Conferences Show SEO Going Mainstream, Get on Board for Less
Those who have been in the field of SEO for years know it’s been a long journey of consistently making a case for and proving the value of search for business. As of late, SEO seems like it’s getting some serious mainstream attention, finally penetrating the psyche of corporations across industries, across the globe. With the U.S. recession affecting the way many businesses approach their survival, Internet marketing and SEO has worked its way to the forefront of marketing dollar spend. Everywhere you turn, s..
Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog (25 minutes ago)
LocalPack Covers Local SEO Bases
As if there aren't enough obstacles for the underdog, strong brands received a boost in Google SERPs this week. The algorithm update that presents up to seven results from the same domain within a search results page was a topic of discussion during today's SEM Synergy. And so were those challenged by the update — small brands and businesses who may fall out of SERPs as Google favors big brand domains. Also taxing small and local businesses is the decreased click-through traffic that results from a Google SER..
Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog (25 minutes ago)
Who Are You Up Against? Sizing Up the Competition
While Bing-Yahoo! and Google battle it out to win the hearts of searchers around the world, businesses everywhere are locked in a similar struggle for your attention and dollars. But before you dedicate resources to beating the competition, it's important to be sure of whom your competition is. With an environment like the World Wide Web, your SEO competition can be anyone and everyone, and can change daily. It helps to know simple tasks that can be performed about once a month if you're in a very competitive..
Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog (25 minutes ago)
Search Engine Marketing Blog Lessons: Tales from the Blogging Trenches
The advice that business should blog is great and all, but the more pressing question, by far, is how. When I've sat down with clients to start them on the track to business blogging, there are many questions and much uncertainty, of the creative and technical nature. As the author of a search engine marketing blog, it's kinda my thing to think about both sides of the coin: the SEO benefit as well as the creative and community building aspects of blogging. Here are some things to keep in mind if you're starin..
Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog (25 minutes ago)
Friday Recap: Cheeseburger Edition
Can I get a hallelujah for Friday? Here are some fun and interesting stories to get you to your weekend. First, how about a trip in the time machine? Employee orientation videos from Wendy's make a good point. People learn better when instructions are rapped, with belting riffs and glamour shot lighting. [I feel like I’m ready for an exciting career in fast food. –Susan] At least Wendy's was trying to reach their team in a popular medium of the time. Knowing your audience and their interests is an important p..
Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog (25 minutes ago)
Please Don’t Go No. 2 on SEO Copywriting
I’m at the grocery store the other day and the cashier asks me what I do for a living. I tell him I’m a writer. Him: “Oh, really? What genre?” (Looks like he just met a celebrity. I chuckle.) Me: “Not that kind.” Then I thought to myself, Why should I laugh? Copywriting is certainly an art, and when you add SEO copywriting into the mix, I might as well be Pablo Neruda (a little overboard?). Read more of Please Don't Go No. 2 on SEO Copywriting Please Don’t Go No. 2 on SEO Copywriting was originally published ..
Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog (25 minutes ago)
The Danger of Dismissing Social Media's Value
I know I'm preaching to the choir, but there is business value in social media marketing. How's that for a news flash, guys? Not like I've never said it before. So why again now? Well, the idea that social is a waste of time caused quite a stir on Hacker News today as Spencer Fry's Down With Social made its way to the top. Fry makes a strong argument, however, we'll have to agree to disagree. Why Fry thinks social media has no business value: Skills needed for community managers are present throughout the org..
Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog (25 minutes ago)
Non-Profit SEO Corner: Starting Out
Did you know that in Niger, the world's poorest nation, the lack of access to clean water causes blindness, disease and social inequity? 68% of people in rural Niger drink contaminated water. 1 in 4 children die before the age of 5. 85% of women in Niger are illiterate. And all those issues can be helped by providing the simple life necessity of clean water. On Saturday I started a project with a charity group to promote the cause of Wells Bring Hope online. It's an exciting proposition: take the organization..
Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog (25 minutes ago)
Search and Social News Bites
Is it just me or did anyone else find it tough to stay up on search industry news with SES San Francisco flying by? Now, going through my feed reader, a number of important news bites are jumping out. Thought these might be worth sharing. Google Streaming Search Test Evidence of a test within Google search engine results shows the displayed results changing as a query is entered into the search box. One user reports that the Google home page automatically shifts from a search box on the predominantly white pa..
Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog (25 minutes ago)
Friday Recap: Chasing Butterflies Edition
What a week! Hope everyone had a good one, and that those at SES San Francisco arrived back home safely. Susan's back in the office, which is a joy in the writers' room, because that means more smiles, stories and presents! (Yay, conference swag!) Just for you she brought back a packed-to-the-brim archive of liveblog coverage of SES. A million thank yous to the guest livebloggers (Some of them first timers on the liveblog circuit! They're naturals!) who pumped out comprehensive reports of sessions with though..
Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog (25 minutes ago)
The Ambiguity of “Afraid”
Jacqueline writes: I have a question about a …particular phrase, which can be read in two different ways…:”I am afraid I am unable to meet your requirements.” According to Jacqueline, the statement was interpreted by its recipient to mean the that the writer was taking the polite way to say they wanted to get out of their obligations, when in fact the writer wished to express the fear of something that this person did not want to have happen (meaning they were afraid that this was so, but did not ..
Daily Writing Tips (3 hours ago)
Why You Need to Know HTML/CSS
Last week I posted an article entitled “ 5 Skills Every Bloggers Needs to Excel ” spelling out five skills that I consider essential for every blogger to either have or be willing to obtain if they want to truly excel. Overall, the article was well-received but several commenters took issue with the second item on my list: HTML/CSS Skills. Several felt that the power of WordPress/Blogger and other blogging platforms made the need to know HTML obsolete. Others pointed out, correctly, that you can o..
Blogging Tips (10 hours ago)
Four Creative Link Building Tactics - Whiteboard Friday
Posted by Aaron Wheeler In this week's Whiteboard Friday Rand Fishkin clues you in on four link building tactics that you likely haven't heard about. Given the importance of link building to SEO, this video should prove to be worth its (virtual) weight in gold. (I mean that in the best possible way ;-p) if(!navigator.mimeTypes['application/x-shockwave-flash'])Wistia.VideoEmbed('wistia_174843',640,360,{videoUrl:'http://seomoz-cdn.wistia.com/deliveries/03f8ba29261b82e8cb35f0e4ca815aac8fb05286.bin',stillUr..
SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog (10 hours ago)
ProBlogger is in Guest Posting Mode
Those of you who follow me on Twitter will know that as this post goes live I'll be heading to the airport to head to warmer parts of Australia for a couple of weeks break. The bags are packed, the house sitter has the key, the tickets are bought and most importantly….. the blog is scheduled to keep proving you with great content. Everytime I go away for a break I'm confronted with the choice of either letting the blog sit idle for a couple of weeks or to work hard for the week or two before going to ma..
ProBlogger Blog Tips (12 hours ago)
A Global Greeting
Members of the AdSense team from all over the world say hello from Mountain View, CA! Posted by Katrina Kurnit - Inside AdSense Team
Inside AdSense (15 hours ago)
Win a Free Pass to MN Blogger Conference
TopRank Online Marketing is proud to be a founding sponsor of the first Minnesota Blogger Conference . Tickets for this event “sold out” within a few hours and there are over 100 people on the waiting list. Thanks to conference founders Melissa Berggren, Arik Hanson, Suzi Magill and Katie Schutrop, it's already one hot event. The date is Saturday, Sept 11 (the day I fly to Hong Kong) and the location is at CoCo MSP in Saint Paul . Topics to be presented range from “how to blog” to &#..
Online Marketing Blog (16 hours ago)
How to Get Hired on the Problogger Job Board
Guest Post by Ross Hudgens of Billy.com . Making money as a freelance content writer isn’t easy. If you aren’t running your own blog or website, turning content into cash can be a difficult thing. But there’s opportunity out there – you just have to try a little harder than normal to find it. One of the best places to look is the Problogger job board . Here, potential employers are looking for people like you – writers serious about their craft, with a strong content-creation skillset that often develops from..
ProBlogger Blog Tips (17 hours ago)
25 E-Commerce Websites for Your Design Inspiration
The success of an e-commerce website is defined by sales, not by design. However, that doesn't mean that design does not matter. In this post we'll showcase 25 well-designed e-commerce sites from a wide variety of industries. For more on e-commerce sites please see these posts from the archives: 50 Inspirational E-Commerce Website Designs 25 Inspirational E-Commerce Website Designs – Part Two 35 Excellent E-Commerce User Interface Designs 25 Creative E-Commerce Website Designs WordPress E-Commerce: 30+ ..
Vandelay Design Blog (18 hours ago)
Lorelle’s Mind Blowing WordPress Plugins
Lorelle VanFossen has published a recap of her Mind Blowing WordPress Plugins session given on August 29th at OpenCamp in Addison, TX. To Lorelle, “a mind blowing WordPress Plugin is one that breaks the rules. It is unique and original in its implementation, and pushes WordPress. It might not be a Plugin that everyone must have on their site. It might not be a Plugin that even interests you. What these will do is to get you to look at the incredible diversity of Plugins available.” Her recap not o..
Weblog Tools Collection (18 hours ago)
Playboy Apple iPad App Doesn’t Cut It
The Apple iPad is perhaps the coolest e-book reader-other-gadgets combined you can ever have. It is not a surprise that many vendors and publishers are jumping into the iPad app bandwagon – they can reach so many more people by doing so. And, even the most conservative sectors cannot deny or stop the fact that providers of adult content are going to be part of this boom. When it comes to adult content, perhaps there is no other better known brand than Playboy. If you didn’t know already, though, the bra..
