Titles are the first thing many readers see of your blog posts, videos or other content. They’re used for search engine optimization (SEO), show up in search results, and are the only thing visible on many social networks and content sharing sites. So how should you write your titles? For people? For search engines? Or for Social Networks? Is it possible to write a good title for all of them?
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Mar
25
2010
Google gets a little Creepy in Quest for Ad Performance
Consumers don’t always buy something the minute they show interest in it. They may search for information, ask for recommendations, and browse around the web before making their decision to purchase. This is not that different either online or offline. It takes quite a few touchpoints with each customer before they actually buy from you. Since you’re not likely to buy something the first time you see an ad, Google is increasing the chances that you’ll click through on an ad by having those ads follow you around the web… which is a bit creepy.
If someone sees an ad on one site, Google can now show the same ad or a follow-up ad to just that person when they visit another site which shows Google ads. Since there are millions of sites in the Google Content Network, chances are Google will see them again. The program has been in beta since March, but it is now being rolled out to all AdWords customers. – Google Ads Will Now Follow You Across The Web (TechCrunch)
Mar
23
2010
Google has a Self-Centered Need for Speed
Google has been pushing everything on the web to be faster, faster. Is this all for the greater good? Or does Google have a more self-serving intention?
Google’s need for speed boils down to one very simple thing: money. It realized long ago that every millisecond improvement in pageload times on its search engine resulted in more searches, and thus more search ads served and clicked on. The opposite is also true. Google once did a study
showing that delays of 100 to 400 millisecond in showing search results translated into up to 0.6 percent searches. Multiply that across the billions of searches done on Google and it starts to add up to real money, perhaps tens of millions of dollars per quarter. – Google’s Need For Speed Is About Making You Search More (TechCrunch)
Feb
17
2010
1 Quick Way to Reach Google’s Front Page
This is a guest post by Vincent Roman, friendly web developer & programmer at VincentRoman.com.
If someone told you that you could get great placement in Google, really quickly, with no expenditure, would you beleive them? To hazard a guess, probably not, but then I don’t blame you, however, the reality is yes! “How so?” I hear you ask. Well the answer is simple: Google Local Business Center.
Feb
05
2010
5 tips for success with Local Listings
This is a guest post by Emily Thompson, Online Marketing Coordinator for Kutenda.
Local search has quickly become one of the most cost-effective opportunities for businesses to connect with local prospects. Not only are you getting found by locals searching for YOUR products or services, but statistics show nearly 82 percent of local searches online result in further action: a phone call, site view, in store visit or immediate purchase.* (Source: TMP/comScore, October 2008)
Wondering how to tackle Local Search for your business?
Feb
02
2010
7 Tips for More Shareable Titles (updated)
Titles need to catchy and descriptive, obviously, but in today’s 140 character world, they also need to be shareable. I run into titles all the time that I have to edit in order to share on Twitter – usually because they’re too long, but sometimes because they have too much extra “stuff”. Here’s some tips for making your titles more shareable…
Dec
09
2009
5 search engine optimization tips For small businesses
This is a guest post by Michelle Strassburg, head of Sales and Marketing at Wood and Beyond.
The most important online marketing goal for any small business is to build its channel of organic web traffic. Organic web traffic relates to users finding your business when searching online through the natural search results. So why is it so important you ask? There are many reasons why higher search engine ranking matters, none more important than the fact that it’s free web traffic and users who found your site through the natural search results are more likely to buy a product or order a service. Before we dig deeper into the specifics of how to improve your organic ranking, know this: Unfortunately there are no shortcuts and the process of optimizing your site is a long process which along the way will work at times and won’t at other times.
Nov
11
2009
Review: WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool
WordStream offers a paid keyword and seo tool, which they’ve recently updated with some new features (integration with Google Analytics and their free keyword tool, analysis based on different traffic sources). I’m taking a look at the paid keyword tool for a separate review (and to see if we want to use it), but WordStream also released a free keyword tool back in September that I thought I would take a look at. I mostly use Google AdWord’s tools currently.
Jul
15
2009
Don't We Have More Important Things to Regulate Other Than SEO & Google?
Recently there was a call for the government to regulate Google in terms of how the search engine displays results. The anonymous author of the post called for transparency in terms of how Google’s algorithm works. Reading the post, I became convinced that the author’s company had recently had some type of run-in with Google – which probably means they did something that was against Google’s TOS. Just like any 5-year old that gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar, our anonymous author has started to throw a temper tantrum and scream “It’s not fair!”
Apr
08
2009
Web-based Tools We Use Everyday
We’re an Internet company, so we’re on the nets pretty much all the time. Many of the tools we use every day and couldn’t work without are web-based. We thought we’d share them and find out what you use and like.
Analytics, Statistics & SEO (oh my!)
- HitTail
- Google Analytics
- Google WebMaster Tools
- FeedBurner
- Website Grader
- Twitter Grader
- WHOIS
- SEOQuake
Firefox plugins/clients
Productivity
Images & Design
News
Social Media
What are your favorite tools?
(photo by batega @ Flickr CC)
Technorati tags: analytics, web tools, productivity, social media, business, SEO, marketing
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