Adding Quality Content To Your Blog.

The page views have spoken! Below we have gathered SEO Boy’s four most visited, and hopefully most valuable, articles from August. Whether you’re a new or long-time subscriber you may have missed these insightful and helpful SEO management tips. Enjoy!

Are you prepared for the Yahoo & Bing merger?  Only a short while longer, and its go time!  If you’re anything like us here at Hanapin Marketing, you’re constantly looking for more tips on optimizing sites for Bing.  Well do I have a treat for you! Compliments of Jenny, here are some tips to help you prepare for the merger.

Pinching pennies?  Check out Eric’s post, “Lean and Mean SEO.  He offers sound advice about why maintaining your marketing budget is important, especially throughout the recession.  He also offers tips on cost efficient ways to supplement your marketing.

Looking for ways to measure your SEO?  The bounce rate is a statistic that is relatively easy to explain and understand, plus it offers good insight into the site’s traffic.  Caleb discusses why Bounce rate is a good metric and offers general guidelines for evaluating bounce rate.

Considering a site redesign?  Doing keyword research for your current site?  Be weary of optimizing a site for unrelated keywords.  Finn sounds off about the threat of keyword dilution and weighs the options of utilizing sub-domains, versus separate domains.

Every once in awhile something happens in a work week so jaw-dropping, so utterly unbelievable that it puts the rest of your week into perspective and makes you feel better about your own skill sets.

Take for example the exchange I had with a potential online advertiser my employer is considering using. And “yup,” if one of the middle-management guys over there wasn’t a buddy of mine, I probably would have been evil about it.

Me: Hey, is this link important?
(15 minutes later)
Buddy: Uhhh, where did you get that?
Me: You AE didn’t leave their email address so I searched for it. That link was the first result.
(15 minutes later)
Buddy: There’s a director over here that  about messed their pants.

What was that link?

Apparently the director was using a browser-based, 3rd party spreadsheet tool (not Google docs) that had all the advertiser’s clients, which Account Executive(s) was assigned which account, the frequency of use and, my favorite, little notes to jog his memory about the account.
Such clever notes included:
“Late”
“Always have to resize ads”
“Restyle to 4c [cymk]”
and, of course
“need payment.”

Now the director found out the hard way that “public” doesn’t mean “my staff can read it.” But for the AE in digital media, it is simply inexcusable that searches for your name in general and in relation to your company bring up next to nothing. No business contact info, no social media presence not that you need social media, not even a phone number.

And, yes, absolutely, their employer should share in the blame. But if the employer is wrapped up in client work and can’t get to fixing the problem right away, here’s a few steps to take to get it working for yourself.

1) Make a Google Account – Yes, sounds like an unnecessary step, but if you don’t have any search results (an impressive feet by the way), then you probably don’t have a Google Account. Sign up for a Google Account via this link.

2) Set up Google Alerts for your name - Click this link for Google Alerts. Follow the instructions. They’re pretty simple. Then every time Google finds something that has your name on it, it will send an email update to you email account. It’s like magic.

3) Set up Social Media Profiles – if you don’t have your own website or are not active online, fake it. Chris Brogan made a list of 50 social media sites to consider. Use it as a Checklist. Fill out the base information and then let them know how they can contact you. If you want to shortcut, try these:

• Facebook (get 25 friends and then make a url for your name [Facebook.com/yourbeautifulname])
• Twitter.com - make your user name your real name
• Linkedin – the “business” one. I recommend getting familiar with this one.
• Ning - find some network to pretend to be in.

With minimal effort, you should be able to get those up to the first page. And you might want to practice those tools, like Linkedin – the “business one”, because if you’re in digital advertising and your boss doesn’t know that browser-based applications can be indexed in search engines, y’all might be in trouble.

What Other Online Reputation 101 Steps Do You Recommend?

If you haven’t already seen it YouTube has recently added two targeting features which enable advertisers to have more control on what videos their ads are placed on. Age restriction and video or channel URL restriction. Age restriction is not a self service feature, and will require you to work with your official Youtube representative but URL restriction is a feature you can enable yourself.

Click to read the rest of this post…

A company logo can make a big difference in today’s competitive online marketplace, making its design one of the most important jobs a business owner will ever entrust to someone. One website has decided that crowdsourcing will yield the best results, and has introduced an intriguing new concept to business logo design.

LogoDesignGuru.com invites entrepreneurs and other business owners to visit the site and fill out a form with the creative and conceptual specifications of a project, which will then go out to a community of thousands of designers who will compete for the job. The project holder sets the amount of “prize money” to be awarded to the winner, $19 and 7.5 percent of which goes to Guru for listing and processing fees. The project holder can upload as many return submissions as they want and have unlimited collaborations with the designers, and Guru offers a money-back guarantee if they do not receive at least 30 logo concepts in the initial exchange.