Daily Bits (18 hours ago)
We Should Try To Learn More From Other People
Back when I was at the university (around 2002) I went to live in an apartment with three other students. I didn't know them prior to moving there, but quickly we became good friends. Then one day I was leaving the building to walk to the university and I noticed one of my friends leaving the garage with a BMW Z3 M. Not familiar? At the time it was one of the best BMWs around, with almost 300hp. Below is a picture. Needless to say I was shocked when I saw the scene. I approached him and said something like &#..
Daily Blog Tips (19 hours ago)
5 Ways to Motivate Virtual Teams
by Patty Azzarello How do you motivate people you can’t spend time with in person? 1. Virtual Team Building (literally) I always did team building exercises when I had my team in a room together. But somehow with a remote, virtual team, I never considered that it was possible. This was a brilliant idea that one of my members offered. I wanted to share this because it is a great idea that I wish I had thought of ages ago. How to do remote team building First, prepare. Distribute a template ahead of time that ..
Liz Strauss at Successful Blog (19 hours ago)
15 Wonderful Handpicked Desktop Wallpapers
As someone who spends many hours behind the computer writing and creating websites my desktop wallpaper is very crucial to me. I'm very picky with my wallpapers, they must inspire me but not distract me or bore me very fast. I like to take inspiration from things right in front of me or around me and wallpapers tend to give me that. The wallpapers I use tend to match the weather a lot, I'm sure a lot of us do that. With autumn coming up which I find the most inspiring season of them all I picked at least 7 da..
Devlounge - Homepage Feed (19 hours ago)
Blogging Pitfalls: How to Avoid Lazy Writing and Editing
At the end of the day, the most basic activity a blogger must do is write. While it is true that bloggers are, with good reason, expanding more and more into video and audio, at some point every blogger is going to have to write something. It might be a description, a bio or even just an advertisement but, at some point, a every blogger is going to have to put words onto paper. But not every writer has the heart of a poet or the writing skills of a hard-hitting journalists. Bloggers come from all different ba..
Performancing.com - Helping Bloggers Succeed (19 hours ago)
Everything I Know About Marketing I Learned from Google
Aaron Goldman is an accomplished digital marketer that I know through MediaPost's Search Insider Summit conference. He reached out to me while writing his new book, “Everything I Know About Marketing I Learned from Google”, and asked if I'd like to contribute. Such a request is a great honor to me but unfortunately, I never did end up sending anything to Aaron even though he was incredibly patient and went out of his way to make it easy. I know what you're thinking: Smart AND nice guy? Yes indeed,..
Online Marketing Blog (20 hours ago)
Branding Your Business or Blog with an Avatar
Veronica Davis is a freelance writer and internet business columnist for Examiner. She works with and writes for businesses online, and recommends every business create an avatar to call their own. Unless you have been hiding under your bed for the last few years, you know social media is the new norm. It’s how you meet people, communicate ideas, express your thoughts, interview for a job, grow business and just have fun. The days of a big smile and a firm handshake are no longer by any means a form of introd..
Performancing.com - Helping Bloggers Succeed (22 hours ago)
Continue and “Continue on”
Ralph Mielcarek writes: Please explain: Is the phrase CONTINUE ON — giving advice or instruction, considered redundant, or will CONTINUE suffice? The phrase “continue on” generally triggers a blackboard moment for me. I accept the use of the “on” in a statement such as Talks continue on the topic of global warming but I see no use for “on” for a statement such as The children may continue on with their search for leaves. The entry for continue on in Merriam-Webster's Dictio..
Daily Writing Tips (1 day ago)
How To Write Good
Yes, deliberate mistake :) It grates when people write poorly, huh. When writers write well, the words almost become invisible. The focus shifts away from technical details, and onto the message. Is there an easy way to write better blog posts? E-mails? Web copy? Let's take a look at three guidelines for web writing. 1. If You Can Say It, You Can Write It The Dilbert Mission Statement Generator - sadly now offline - comes up with convoluted gems this: "Our challenge is to assertively network economically..
Aaron Wall's SEO Book.com - (1 day ago)
A New Day, A New SEOmoz
Posted by randfish It's been a wild few weeks at the mozplex. Today wrapped up the amazing mozinar with our half-day tools training just in time to launch the new version of SEOmoz. Should we slow down this crazy pace? Nah. If you're feeling a sense of deja vu, don't worry; it's perfectly normal. We're the same old moz, but with a new look, faster loading pages and a surprising amount of new functionality. Let's walk through it together, shall we? Big Improvements to PRO Membership It's a good day to be PRO; ..
SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog (1 day ago)
ProBlogger Track Details – Blog World Expo
Blog World and New Media Expo is a fantastic event for bloggers held every October in Las Vegas. This year there will be a full day of ProBlogger training in a ‘ProBlogger Track' on the Thursday. Yesterday the full details of that track's sessions were released on the BWE site. The four sessions through the day are based around 4 Pillars of ProBlogging that Chris Garret and I have been working on for a future resource here at ProBlogger. In our view these 4 pillars are all crucial foundations in buildin..
ProBlogger Blog Tips (1 day ago)
