A recent study published by Scarborough Research illustrates the importance of Working Moms and your online marketing campaign. The study utilized more than 220,000 adults nationwide and defined the term "Working Mom" as ?Women who are employed full-time and have one or more children in the household?. The study was done to establish an understanding of the Working Mom's lifestyles, including demographics, shopping habits and media behaviors.

According to the Scarborough study, there are approximately 21.6 million Working Moms in the United States. They account for roughly 9% of the adult U.S. population, and 18% of all the women in the country. 43% of women in the United States fall into the "Working Mom" category. This is a huge group of consumers, have you been focusing on earning their business online?

Who are we looking at when we discuss Working Moms? This group is largely made up of women in their 30's and early 40's, with a 4-year college degree or higher, and making, on average $81,900 per year. From the necessities of food and clothes to life's little luxuries and beyond, Working Moms are responsible for providing for their families. The Scarborough research delves into how Working Moms shop for food, clothing and technology and gives key insights into how this group takes care of their homes.( "QUICK FACT: Moms spent $3,334 on home improvements during the past year.") From how much they're spending, to which stores they're spending their money at, this research gives a great look into the mind of the Working Mom.

Working Moms carry a lot of the responsibility of shopping and providing for their families, but they also take some time to focus on themselves as well. With an exhausting lifestyle that includes a full time job, raising children, taking care of the home and more, one may assume that a day off would mean a day of rest, but that's not the case according to the Scarborough research. Many Working Moms prefer to be active when it comes to their free time. From Day Spas to Health Clubs, this is most definitely a very active group of Women.

You may have long suspected that the Working Mom is an important audience to target with your marketing. Now that you know a little more about then, let's look at how they spend their time online:

• Top Categories Working Moms use online:




• Coupon Sites


• Local Event Listings


• Online Yellow Pages


• Employment Search Web sites


• Bill Payment Sites


• Music Sites


• Real Estate Sites





• Top Categories Working Moms purchase online:




• Toys and Games


• Movie Tickets


• Health and Beauty Items


• Clothing


• Accessories


• Pet Supplies


• Groceries and Food


• Flowers


• Office Supplies

So, what does this mean for you and your business? Thanks to the Scarborough research, you now know that there is an audience of almost 22 million customers out there, with higher than average incomes, control over family and personal spending with the ability to influence the preferences of their children and spouses. That sounds like a pretty important target audience to me. You know how they are spending their time and money online, so how do you market your brand on those sites?

What can you offer the Working Mom that could improve the quality of life for her and her family? How can you market yourself as a solution to her busy lifestyle? Can you save her money or time? Do you offer a product or service that can improve the health of her family? What are you doing to promote your company through the mobile channels the Working Mom most often uses?

There are a lot of options for targeting the Working Mom online. From Social Media Marketing on active blogs and social networks, to offering discounts on popular Coupon Web sites, you have options. Have you checked your listings on the online yellow pages recently? You may need to update your information. Advertise your job openings on the important area Employment Web sites, you may find your next great employee, or at least get your brand name out there where the Working Mom is spending her time online.

Come up with new ways to reach this large demographic, and you'll be reaching an important and sometimes undervalued group of spenders. Utilize the Working Moms in your company to come up with creative ways to market your brand. Turn your attention to the online habits of these women, and you'll know how to better spend your marketing budget. Don't wait, as the school year gets underway, and the holidays are rapidly approaching, now is a great time to focus on turning Working Moms into customers.

Labels: Link Building, Organic SEO, Social Marketing

Press releases have long been used to distribute news to media outlets. As technology and businesses have evolved, so has the role of the press release. With the increased popularity of online media, it is important to understand that Search Engines use press releases differently than traditional media outlets do. How do you go about creating a press release that is worth your time and money?

• Research your keywords and include them in all aspects of your press release, from headlines and body to links and beyond.


• Write short, descriptive headlines with your keywords included. Keep headlines to 80 characters or less.


• Keep your press release manageable; make sure the body content length is under control. Writing to the 300-500 words range is a good boundary. Writing press releases that are too long may discourage Web sites from picking it up.


• Think like a journalist; write newsworthy press releases that are clear and concise. Don't muddy up your release with fancy writing or unnecessary information. When you have important information to distribute, do so in an organized, straight to the point manner.