The average price for business logos has been around $250, and other projects to be awarded in the process have included brochures, Web templates and more. Guru’s growing design community has shown as much enthusiasm for the idea as its customers have thus far since it gives them a market in which to showcase their talents and earn jobs.

Today Apple launched Ping. You can get the full story on ClickZ who covered the announcement. Were you expecting apple to launch a music social network today?

Click to read the rest of this post…

The calendar is winding down on the multitude of back-to-school promotions, but the Labor Day weekend and following week historically generate some of the year’s best sales for merchants dealing in fashion, electronics and other school-related supplies. We did a little homework of our own and discovered that the following retailers are still in mid-season form, making them strong candidates for a timely, end-of-summer affiliate connection.

Payless
The discount footwear provider is offering back-to-school sales on numerous well-known brands and designer labels for boys, girls and students of any age. Payless is currently offering a buy one, get half off on everything deal that includes $5.95 flat fee shipping. The free affiliate program is managed through Commission Junction, and new partners can participate in sales programs as well as non-sales programs, earning either a percentage commission from sales events or a fixed dollar amount from non-sales events.

Marshalls
If the more than a quarter million fans on Marshall’s back-to-school Facebook page are any indication, this is an ideal time to partner with the deal-friendly fashion retailer. Sales of up to 60 percent off of designer and brand names are taking place every day of the year at Marshall’s, so it ranks high on the list of destinations for savvy September shoppers. Marshall’s affiliate partners can register through the TJX Companies, Inc.

Best Buy
Whether it’s the latest in laptops, PCs, printers, tablet computers, software or games, Best Buy always has some of the best bargains for students. The leading consumer electronics retailer provides its affiliates with a library of text links, weekly banner ads, widgets and an open API for the company’s product catalog. Partners also receive weekly newsletters and special announcements to help them take advantage of Best Buy’s ongoing promotions and services.

Staples
The back-to-school savings at Staples are both legendary and heavily promoted, and affiliates who join the program now will surely reap the benefits year-round. From notebooks, pencils and pens to file cabinets, desks and entire home offices, the retail giant covers all of a student’s needs with more than 45,000 products. Partners are paid for every purchase made through their sites and Staples takes care of all the details, including processing, shipping and tracking.

OneWayFurniture.com 
Students who are leaving home this fall can buy furniture direct from the manufacturers through this online retailer, who then arranges for direct “one way” shipping to campuses all over the U.S. Customers can find deals of between 30 and 70 percent off on couches, beds, desks and other suitable dorm or apartment fare without having to work through a middle man. Affiliate partners earn 6 percent commissions on everything sold, and One Way offers a 90-day cookie and a $10 Cash Activation Bonus paid at the end of the month.

GiftBaskets.com
Also with the college student in mind, this Hayneedle-owned site is the leader in creative gift baskets for any occasion, including an array of clever back-to-school themed care packages. Economically priced and generously stuffed, these baskets and their many accessories earn up to 8 percent commissions for affiliate partners on every order, no matter how large or small. Affiliates receive payments each month via check, direct deposit or PayPal.

Apple made some announcements today, some of which is addressed on this week's edition of Website Magazine Radio. Also, we talk with Lev Mazin, CEO of AskYourTargetMarket.com, a nice tool to conduct market research at an affordable price. Finally, we address our reader question of the week about how to get your organization noticed – for free.

Listen now, and subcribe to Website Magazine Radio in iTunes!

LISTEN NOW!  (Please visit the site to view this media)

Direct Download (right click and save)

If you would like to have your questions answered on Website Magazine Radio, please send email to mike@websitemagazine.com with "WM Radio" in the subject field.

At some point during the crush of Connected Marketing Week, Experian Hitwise announced the launch of two new premium Search Intelligence products that can improve your search marketing performance. I just found the press release in my email, so I hope you don’t mind if I finally get around to reporting the “news.”

Click to read the rest of this post…

After hours upon hours in the development lab, Website Magazine is pleased to announce the availability of its iPad application "Website Magazine Digital".

Search for "Website Magazine Digital" within the App Store or download the app directly from your iPad now.

Website Magazine has also created an informational page on the new application, complete with details on features, screenshots and a quick video demonstration.

<< Take a tour of the app now >> 

Website Magazine is very interested in hearing your feedback so take the app for a spin and share your experience with us at ipad@websitemagazine.com.