This week during Whiteboard Friday Rand Fishkin from SEOmoz gave some great insight into hiring content writers to improve SEO for your website. He really said it all and I’ll let the video speak for itself:
SEOMoz Whiteboard Friday – Outsourcing Content Creation
July 31st, 2010Search Funnels Now Available From Google AdWords
July 30th, 2010Google AdWords Reporting Just Got a LOT More Useful
Not that the data you were able to get through the AdWords interface wasn’t helpful in the first place, but the New-ish Search Funnels feature available through Conversions under the Reporting tab is like AdWords reporting on Crack.
One of the greatest features on the Search Funnels reporting is Top Paths, which gives you the ability to see the Campaign, Ad group or Keyword paths that visitors took from first to last click or impression to conversion.
Top Path Analysis From Google AdWords
What does this mean for PPC gurus around the world?
The ability to assign value to keywords that “assisted” in the final conversion, also known as attribution. From personal experience I can say that the Search Funnels tool has opened my eyes to keywords that I at once thought were less valuable because I never saw a direct conversion and keywords that I may have been assigning a little too much value based on my own assumptions.
While I’m still a little wary of the first and last impressions variables, there may be some valuable data here as well. But how much value can be given to an ad impression that may or may not have been seen? Hard to say, but for PPC Junkies the impressions data may hold some weight.
Another interesting set of data available through AdWords Search Funnels is Time Lag. With Time Lag you can how much time lapsed from first impression, first click or last click until the conversion actually took place. This information is available in days or hours, so you can get pretty granular. I’m going to admit this actually surprised me – and also taught me to not take the insights of others too seriously. My client has always talked about the long buying cycle for their product (upwards of 3 weeks to almost a month and a half). What I found through Time Lag was the average conversion took less than a week and most happened in less than a day.
Along with Time Lag you can also find the Path Length, which will tell you how many clicks it took to get to a conversion. Again, most happened on the first…very surprising.
Very valuable information.
The bottom line.
AdWords Search Funnels may be the most exciting tool Google has released in a very long time. And PPC advertisers are getting exactly what they need to make better keyword decisions about whether the last click is the only click worthy of consideration when setting budgets, CPC bids and keyword usage.
SEO Has Made Us Lazy: Or…Why we are Losing our Hunter/Gatherer Instincts Because of Online Search…And Love It
July 24th, 2010The Internet has made life easier.
Duh.
With the understatement of the century now said we can ask a totally related but possibly unpopular question:
Could Search Engine Optimization (SEO) contribute to our loss of hunter/gatherer instincts and the downfall of society in return?
What?!
I can hear the gasps from readers already. I think it could be a legitimate argument someday, however. In a society that is as technologically advanced as the one we currently live in (though it can be argued that even today only about 365 million people have access to a computer…even more staggering is the idea that nearly half the world’s population has never even seen a telephone – think about that the next time you are using Google Maps on your iPhone) many people have forgotten that only a couple centuries ago (if that) our ancestors, while not having access to technology got by with grit, determination and hunting and gathering know-how.
We have lost some of that in the modern world…in fact, to say some of that is another major understatement. It would be an interesting sociological experiment to see how many people could survive without modern conveniences (and I don’t mean like on Survivor). I doubt many could…much less perform simple tasks like starting a fire without a match or even changing their own tire.
While technology has made life easier, it is easy to see that it has also made us much less self-sufficient as a species.
So…what does SEO have to do with this?
After the invention of technologies such as large farm implements which allowed people to grow large amounts of food and raise cattle and poultry people no longer needed to know how to hunt and grow food. Today, anything you need from food to clothing and even automotive services can be found at your local Superstore.
The most hunting and gathering most people in America today see is finding the last pack of toilet paper on aisle five.
But at least people still need these instincts to find information on the Internet.
Right?!
With the onset of SEO it is now easier than ever for Search Engines to find and provide information to their customers that is highly relevant to the topic or product they are trying to gather.
We no longer even need to hunt online!
What are we going to do in the event there is no longer an Internet…and, dare I say, no longer computers?
It’s a frightening concept.