• Don't use fancy formatting. Focus on your message points rather than bullet points. Some of the Web pages that will be picking your press releases up won't bother with your formatting. Keep it simple, and focus on your news rather than the release's appearance.


• Use anchor text links. Linking with anchor text tells search engines what your link is about. If you can write a Web page's page title into your anchor text, all the better.


• Include your company logo in your press release, but don't use other multimedia. Many Web sites that will be picking your press release up won't support the multimedia you include. Instead, link to the Web pages within your Web
  site where the multimedia is available.


• Don't repeat links to the same Web page. The thought that one is good, more is better doesn't apply here. In fact, adding multiple links to the same Web page within a single press release can actually dilute the importance search engine's place on each link.


• Add links to interior pages of your Web site when possible. Most of the links on the Internet point to your Home page, why not link to another page on your Web site and share the link building wealth?


• Use your Web site. Add your press releases to your own Web site. Create a press Room or News Area with an RSS feed so both customers and media can stay on top of your company news. Write a blog article summarizing and linking to the press release.


• Focus on quality news stories. The Internet is saturated with press releases, many of which aren't truly that newsworthy. Why spend money distributing a press
  release that isn't truly newsworthy?


• Utilize Social Media Marketing as an alternative to press releases. The relationships you build online through Social Media Networks can be as valuable as press release distribution.


• Create more content. Not all the information is important enough to be turned into a press release. Consider the newsworthiness of your information, and consider turning it into a blog post or informational Web page instead. Press releases are amazing tools, but with the oversaturation of the press release market, the same content can be used elsewhere on your own Web site just as easily, and more effectively.


• Understand what press releases can do for your company. They may drive traffic, but more than likely they are being distributed for links. Press releases don't always create long term links either. In a study done by Hubspot, press release links decreased by 43% in 3 months, but that doesn't mean they aren't worthwhile. Links don't necessarily mean traffic for your Web site, but they can go far in increasing your page's ranking and in turn, increase your search engine visibility.

The media, both online and offline are overwhelmed with press releases. When you are paying to have them prepared and distributed, it is important to make sure they are worth your money and time. Marrying Public Relations and Search Engine Marketing may seem like a daunting task, but when handled correctly, it can produce great results for companies. Keeping these tips in mind is a good way to begin the transition into creating press releases that work for your company online.

Labels: Link Building, Organic SEO

Wikipedia defines linkbait as "any content or feature within a website that somehow baits viewers to place links to it from other websites"*. Linkbait in my terms is anything, whether it is content, video, photo, contest or an application, which attracts viewers to your Web site. With the continued growing popularity of Social Media Web sites like Facebook, Delicious and StumbleUpon, creative linkbaiting is even more important in building your Web site's online visibility.

So now you're thinking, we?re in a boring business, so we can't utilize Social Media Web sites. You're wrong! You just need to get those creative juices flowing or enlist the help of outside sources and think outside the box.

Take BlendTec for example. BlendTec continues to have great success on YouTube with their famous "Will It Blend? series of videos in which every day items (cell phone, GPS, shoes) are shredded in one of their blenders. Their YouTube channel has over 160,000 subscribers. The average number of views for one of their videos is close to 900,000. Now that is a lot of eyeballs!

Great linkbait that creates buzz not only helps increase brand awareness but can ultimately lead to more sales. Since the start of the "Will It Blend?" series, BlendTec saw retail sales for the Total Blender grow 700% in the past 2 years. Not to mention, that with all the attention the series generates, many other Web sites link to the "Will It Blend?" Web site www.willitblend.com; which Google currently reports with over 800,000 backlinks. Backlinks generated from viral content such as this can lead to higher rankings on the search engines, especially Google.

There is an unlimited amount of linkbait opportunities to explore. Here are some of the more commonly used forms of linkbait:

• Videos like BlendTec


• Creative photos or art including your product


• Blog


• How To Articles


• Top 10 Lists


• White Papers


• Industry Humor


• Add on widget applications

There is no question that linkbaiting is worth your company's time and resources. Explore outside the normal realm and develop a creative linkbait campaign. Not only will you have the potential to gain thousands of eyeballs, but when properly implemented and marketed, it can also drive many other Web sites to link to yours.


* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methods_of_website_linking

Labels: Link Building, Organic SEO, Social Marketing

As the year draws to a close, many people are looking back on 2008 and reflecting on SEM efforts, successes and goals. It's time to look forward to the New Year, and what 2009 will bring for you and your business.

It's no secret that we are using the Internet more and more for decision making and purchasing, and that trend is sure to continue. Consequently using Search Engine Marketing as a means to succeed in a tough economy will be a smart move for 2009.

A well-implemented SEM campaign will give you the competitive edge in the challenging economy we're facing as we ring in the New Year. Obviously in today's economy budgets are getting cut, money is being redistributed, and changes are happening.

But SEM is budget that should not be cut. In fact, you should consider increasing it. Well-implemented SEM is cost-effective, measurable, and highly successful. With the Internet growing, traditional marketing channels are losing effectiveness. As a result you need a strong presence on Google and other search engines to maintain sales and to position your business to take advantage of opportunities when the economy turns around. More than ever, people are finding companies, services and products online. Will they be able to find you in 2009?

Why do I think SEM is going to get even bigger in 2009? Just think about it...

• Lead Generation: Finding leads has never been an easy task. As people are being more cautious with their money and time, it can be harder and harder for companies to find prospective leads. SEM has the tools that allow you to generate leads as well as find out where leads are coming from. Once you know where the best traffic is coming from, you can focus your budget on the most lucrative avenues. Those who invest in a solid SEM campaign in 2009 will use their marketing budget more effectively and have better results generating leads that will turn into sales.

• Social Media Marketing: At its core, SEM is following in the footsteps of traditional, effective marketing practices. We all know how interactive the Internet is, making some classic marketing ploys worthless, while creating the perfect environment for new, creative forms of marketing to develop. Social Media Marketing (SMM) is a relatively new chapter in the Marketing book. This platform can engage your target audience when they are interacting online. SMM can increase Web site traffic, market interest, link popularity and search visibility. Whether you're looking for Social Networking help, Blog optimization, or a broad SMM campaign, SMM is becoming a specialization all its own, and I see that continuing in 2009. With the complex and time consuming tactics that go along with Social Media Marketing, it will be important to work with specialized professionals in the future to allow for the best chance of success with this strategy in 2009.

• Pay Per Click Advertising: PPC on Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing and MSN AdCenter is a fast way to generate search visibility, traffic and sales. A successful PPC campaign doesn't only bring traffic; it should deliver qualified buyers. Measurement tools allow you to identify which keywords and ads lead to sales. You can take this data to optimize your PPC program to continually improve your sales and your bottom-line. So what will the trends be in 2009? As more and more companies implement PPC campaigns, there will higher competition for important key phrases, this will make professional PPC management necessary as campaigns will need to be stepped up to remain competitive. The mix of increase in competition and tighter budgets will make it hard for PPC campaigns to be run effectively without professional help.

• Local Results: An October 2008 Press Release from TMP reports that people use search engines more than Yellow Pages to find businesses. Not only that, but the rise in popularity of mobile devices is on the rise, and that trend will continue throughout the New Year. People are using the Internet to find what's close. Being found online is becoming more and more important to reach your local audience. In 2009 more businesses will look to SEM to make sure they're found online.

• Reporting: SEM efforts can and should be reported. Documenting SEM efforts, showing both the successes and struggles is one of the core reasons that SEM has the ability to grow in 2009. As the economy struggles, it is becoming more and more important to know exactly what your money is getting you. With tight budgets and the need to justify spending money, the ability to effectively and regularly report the progress of an SEM campaign will make SEM a go-to strategy for 2009.

• Cost: SEM campaigns are adjustable. You have the ability to manipulate the budget as necessary. Want to see even better results from your SEM campaign? You will have the data to guide you. Ranking for keywords without PPC efforts? Reduce what you spend on PPC and shift the budget to search optimization. SEM tactics, whether PPC or SEO, can be easily measured and tracked. You can see where your budget is going and what is getting results. This will be an important factor in making SEM thrive in uncertain times, like we' sure to see as we enter the New Year.

