30 Minute Cleaners
B. Squirrel Hill Dry Cleaning
C. Footer's Dry Cleaners & Tlrs
D. Owen's Dry Cleaners
E. Four Seasons Dry Cleaners
F. Footer's Dry Cleaners & Tlrs
G. Suburban Dry Cleaners

Here are the results for the same search, "Pittsburgh Dry Cleaners," but this time searched at /maps.

A. Galardi's 30 Minute Cleaners
B. Squirrel Hill Dry Cleaning
C. Footer's Dry Cleaners & Tlrs
D. Four Seasons Dry Cleaners
E. Footer's Dry Cleaners & Tlrs
F. Strong Dry Cleaners
G. Excel Dry Cleaners

Notice the result vary from D - G. This I believe is because the map on the web results page is at a slightly different zoom level than the /maps results. Since the maps vary in size as defined by the viewing space and zoom level, results are different. And again since Google is defining Pittsburgh as a large region, it's not just showing dry cleaners downtown. If you zoom in you'll find more than one dry cleaner downtown.

Now let's look at a smaller region example within Pittsburgh. Search "Squirrel Hill Dry Cleaner" on the web search. No map. Okay, now search "Squirrel Hill Dry Cleaner" on /maps. Google redefines the map by zoom, and determines a new center. This is where ambiguity comes in for Google. It understands that Squirrel Hill is a specific region in Pittsburgh, but how it defines the center is probably debatable, and again it is showing the dry cleaners based on elements of sureness. Here are the listings for the /maps search "Squirrel Hill Dry Cleaner"

A. Footer's Dry Cleaners & Tlrs
B. Squirrel Hill Dry Cleaning
C. Four Seasons Dry Cleaners
D. Colonial Cleaners
E. Runner's Cleaners
F. Lord Duncan Cleaners
G. Hohman Cleaners‎

Now on the map begin dragging the map toward the right, after a few drags toward Frick Park the listing all reorganize. A new center is defined, here are the results based on the new parameters of the map. C and B switch. E is new, F and G are new.

A. Footer's Dry Cleaners & Tlrs‎
B. Four Seasons Dry Cleaners
C. Squirrel Hill Dry Cleaning
D. Colonial Cleaners
E. Lord Duncan Cleaners‎
F. Pittsburgh Gown Cleaners
G. Dry Cleaning & Laundry

For a final demonstration, zoom in all the way down to the second to last notch, and go to the corner of Murray Ave. and Pocusset Street (here is the link). Notice the previous results that were C and E have now become A and B, and there are only two results.

A. Lord Duncan Cleaners
B. Colonial Cleaners

These are the variables at work which are size of the map either defined by zoom and screen space, Google sureness, and finally how the center is defined, a weaker variable.

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Interview with Larry Kim WordStream Founder - 2 of 2

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:29:25 -0600

by Sage Lewis

Interview Part 2 of 2 - WordStream continues to push the boundaries of key phrase research - how to use it and how to advance the effectiveness of key phrase research. You'll want to watch both of these videos to see what WordStream is doing and how it could effect your overall keyword campaigns - in both organic and in paid.

Watch Part 1 of the interview.

Check out our small business news site.

Interview with Larry Kim WordStream Founder - 1 of 2

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:17:53 -0600

by Sage Lewis

WordStream continues to push the boundaries of key phrase research - how to use it and how to advance the effectiveness of key phrase research. You'll want to watch both of these videos to see what WordStream is doing and how it could effect your overall keyword campaigns - in both organic and in paid.

Watch Part 2 of the interview.

Check out our small business news site.

I'm Afraid Right Now

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:44:24 -0600

by Sage Lewis

I talk a lot about fear because I know exactly what it's like to be afraid. I wanted to do this video right now because I'm just coming off of being afraid of money issues. This is how I'm dealing with it.

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Tony Hsieh Zappos CEO Keynote at PubCon 2009

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:05:26 -0600

by Jason Dowdell

Tony Hsieh, has been the Zappos CEO since 2000 after investing in Zappos with his venture fund. In a former life Tony was the cofounder of Link Exchange, which was acquired by Microsoft in 1998 for $265 million. Speaking of acquisitions, the Zappos acquisition by Amazon just closed November 1st and totaled $1.2 billion. Now just to be clear, Tony didn't go into a bunch of web marketing tactics, seo tricks or ppc strategies. His keynote address at PubCon was all about the corporate culture and core values of Zappos. If you think about it, that's a lot like on-site seo architecture since both serve as a foundation for future success.

