Tips, advice, and thoughts on Internet Marketing

Duplicate content and ranking concerns outweighed by benefits...

Mike McDonald from WebProNews spreads in his article "Content Syndication is your Friend..." good news for all who have struggled with this topic. Here the first paragraph of Mike's article:

"Content duplication has been a buzz topic in SEO for a while now. You can read about it til you puke and never have to leave WebProNews.com. It's one of the modern webmaster's favorite things to fret over and has been for at least two years."

Read more about Duplicate Content  or watch the video below.

PC Magazine has published an interesting article about Google Dashboard and what Google knows about us. Read Lance Ulanoff's article " Google Dashboard knows too much - Google has finally revealed what it knows about me, and it's a lot".

Here Ulanoff's first paragraph:
Thanks to Google's new Dashboard feature, anyone with a Google account (essentially a Gmail address) can see everything the company is tracking about them. It's an amazing, one-stop shopping tool for managing all of Google's services as they pertain to you. It features, among other services, Gmail, Google Search Results Alerts, Calendar, Contacts, Docs, iGoogle, Latitude, Picasa Web albums, YouTube, and of course Web History. Virtually everything you've done with Google and its array of services can be found here, in sometimes excruciating detail.

The rest of the article is partly amusing and as well reason for concern. And it does not need much imagination to assume, that other search engines do the same data mining.

So, what can Internet users do if they don't want to be so obviously tracked by Google and other search entities?
A few measures come to my mind:

1. Removed all tool bars, for a while already known as spy bars.
2. Perform your searches without being logged in to an iGoogle or MyYahoo and so on
3. Spread your search over multiple search engines and your emails over multiple email accounts
4. Clean out your PC's temporary files and cookies regularly; various website not only their own cookies, but read all cookies to learn about browsing habits
5. Be aware,
   - that your IP address already tells your geographical location and your Internet Service Provider
   - and that your browser communicates your operation system, browser and much more.

Last by not least, everybody should know by now that there is no privacy on the Internet; at a minimum your Internet Service Provider records and knows everything about your Internet use and can be subpoenaed ... 

There was some interesting discussion among my WSI colleagues this week about whether anyone had heard of a certain company (Company X**) promising -- no, guaranteeing -- top positions on the search engines.  It seems a client received an email solicitation from Company X and the client wanted more information. 

A quick Google search revealed numerous complaints of this company for spamming and dubious business practices.  Interestingly enough,  even if you just Google their name, there are negative posts about their company on page one.  A lot of companies in California are complaining they got the same email from Company X, stating they can improve their rankings and so forth.  Lots have tried and have been disappointing with the service.

Regardless, if I was comparing two SEO companies - I would not base my decision just on the price or how many directories they submit to and so forth.  I would base it on:

1. Knowledge & professionalism
2. Experience
3. Results

Knowledge, Professionalism, and Experience:

Look for one-on-one interaction with a knowledgeable professional who will analyze your website and provide reports on its strengths and weaknesses from an SEO (search engine optimization) and internet marketing perspective.  You should receive an internet business analysis (IBA) report that discusses the findings.

However, the provider should not just limit it to SEO.  Your IBA report should include information that discusses PPC, Email Marketing, Conversion Architecture, Social Media, Web Analytics and so forth - so that way you understand the bigger Internet Marketing picture through a variety of techniques - and, of course, a primary focus on conversions.

Getting targeted traffic is easy.  You can simply pay Google for paid advertising and you will get targeted traffic; but, that is only half the battle.  If no one converts, picks up the phone and calls you, fills out your online form, opts in for your newsletter, adds a product to the shopping cart, reads your blog, watches your video or whatever the goal of your website is, the results will be less than satisfactory.

Results:

Your provider should have an army full of resources and references you can use and an Internet Marketing Consultant who is willing to walk with you as your internet marketing plan is executed.  They should also be willing to share a case study portfolio that works for you or one that shows work you have done in that vertical to prove results.

Consider this Integrated Marketing case study for a Norfolk VA Medical Spa client on how to dominate local search results.  It discusses how the integration of a full campaign (SEO, SMO, PPC, Analytics and so forth) enabled domination of the local search market for certain keyphrases.

Here are a few other Case Studies or you can check.  We have many, many more but like I mentioned earlier, check with your providers to see what they've done before deciding to embark on a new campaign.

[** NOTE:  It's not our style to call out competitors in an effort to position ourselves favorably in the marketinplace, so we won't reveal the company name here.  If you want more info privately, hit me with an email and I'll pass the company name on (darren@wsiseoexpert.com). ]

This is a quick "how to" post for anyone who is needing to transfer a domain name from one GoDaddy account to another GoDaddy account.  If you're like me, you've discovered the customer service and pricing at GoDaddy is pretty darn good.  And if you are managing a lot of clients' domain names, it's much easier to manage it under one account than trying to manage it under several different accounts.  Thus, if you get a new client who has a domain name under a GoDaddy account, you'll probably want to transfer it to your account. 