2009 may begin with tight budgets and uncertainty, but SEM is the marketing strategy that can transcend those challenges. Don't cut SEM out of your budget or avoid a new SEM campaign in the New Year. There are many reasons why I believe SEM is going to see growth in 2009. SEM has the potential to grow your business even when the economy stinks.

The New Year is a good time to evaluate your company's online marketing potential and needs. Do you have a strong SEM campaign in place? Are you happy with the results? Have you thought about SEM before, but are hesitating on taking the next step? Now is the time. SEM will grow in 2009; your competitors will be jumping on board. Will you?

Make SEM your business' New Year's Resolution. Make sure you're happy with your current campaign, or get started on finding the right SEM solution to implement. Don't get left behind as others will implement SEM, the potential for growth is a huge one, make sure your company doesn't get left in the dust.

Labels: Google Analytics, Link Building, Organic SEO, PPC Advertising, Social Marketing

Holiday Season 2008 ? What can you expect?

The holiday season is fast approaching, and in the current economy, it may seem even more stressful than usual. A recent study released by the Mediamark Research & Intelligence company states that more than 62 million Americans will start their holiday shopping before Thanksgiving. That means that 1 in 3 shoppers will begin making Holiday purchases this month. Will those shoppers be buying from you? According to results of the 2008 eHoliday Study, more than half of online retailers expect their holiday sales to increase at least fifteen percent over last year. Can you say the same?

The Internet has gone from being a luxury to the holiday shopper, to becoming a necessity. Referencing the 2008 Holiday Consumer Spending Survey, the number of people buying gifts online is expected to remain steady, and consumers will be dependent on the Internet like never before. As the survey stated, ?the Internet will influence 33.6 percent of holiday purchases, up from 30.2 percent last year and 28.9 percent in 2006.? Consumers are using the Internet to compare prices on hot gifts, explore stores, come up with gift ideas, and make some of their holiday purchases from the comfort of their own homes.

In a study completed by Shop.org, consumers acknowledged that it was the convenience of 24-hour shopping that is one of the main reasons why they choose to buy online. Shoppers? other top reasons for buying online instead of in stores include ?not wanting to fight crowds? (41.1%), ?easy price comparisons? (36.4%), and ?free shipping? (33.3%). Also, nearly one in four shoppers says they are spending more online due to high gas prices, more than double the number which said the same last year. So there will be plenty of consumers online, will they find you?

The Search Crowds

It is certainly no secret that search engine use has been on the rise since their inception. According to a recent report by PEW Internet, ?The percentage of Internet users who use search engines on a typical day has been steadily rising from about one-third of all users in 2002, to a new high of just under one-half (49%).?

Avid searchers are more likely to be the consumers you want, because they buy. A recent comScore study, illustrates the correlation between how much someone searches and how much they spend. The "Heavy searchers" group makes up just 16%of the population online, but spends a robust 35% of total dollars online. The next group, "Medium searchers,? comprises 23% of the population online and spends a significant 34 percent of total online dollars. So what does this mean for you? If your company wants to do well in the online retail market, you need to position yourself in front of the shoppers, by using the tools they use, search engines.

How to reach them?

Search Engine Marketing is one of the most popular means of staying competitive this holiday season. The Shop.org study offers an insight into what SEM services online retailers are utilizing. 42.6% of the online retailers who participated in this survey said they were adding product videos. 32.7% were adding customer reviews and 25% said they were creating Facebook pages to promote their sites. To appeal to price-conscious customers, 27.1% said they were adding clearance sale pages to their sites, Shop.org said. Most of the online retailers who participate in the survey said they also planned to offer free shipping to attract customers, but 21.3% of them said they would raise the minimum purchase requirement this year.

You know your customers are online, and you know they?ll be using the internet and search engines this holiday season, the question is, will they find you? Search Engine Marketing will prove to be a powerful means for getting the online business your company wants, especially in the upcoming months. Though SEM is a long term strategy for getting high search results, targeted traffic, and measurable ROI, there is still time to implement some changes that could benefit your company this holiday season. Don?t lose your customers to the competition. Step up your SEM campaign now!

Labels: Link Building, Organic SEO, PPC Advertising, Social Marketing

My first job out of college was at Deltak, a producer of IBM mainframe software training products. Its only competitor was Advanced Systems Inc. (ASI). Both of these companies are now long gone.