Here are a few highlights from his keynote address regarding Zappos.

They want to talk to their customers and actually consider it a marketing investment.
Their 800 number is at the top of every page of their site.Oh, by the way, they have about 11 subdomains linked from their www site.
Offer free shipping both ways.
365 day return policy.
75% of their orders are from repeat customers.
They often do surprise upgrades to next day shipping.
You can place an order at midnight and receive your shoes by 8am the following day.
Their number one priority is company culture (no surprise there for SEG readers).
They offer tours of their headquarters in Las Vegas and those tours are open to the public. You won't be escorted by a PR liason but rather by a Zappos employee and after the tour you're escorted to the lunch room and allowed to roam around and check out the company. Talk about trust, wow! Oh yeah, if you fly in for a tour of Zappos, they'll shuttle you to their headquarters via the Zappos shuttle, not too shabby.

Some interesting sites to learn more about Zappos are Zappos Life, Zappos Tv and Zappos Insights (their goal was to scale their on-site tours to registered members in order to open their culture to more corporations). I also find it interesting that Zappos.com links to about 30 different social media sites including Twitter and AddThis. My favorite quote from Tony's speech was "Customer service is not a department, its the entire company". I think that sums up his speech quite well.

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Search Marketing Is Easier Than You Think

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:56:43 -0600

by Mike Moran

Not long ago, I spoke to a group of local chemical manufacturers on Internet marketing. (You can download my slides on "How the Web Changes the Old Marketing Rules.") After the talk, I sat next to an veteran business owner at dinner, someone who clearly appreciated the talk but also felt a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of Internet marketing, especially search marketing. I was happy to put him a little at ease, because he really knows a lot more than he thought he did.

He told me that he is running his business long after he expected to retire, not because he needs the money, but because he wants to pass his business along to his daughter so that she will have a solid paycheck. But he also told me that he feels out of touch with how marketing is done today. He knows how to develop a product that customers want and he knows how to spin his Rolodex to sell it, but he doesn't really understand marketing, especially Internet marketing.

Image by cbcastro via Flickr

He said that his daughter is more computer-savvy than he is, and that she is the person who works their Web site, but he doesn't really know how to help her. I was happy to tell him what he needed to know, which is that he has forgotten more about his business than most people will ever know, and that all he needs to do is to share it.

He is an expert on his products. He knows exactly what customer problems they solve. And, from years of sales, he knows exactly how to persuade a customer to buy.

That's how he can help his daughter. He needs to write down (or dictate) his thoughts to be posted on the site. He could do a few write-ups posted as Web pages, or start a regular blog, even if someone else has to post it.

He has plenty to say:

What customers need. He can tell stories collected over the years of problems customers have and how they were solved.
How the products work. He can describe in great deal the differences between one product and another, especially in terms of how it helps the customer.
Specialty uses for the products. He can tell stories describing the most unusual uses for his products, to help customers think more broadly about what they do.

Before you know it, you can have a few articles every week and begin attracting search traffic. See, I just explained the basics of search marketing without anything technical—because search marketing is easier than you think, at least when you are an expert in what you do.

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Amygdala hijacking - Don't let it happen to you.

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:40:33 -0600

by Sage Lewis

This is unfortunately how we all often respond to modern day problems and issues. Here are some tips on stopping this cycle from reoccurring.

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Neocortex - You At Your Best

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:25:29 -0600

by Sage Lewis

The neocortex is the newest part of your brain. "The cells in the neocortex are arranged in six layers, within which different regions permit vision, hearing, touch, the sense of balance, movement, emotional responses and every other feat of cognition."

This part of your brain is the real you. This is the part of the brain that will set you free.

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A Reptile Is Controlling You

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:44:49 -0600

by Sage Lewis

I want to talk about how fear is being processed in your brain and how it's all out of whack with modern day society.

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