Yes, navigating through the uncharted waters of the monstrous GoDaddy domain control center can be daunting so here's a quick video to show you how it's done.  I hope it helps.

Need more info, check out this GoDaddy.com article:  http://help.godaddy.com/article/822?

Darren Kincaid
SEM Strategist
Internet Marketing Consultant

I love Google Analytics.  It's a great tool that keeps getting better all the time.  However, as much as we use it (hundreds of WSI Southeast clients benefit from website analytics reporting), there are little nuances that we still learn about Google Analytics from time to time. 

A recent question from a colleague reminded me of one of those "little nuances" that had eluded my best explanation for a long time.  He wanted to know why there are so many visits that end up with 0.00.  He noticed that every bounce ended up with a Time On Site recording of 0.00 minutes.  Here's the way Google explains it:

Excerpt from the Google Analytics Blog

"The way that Google Analytics calculates average time on site is by subtracting the timestamps between the first and the last pageview of a visit.  If a visitor to your site bounced, they by definition only had one pageview.  Therefore it is impossible to calculate an average time on site for visitors that bounced because they did not have a second pageview.  There is no way for Google Analytics to know exactly when a visitor left the site since no information is sent back to GA when the visitor closes their browser or navigates to a different site.

In the case a of a bounce, GA assigns a time on site of 0 seconds and then averages that in with the time on site for all other visitors that did not bounce to calculate an average time on the site."

Elaborating further

A bounce means a user only visited one page and left the site.  Thus, there is no way Google can track to see how long you were on that page if you don't go anywhere else.

For example, if you came to the Home page of a website at 11:25 am, and then you clicked on an internal link (the Contact Us page, for example) at 11:28 am, Google Analytics does the math and knows you were on the homepage for 3 minutes.

On the other hand, if you came to Home page at 11:25 am, stayed there for 3 minutes and then left the website without clicking on another page, Google Analytics cannot determine how long you were there.

So, if you are seeing a high bounce rate or a very poor time on page average, it could be that you need to redesign your page to encourage click-throughs to the desired conversion point.

Darren Kincaid
SEM Strategist
Internet Marketing Consultant

Within the WSI network, we have a bi-weekly Talk Show where we talk about all kinds of different subjects.  It's our way of staying on top of the Internet's ever-changing landscape.  On yesterday's show, we talked about Twitter to a degree that I haven't heard yet from anyone in the network.  One fo the participants, Darin "Doc" Berntson passed on some great info for us to share with the network.  He also passed on two good attachments:

Doc's Top 24 tips, tricks, recommendations, & links:

1. Here is a great ebook that was just released called The Conversational Corporation
2. A really good recent blog post from Chris Brogan  http://www.chrisbrogan.com/a-simple-presence-framework/
3. Free URL shortener http://bit.ly - Here you can track open rates etc.
4. Another shortener I use is http://hootsuite.com/ Here you can not only track tweets, but you can schedule them for automated deployment as well.
5. See how your twitter account is performing, or look at other popular users as well by using http://twitteranalyzer.com and you can also check out http://www.tweetstats.com
6. My favorite real time search tool is http://tweetgrid.com/ where you can monitor keywords so you can respond in real time.
7. An advanced tool you can use for monitoring is http://www.peoplebrowsr.com/ - Here you can also auto follow people who use keywords you designate.
8. Another auto follow system is http://twollow.com Personally I do not use it as I want to generate more of a personal relationship following, but if you are a brand looking to connect, this may be a good solution.
9. Find interesting stuff to tweet about by checking out http://alltop.com/
10. 2 great desktop applications for Twitter are:
    http://tweetdeck.com/beta/ 
    http://desktop.seesmic.com/
    Both are updating their systems quite often and adding new functionality. Both allow for grouping, searching and multiple accounts.
11. An advanced multi-user system for brands using twitter so many people can tweet from the same account is https://cotweet.com/
12. There are numerous tools available to track what’s being said about you. Some are free, like Social Mention, Google Alerts, Filtrbox, BackType and, of course, Twitter.
13. There are also premium solutions available as well, like Radian6, Nielsen BuzzMetrics, Cision Social Media and Trackur to name just a few.
14. To help with your twitter relationships, remember this daily mantra: Daily reminder to take 5 mins and reply/retweet others, nothing about u. Engage, interact, build
15. Cool Twitter grader system. http://twitter.grader.com
16. Here are all the grader tools... website grader is very cool as well! http://www.grader.com/
17. An awesome week of classes... and they are free, and will be archived. http://www.inboundmarketing.com
18. An online twitter "yellow pages" http://www.twellow.com
19. Another brand management tool - free and paid version http://techrigy.com/
20. Some Twitter Background resorces
    http://www.twitterbackgrounds.com/
    http://www.twitbacks.com/
    http://mashable.com/2009/05/23/twitter-backgrounds/
    http://twitterbackgroundsgallery.com/ Very cool place to go for inspiration
21. Great case study info by @chrisbrogan http://delicious.com/chrisbrogan/casestudy
22. Some pretty cool twitter applications http://twtapps.com/
23. A cool "Social Media System" from Duct Tape Marketing http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2009/01/22/my-social-media-system/ A good place to start in figuring out what to do on a daily basis
24. Another cool twitter search client - newest one on the block http://www.twazzup.com/

I hope you find these tips from our friend Doc as useful as I do.  You can find out more about what's on Doc's mind at The Doc Block.  Thanks for reading.