This was back in 1978, just as the nation went into an awful recession with double-digit unemployment, double-digit inflation and double-digit mortgage rates. Those were brutal times!

In 1978, Deltak and ASI were running neck and neck. When the recession ended, Deltak had a commanding lead and never looked back. Deltak grew robustly during this period, growing from about $20 million in 1978 to $89 million in 1982, while ASI had minimal growth. The reason was that ASI cut back marketing and production of training products.

Just as the use of computers was growing rapidly in the late 1970s, today the Web is growing rapidly for retail shopping, industrial purchasing and just about every category of B2C and B2B marketing. Traditional print and broadcast advertising do not work as well as they once did. That is because people across demographics are turning to the Web for information and purchasing.

People use search engines to find information for purchasing. According to IT Facts, "The percentage of internet users who use search engines on a typical day has been steadily rising from 33% of all users in 2002, to 49% in 2008." http://www.itfacts.biz/49-of-users-use-search-engines-on-a-typical-day-in-2008/11638

Are you going to Compete or Hunker Down while Your Competitors Take the Lead?

You need to make decisions where to cut back, and where you cannot afford to cut back. Is search engine marketing something to cut, or expand?

You can hang your head that your business is contracting. Or you can grow your business by capturing your potential customers who are moving toward the Web and its search engines. By strengthening your marketing where your market now spends more of its time, you can grow your business in this down economy.

What are you doing to attract your buyers who are using the Web to buy? How do you stack up with your competitors on Google? If you are not addressing search engine marketing, you could end up like ASI as an also-ran.

Search engine marketing will build your market reach and visibility on Google, other search engines and across the Web. The beauty to marketers is that SEM has the tools to measure results and to calculate ROI. You then can use the data to further improve results. No more trying to figure out which half of your advertising budget is wasted. Implement search engine marketing and you will find little wasted budget. In other words, search engine marketing will stretch your advertising budget by making more of it work building business that you can measure.

Are you attracting your fair share of search engine traffic? If your competition is and you are not, then you better engage in effective search engine marketing, or you may not be around when economic expansion returns.

Labels: Link Building, Organic SEO, PPC Advertising, Social Marketing

You are part of a successful company. You've established a solid team, developed valuable products or services, and you've done alright for yourself so far. However, in today's world doing alright isn't always enough. Search engine marketing has gone from being an advantage to a competitive necessity. SEM, including Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click initiatives have become the foundation for effective Web site marketing.

Last month, comScore, an online Internet measurement service, published the August 2008 U.S. Search Engine Rankings. They state that Americans conducted 11.7 billion searches in August. If you haven't implemented an SEM campaign yet, you are losing out on customers and sales. Potential customers are using search engines to find products and services. Are they finding your company?

When you're tired of seeing quality traffic and high search engine rankings pass you by, it's time to hire an SEM firm. This step will mean change for some of your employees, and too often, change is met with resistance. Employees are especially resistant to change when they feel their jobs may be affected. In some cases, an SEM firm may lighten the workload of some, while it may add to the workload of others. No matter why your employees feel resistant to an SEM firm, that resistance can harm your company and your SEM campaign.

An SEM firm often works with a variety of employees from different departments. Here is a short list of departments that SEM firms commonly work with. It is important to understand how and why these teams or individuals may view an SEM firm as something to resist.

• Executives: Typically this is the group that initiates or at least approves hiring an SEM specialist. Executive buy-in to the program is the first step to effective implementation. Executive support is necessary; but it isn't the only thing they must provide. In some cases, executives do not fully understand the purpose or need for an SEM firm, and that can cause tension. It is important for executives to learn about SEM, and serve as a resource when introducing an SEM firm into a company. Many employees will watch executives to see how the SEM firm should be treated. When the Execs respond positively and professionally, the rest of the company is more likely to follow suit.

• Marketing specialists: The Marketing department is often an integral part of an SEM campaign. At E-Power, we've often seen an SEM firm come in to enhance the work a Marketing team has been doing online. Very often Marketing teams understand some SEM basics, and have been building their online presence on those fundamentals. When an SEM firm is hired, some problems can arise when Marketing teams feel that they are being replaced, when in reality, their groundwork is being built upon and improved. In the same way that an SEM firm couldn't do your Marketers jobs at the highest level, it takes specialized SEM professionals to get top results for your company online. In the end, it takes team work between both Marketing specialists and SEM professionals to create and effectively implement the latest and most beneficial SEM strategies for your business.

