Businesses are taking full advantage of Google+ to promote their products and services. But you may be saying, "Great, but why should my business be on Google+ when I'm already on Facebook?" Comparisons between Google+ and Facebook are as numerous as the pages each display on the Internet. Here's why Google+ is better. 5 Ways Google+ kicks Facebook to the Curb 1. It's more flexible. You can create a page not only for your business, but for whatever product or service you want to promote. It’s important to note that Google won't automatically...

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Last year Google changed the marketing game by changing its search engine algorithms. And then changing them. And then…wait for it…changing them again. With all these changes it’s hard for marketers to keep up, but it’s imperative that we do. So let’s review. Content Is Still King for First Page Google Ranking One of the biggest changes post Panda is the effect content has on first page Google results. The mega engine brought the sickle down on content farms, and many sites have paid the price. Sites that filled their pages with irrelevant k...

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The year is fresh, and most likely you're thinking about the year ahead. As you plan and strategize your marketing plan for 2012, keep in mind that social media is ever evolving. While we don’t have a crystal ball to predict what the next big app or site will be, we can certainly speculate (and social media experts have) the manner in which we will use social media going forward. The Power of the People The best way experts can predict the future is to look at the past. In 2011, we learned how powerful social media can be: From Alec Baldwin u...

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Internet critics complain that Big Brother is always watching. They dislike the amount of information that is readily shared online and some have even raised questions regarding the legality of shared information. With all of the debate on user privacy and the Internet, one thing is for sure: Sites are starting to take notice. Recently Google announced it would be encrypting search results so that marketers and site owners can no longer identify what keywords logged-in users enter into Google before reaching your website. Basically, this means...

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Tune into any conversation lately on SEO and you’ll hear experts argue about link building. Some argue it’s still a tried and true method to increasing SEO, while others will say search engine algorithms are becoming sophisticated enough to throw out pages laden with links, therefore you shouldn’t bother with it at all. It can be difficult to determine who is right in this fight, so better to be safe than sorry. While link building can be costly, in many cases there are things you can do implement this SEO strategy and not break the bank. The ...

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In case you haven't noticed, there's a new kid on the social networking block…well, sort of. While Google Buzz and Google Wave failed to make any buzz or waves, so far Google+ has received rave reviews. How Google+ is Different Many are already comparing Google+ to Facebook, which makes sense seeing as though Facebook has been the longtime front runner in social networking. However, those who have had a chance to explore Google+ have found the features to be a cut above Facebook. Here are some of those ...

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Experts agree that the +1 button, which in the future will be associated with Google+, is going to have a positive impact on SEO. Similar to the “Like” feature of Facebook, +1 allows people to recommend a website, business or service. The difference with Google+1 is the ability to have that visitor recommendation affect search engine results. According to a study done by Hubspot, websites that featured Google’s +1 had more traffic than other websites. “At HubSpot, we looked at data from our entire customer base (more than 5,000 businesses). W...

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It’s no surprise that search engines are getting more sophisticated as time goes by. This is obvious in the growing popularity of StumbleUpon, a discovery engine that is able to find and recommend web content specific to each user. While you may personally like the evolution of a tailored search engine, your client or targeted audience may not. Why? Because StumbleUpon basically puts users (otherwise known as “stumblers”) into interest-specific silos, making it difficult to penetrate a new audience. Example: Your client makes organic granola b...

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Being popular used to get you a date to the prom. Now it gets you sales. According to SEOMoz 2011 Ranking Factors Guide, search engines are weighing social media components more heavily than ever. The guide shows opinions collected from search marketers over a six-year span. And, just as in high school, their research shows that it’s not enough just to show up and have a social media presence. You have to be liked and shared as well. (You really never do leave high school, do you?) The Guide claims that Facebook is the top generator of relate...

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It used to be that search engines ignored videos—at least as far as rankings were concerned. But not anymore. According to Forrester Research, pages that contained videos were 53 times more likely than traditional web pages to receive a first-page ranking. If you visit Google and type the phrase “How to ____,” you’ll most likely see the first few results involve a video either on YouTube or eHow. A lot of businesses don’t think their sites are worthy of video. They need to think again. Videos enhance SEO, whether it’s a tutorial that shows an...

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We're all told that once a year we should have a checkup--take time to see a doctor to make sure our blood's okay, discuss any problems and get a rundown on what we need to improve. Inevitably, we'll walk away either happy we went or sorry we went. But whether the news is good or bad, it's still important to do it. Even bad news can save a life. A routine checkup can also save your business--just Google your site. Does it show up? If it does, you're doing well. If it doesn't, it may be time to consult a specialist. While the causes for this un...

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If you're an avid reader, you probably didn’t mind those summer reading assignments back in the day. You may have been one of those few people who had all of your required reading assignments done by the fourth of July. But if you’re like the rest of us slackers, you may have rented the movie, gotten the Cliff Notes or skipped the assignment altogether in favor of a rockin' party. The bottom line is this: Right or wrong, watching a video or reading a synopsis is faster, and in most cases easier, than reading page after page about it. We can f...

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Well-written web content laden with rich keywords can boost SEO, but many argue that the use of content targeting can shoot site traffic numbers into the stratosphere. But what is content targeting, exactly? Well for one thing, it’s not free. It's a form of paid inclusion, meaning search engine companies charge fees to add websites to their search indexes. The process involves matching keywords AND content with search queries. It’s one thing to research keywords and see what words or terms are most popular, but conte...

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We know what you're saying: "As if it wasn’t enough to worry about keywords, excellent content and links, now I have to worry about site speed?" And to answer your question: Yes, site speed does affect SEO. As Google is evolving and its algorithms change, the search engine is now taking into account how long it takes for a site to load. Site Speed More Important Than SEO Page Rank Let’s take Google algorithms out of the equation for a minute. (No pun intended) Consider this: You Google a phrase such as “Travel Agents in New Jersey.” On th...

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Every business owner is concerned the bottom line. No matter how passionate you may be about the product or service you are promoting, at the end of the day it's about making money. One of the key components business owners turn to when trying to increase revenue is sales and marketing. People in the business world spend money going to seminars and sales training trying to learn the best strategies and tactics to keep the money machine running, but will that work? Perhaps. Yes, sales and marketing are important. However selling on the Internet...

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Running a business involves numbers. You need to know how much revenue is coming in and compare that number against your costs. In order to be profitable you may need to make adjustments accordingly. How you make those adjustments depends on the analysis of your budget, what is coming in and what is going out.Just as you analyze your business budget to stay profitable, you need to analyze your website to ensure its effectiveness. Web analytic software measures how many people visit your site, how long they stay there, how they fi...

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Remember the Yellow Pages, that stone-age search engine? Once upon a time when one needed a product or service, one would refer to a book with yellow pages inside. In that book there would be names of local businesses with contact information and perhaps even an advertisement. With the invention of the Internet, businesses and consumers were not limited by geography, ultimately opening the doors for global commerce. Well, in theory that is true, however when it comes to SEO, geography can still be somewhat limiting...

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Headlines and subheads are perhaps your best weapon in the battle for SEO. They not only help organize your site and make it easier for your readers to digest your content, but may also help search engines bring your readers there to begin with. According to Stephan Spencer, founder and president of the SEO firm Netconcepts, the content you use for headings is very important. “Heading tags are given more weight by search engines than regular body copy,” Spencer writes. Knowing that search engines give more weight to heading tags mean...

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Tiers, like keywords, have an effect on your SEO. But it's not as complicated as you think!

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Tips for updating your SEO marketing plan for 2011.

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