Grab your bows and gather your arrows people! We need to re-learn how to provide ourselves with sustenance.
***This has been a public service announcement from SEO Specialties***
AdWords Local Extensions Upgrade: What’s it mean for Paid Search?
July 10th, 2010Geo-targeting just got an upgrade.
Google announced the Local Extensions makeover in the Inside AdWords blog on Julhy 9 which allows you to show up to 4 addresses in a single ad as you can see in this screenshot from their blog that shows a search for “toys r us” with 4 San Francisco locations in the extension:
So…what does this mean for paid search?
More versatility when geo-targeting for a city or region. Local businesses will have the ability to provide their customers with more options and consumers will have the ability to find business locations closer to home…meaning a greater chance of business to consumer relations.
The current list of countries where Local Extensions is available can be found here.
The Idea of Marketing
May 22nd, 2010In order to see this the right way we first need to make a few things perfectly clear.
1. Copywriting is marketing.
2. Marketing – the best marketing – is nothing more than a great idea put visually (possibly audibly).
3. Words are visual.
So…where do great ideas come from? Often copywriters, much like traditional marketers, treat their trade as nothing more than a business. They start the day at 8 or 9 in the morning and end it an around 5 pm, structuring their business around a schedule and avoiding the idea of work once the time card has been punched.
Are you restricting your great ideas to eight hours a day – 40 hours a week?
Ideas come when you least expect them. They come while your sipping your coffee at breakfast, while you are getting your tire changed – they even come while you are sitting on the toilet.
When a great idea strikes it is important to run with it…or at least make notes so you can run with it later. Unfortunately, ideas are not concrete. Ideas do not get stuck in your subconscious where you can retrieve them later. Sometimes I wonder how many great ideas have been lost only because the person didn’t have a pen and paper handy.
Be ready when an idea strikes.
Don’t dwell on it. This can have a reverse effect – much like trying to find the perfect marketing plan before lunch.
Just be ready.
A Google Search for Your Site Name Will Not Get You Noticed
May 8th, 2010The other night I went over to a friend of my wife’s house for a reason I cannot remember (yep, it works like that).
This particular friend and her husband have recently started a website for their business. While sitting around their kitchen the subject turned to their website and how they were hoping to get more traffic and, in turn, business for their…er…business. At this point I got very quiet.
May reasons for this are two-fold:
- I like to see what other people know about SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- When they first set up their website they used me for some free advice (yes, I’m like that and you should be too)
Her friend was talking about how they had gotten a few visitors but needed more. She then asked if everyone would please do a Google search for their business name so it would receive first page rankings.
Scooby Doo head snap
Now, if it would have been anyone else I would have corrected them as I am letting you know now that doing a Google search for your business name will not get you ranked for anything. This will happen automatically as long as your website is not doing any shady business.
And what about the keywords people are typing in for your service? Ranking for your business name is great, and if your well known even better. But if you are like them, and most of us are, you need quality SEO to get noticed by the general public.
I’m hoping most people know this but hearing them ask people that really got me wondering.
Then again…if many people do think things like this it means more of an advantage for people that understand the importance of search engine optimization
Don’t Miss My Copywriting Blog at LifeTips.com
December 18th, 2009Just a quick post this morning to let people know that you can also check out my LifeTips blog to learn copywriting tips and read blogs roughly about the field of copywriting (although they often include alien abduction, shark attacks and many other things). And stay tuned here as this blog will soon be taking off as I have several posts in the works.
Thanks for your patience.
New Blog Site for SEO Specialties
November 28th, 2009Just a quick post on a Saturday morning to add content to our BRAND NEW SEO Specialties blog!
A little about our company:
SEO Specialties offers SEO consultation as well as content creation and marketing. Our mission is to help not for profit organizations and environmental groups get noticed on a local, regional or even national level. This does not mean, however, that we will not perform services for other businesses.
Stay tuned for future posts from SEO Specialties. Our posts will cover everything from current projects to SEO tips and much, much more!
If you are interested in receiving honest SEO Consultation for your website or are in need of quality content to help you achieve higher rankings in the SERPS, please contact us by email (jeff@seospecialties) or call us today at 225-678-6782.