• Technology professionals: A company's Tech team is another vital piece of the SEM team effort. Tech teams are often responsible for following through with an SEM campaign and implementing technical changes to company Web sites or perform other important responsibilities. This may disrupt the current work flow of the department, and may cause some hard feelings. At E-Power, we've unfortunately seen our work get tabled by a Tech department who didn't understand the need for the changes. It is important for the Tech team to understand the benefits a specialized SEM firm can provide. An SEM firm often values the roles of Technology professionals, but it is necessary for a Tech department to recognize the roles of SEM specialists as well.

It takes solid leadership and a strong commitment to overcome the resistance to change. Last month, I wrote about Corporate Culture, SEM, and You, and how to smooth the transition when bringing an SEM firm in. Those tips are very relevant when faced with resistance, especially now that you have a better understanding of how and why different departments may react to the news that your company will be utilizing an SEM firm. Ultimately, a professional and comfortable environment must be established for everyone involved in the SEM campaign. It is extremely important for your company that all employees, both from the SEM firm and within your company, are held accountable for their portion of the work. Your company's future is at stake. Are you taking the appropriate steps to move forward?

Labels: Google Analytics, Link Building, Organic SEO, PPC Advertising, Social Marketing

Google Webmaster Tools now allows you to see some of the locations of your broken backlinks. Nice! To see the new Google Webmaster Tools feature, login to your account. Assuming your Web site is verified, click on Diagnostics > Web Crawl > Not Found. To the right of each not found URL there is a link for # pages. Click that and a pop up window of locations of that broken link are shown.

Be sure to go and see how many backlinks are broken for your Web site and don?t forget to let the webmasters of the broken link Web sites know that they should update their links!!!

Labels: Link Building, Organic SEO

Flickr recently added nofollow tags to most of the external links within the website. Flickr has been one of the few social sites that have allowed potential link gain from including links within the profile, comments and other areas.

Is this a surprising move? In my opinion, No. More and more social media sites are adding nofollow tags to lower the amount of spam they get hit with. You can't blame them for trying to provide clean, valuable, relevant content to their visitors / users can you? Keep in mind, you no longer can gain any link popularity from links on Flickr. However it still can generate traffic to your website. There?s a lot more benefits to using Flickr than just for links.

Labels: Link Building, Social Marketing

Many people confuse link popularity as being only the root domains popularity. More and more, internal pages link popularity is becoming the influential factor, not simply your home page. Your root domain can enjoy a great link popularity and Google PageRank, but your site won't reap the entire benefit unless your internal pages have links pointing to them too.

Internal linking contributes highly to your sites total link popularity thus search positioning especially on Google. Getting external links pointing to your internal pages has become a more determining search position factor than before.

Google's Webmaster Tools provides a good estimate of your website's link popularity both to the root and internally. You can see how well your site is externally links as well as interlinked with itself.

Finding places to link into your internal pages can be a challenge. Providing your visitors with information they are looking for and interesting content is a link building strategy itself. By using the correct avenues, internal link popularity is a great way to build search visibility, traffic and overall search positioning.

Labels: Link Building, Organic SEO

Google's Webmaster Tools has provided yet another useful upgrade. Google announced the upgrade to the Anchor Text. This new feature tells you what text is being used in links pointing to your website. Since anchor text is an important part of the SEO pie, this feature shows you what keywords are being emphasized for your website.

This feature was not available on all sites, but has now been rolled out to everyone who has Google Webmaster Tools set up for their website.

Previously Google's Webmaster Tools only provided the most popular single words contained in the links, now you are provided with the full Anchor Text among variations up to 200 phrases. They have also brought back the section showing you the most common individual words contained in your websites anchor text.

I have to give my props to Google for this tool. It's a beauty!!

Labels: Link Building, Organic SEO

Never underestimate the power of content with the search engines. As many SEO gurus say "Content is King". They aren't kidding. Not only do search engines reward your website when new valuable content is added to your site, the opportunity to use this content for link building has become just as important.