Darren Kincaid
SEM Strategist
Internet Marketing Consultant

So you have a new website. Now what?

Already, you're probably being hounded by myriad SEO/internet marketing companies, some from India and some fom the US, promising to get you first page listings on Google.  Sound too good to br true?  It probably is. 

I would caution you to trust any company that promises to get you on top of Google's search results page.  Now understand, we make our living by achieving page 1 rankings through SEO and PPC, but we never promise or guarantee anything because there are a lot of factors that go into search rankings that are out of our control.  For instance, Google changed its algorithm 450 times last year.  That's more than once per day!

So, you can't afford to to pay a professional SEO company for there services.  There are still a couple things you can do on your own for FREE.

Google Local Business Center

Google Local Business Center is a great FREE service offered by Google.  It places your business listing on Google Maps which shows for certain local searches like:  "attorneys Norfolk va" or Norfolk va lawyers." 

You can do the same thing.  Here's what I would do if I were you:

1. Go to www.google.com/lbc
2. Sign up for a Google account by looking for the "Sign up now" link
3. The end of the sign-up process will take you through a Google Local Business Center listing wizard. 
4. Be as thorough as you can, including placing logos and pictures of the attorneys.  Also, make sure your business description is keyword rich, describing all the legal services you provide.
5. You can include your listing on up to 5 categories.  USE ALL OF THEM.
6. IMPORTANT:  be ready to verify your listing.  At the end of the wizard, you will be prompted to verify the listing with a PIN.  You have 2 ways to do this:  phone call or post card.  If you are by your business phone, choose phone.  In 5 minutes, your phone will ring with an automated call from Google, which will provide you a PIN.  Type the PIN into the field and you are done.
7. If you choose post card, you will need to wait 2-3 weeks for your PIN to arrive by mail.
8. It can take several days once the listing is created for it to become active.

Google Analytics

See what's happening on your site as early as tomorrow.  Sign up for your FREE Google Analytics account.  

1. Using the same Google account you created for Google LBC, go to www.google.com/analytics
2. Click the "New to Google Analytics?  Sign Up Now" link
3. Sign in through the login field on the right with your newly created Google account
4. Follow the wizard and when you reach a page that instructs you to place a block of code on your site, copy it into an email and send it to your web developer.  Instruct him/her to place it in front of the following tag on every page:  </body>
5. After they accomplish this task, you can go back to your new analytics account and VERIFY it.
6. Google will start tracking your site visitors and give you great insight into what happening.  You can even set it up to email you weekly, monthly, or quarterly so that you get a nice visual report on site visitors.

I hope this helps.  Good luck out there!

Darren Kincaid
SEM Strategist
Internet Marketing Consultant

One of the issues professional internet marketers run into is how to keep track of numerous client accounts within their Google Analytics (GA) account.  Google will only allow you to create 25 accounts within an account.  Don't ask me why...it's just the way it is.  So, in the early part of my burgeoning career as a professional internet marketer, I hungrily gobbled up my allotted accounts, not knowing I was on a collision course with destiny. 

Then came the day.  I cheerfully logged into my GA account and when attempting to set up a new client, the system reported the dreaded message:  "You have reached your maximum allowed accounts!"  Yikes!  Did that mean I was going to have to create a new account for myself?  Fortunately, a mentor showed me a better way and now I will share that with you.

Here is a Google Analytics best practice for Internet Marketers and serial webmasters

1.   Create a Gmail account specifically for the client (i.e. XYZcompany@gmail.com).  You won't be using the account for anything but setting up login access for Google specific products and services (make sure you take note of the username/password; I always lose these for some reason ;-).  Oh yeah, place your own email address as the secondary email.

2.   While you're still logged into the new account, navigate to www.google.com/analytics. Use the new Gmail account to sign her up for her own analytics account.

3.   At this point, you can grab the GA code and store it in Notepad for later use.  Click Finish

4.   Before exiting, click on the User Manager Add at the bottom

5.   Click Add User.  Set yourself up as an Admin.

6.   Sign out of Google when you are done and sign back in under your account.  You should see her account in your account now.

7.   It’s your decision whether or not to share the new Gmail account username/password with her.  If I were you, I would just email her the reports.  You don’t want clients messing around back there asking all kinds of questions.

Rationale for the procedure:  Google will only allow you to create 25 accounts under your profile.  I currently have 71 under my account and it's growing rapidly.  This is possible because of the process I use above.  I hope this helps new internet marketers and webmasters avoid the problems I had.

Darren Kincaid
SEM Strategist
Internet Marketing Consultant