With the rise of Social Media, content has become even more important than before. Links from Social Networking and Bookmarking sites are extremely influential within Google's algorithms and why wouldn't they be? Social Networking and Bookmarking sites are users directly telling Google that they find a page important. It only makes sense that Google and the other search engines would reward this.

However, while writing good content is an effective component to your linking campaign don't neglect high quality directories like Yahoo, DMOZ, GoGuides and JoeAnt. These directories still have a great deal of influence with the top search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN). Traditional organic linking is still an influential piece of the pie. Quality directories and links from authoritative sites still play an important role with search engine positioning.

By offering content that is non-marketing in nature and offers valuable information to users, you are creating your own organic link campaign. You can drive traffic to your website, increase brand recognition as well as increase sales, all by providing content that is non-marketing. You're marketing by not marketing!

Labels: Link Building, Social Marketing

Earlier this month, Google released a new Link option within Google's Webmaster Tools. Google allows you to look up which websites are linking to your by using search commands like: link:www.domain.com, links: www.domain.com, plus other variations through the regular search. However, Google only allows you to see a sample of those back links.

The new Link option now provides you with a larger sample of those websites linking to you. Although you won't get to see all incoming links to your site, including those listed in Google's supplemental index, you will see a larger sample than if using the now outdated link commands. The Link option is only for your website, so you are not able to check out your competition's strategic linking programs. You will still need to use the above mentioned link commands for competitor analysis.

To use this new link option, you need to be a Google Webmaster user. Once you've verified your website, click on the My Sites screen and choose your domain. Then you will see the following tabs: Diagnostic, Statistics, Links and Sitemaps. The new Links tab allows you to see external and internal links for your website. External links are the links most people are concerned with. These are links coming from outside of your site. You can see what other sites are linking to you, whether it is the home page, or the interior pages. Internal links tell you how well your site is interlinked within itself.

The new Links tab definitely offers valuable information, plus Google also allows you to download the data into an Excel spreadsheet making management of the data much easier than before. So, why did Google decide to offer this new feature? Google spokespeople claim they decided to offer the option because of feedback from Webmasters. Google is more comfortable with the idea because the info is only going to specific site owners, rather than to everyone. Either way, I'm happy with the new tool!

Labels: Link Building, Organic SEO

Linkbait?

Google Webmaster Tools Reports Broken Backlinks

Flickr Adds No Follow To Links

Link Popularity - Page Specific, NOT Site Specific

Anchor Text Upgrade in Google Webmaster Tools

Content - The Most Effective Linking Campaign

Google Webmaster Tools New Link Feature

Labels: Link Building

Organic SEO

• Don't Sabotage Your Online Search Visibility


• Big Picture Marketing


• 10 Often Overlooked SEO Tasks


• 10 Common SEO Mistakes - Don't Let This Be You


• Page Speed Gets Added to Google Webmaster Tools


• What Can You Do for Working Moms?
  


• A Season of Change...


• Mobile Web Taking Over?


• Two Secret Ingredients To Search Marketing Success


• 14 Ways to Write a Press Release for Search Engine Marketing


• "Gaming" Search Engines to Win Ranking assures You Lose


• Search Marketing Scams to Avoid


• Don't Panic


• Free SEO Information is Inadequate and Often Wrong


• Where is SEM Headed in 2009?


• Race for the Light - A Chilly Fundraising Adventure!


• Food Drive Success!


• Why Different Types of Search Engine Optimization Do Not Work


• What Will the Holidays Mean For Your Company?


• SEO & SEM - Different or the Same?


• Using SEM to Build Competitive Advantage in a Down Economy


• Managing Change - Dealing with Resistance When Moving Forward


• Target Keywords Your Market Searches - Not What You Think They Search


• Corporate Culture, SEM and You


• Google Webmaster Tools Gives "Too Many Redirects" Message


• Importance Of Proper Redirects


• Will Two Problematic Search Portals Figure Out How To Do It Right Again? MSN & YAHOO!


• Learn From Your Competitors To Build A Strong Search Marketing Program


• Why Your Web Developer Should Not Implement Your SEO


• Local Search Marketing Basics


• Site Maps Explained


• Looking Back At Search Engine Optimization


• What's Good For Humans Is Good For Google


• Yahoo! Introduces Robots-Nocontent Tag


• Sitemaps Made Easier


• 10 Issues To Consider When Reviewing /Designing Your Web Sites Architecture


• Search Engine Rules and Aligning Domains


• SEO Considerations When Selecting An E-Commerce Or Content Management System

PPC Advertising

• Improve PPC with Google Analytics Integration


• Google AdWords - How About Total Control Over Geo Targeting?
  
• Google - Just a Little More Transparency Please


• Yahoo Search Marketing Changes to TOS


• Optimizing AdWords ROI - Google Analytics Tip #3


• Measuring Your Site Targeted Campaign On Google


• Yahoo Launches Quality Based Pricing For Their Content Match Product


• Are Pay Per Click Results Measurable?


• Google Introduces Two New Pay Per Click Beta Features


• Should You Be Worried About Click Fraud?


• Google AdWords Quality Score Update


• The New Yahoo Search Marketing And You

SEM - Back to Basics

• 5 Free Online Research Tools - SEM Back to Basics Tip #8


• Take Advantage of Google Webmaster Tools - SEM Back to Basics Tip #7


• Use Target Key Phrases Within Navigation - SEM Back to Basics Tip #6


• The Internet Is the Place to Be - SEM Back to Basics Tip #5


• Handling Multiple Domains - SEM Back to Basics Tip #4


• Give Your SEO Campaign Time - SEM Back to Basics Tip #3


• Content, Content, Content - SEM Back to Basics Tip #2


• Don't Leave Out the Title Tag - SEM Back to Basics Tip #1

Social Marketing

• 13 Tips for Optimizing your LinkedIn Profile

• Let's Go Viral!
  

• Social Media and Brand Positioning
  

• Social Media Marketing - This Year's Hottest Holiday Accessory
  

• Tweet Easier


• User Reviews: An Integral Part of Your Social Marketing Program


• Social Media Marketing is on the Rise...


• Where is Social Media on the Internet Headed?


• How to Get your Business Started on Facebook

• Facebook Usernames and You
  

• 10 Tips on Using Twitter for Your Business


• 11 Tips for Creating a Blog


• Linkbait?


• Flickr Adds No Follow to Links


• Social Marketing Do's and Don'ts


• 10 Things To Keep In Mind With Social Media Marketing


• SMX Social - NYC Oct. 16 & 17 Recap


• Getting Dugg On Digg

Google Analytics

• Using Advanced Segments in Google Analytics


• Using Filters in Google Analytics


• The Basics of Google Analytics White Paper


• Google Analytics Annotations


• Improve PPC with Google Analytics Integration


• Google Analytics Intelligence: A Great Way to Stay Current with Your Google Analytics Program


• What is Mobile Analytics?


• New Changes for Google Analytics


• Segmenting Google AdWords by Hour in Google Analytics - Tip #7


• Measuring More than 20 Goals in Google Analytics - Tip #6


• Setting Up Goals in Google Analytics - Tip #5


• Filtering Internal Traffic - Google Analytics Tip #4


• Optimizing AdWords ROI - Google Analytics Tip #3


• Researching Popular Tags - Google Analytics Tip #2


• Link Tagging - Google Analytics Tip #1

Link Building

• Google Webmaster Tools Reports Broken Backlinks


• Link Popularity - Page Specific NOT Site Specific


• Anchor Text Upgrade In Google Webmaster Tools


• Content - The Most Effective Linking Campaign


• Google Webmaster Tools New Link Feature

E-Power News

• Blog Action Day 2009 - Climate Change


• E-Power Marketing and the Oshkosh Community Pull Together to Save the Grand Opera House


• E-Power Donates a Grand for the Grand


• E-Power Marketing turns 11 years old!


• Race for the Light - A Chilly Fundraising Adventure!


• Food Drive Success!


• E-Power Marketing Sponsors Oshkosh Area Food Drive


• Blog Action Day and Hunger in Winnebago County

Contributor Bios

• Larry Stopa


• Andrea Schultz


• Justin Tadych


• Adrian Schaal


• Craig Bollig


• Sara Hansman

Continuing Saga of Search Engine Marketing Home

Labels: E-Power News, Google Analytics, Link Building, Organic SEO, PPC Advertising, SEM Back to Basics, Social Marketing