Search Marketing Articles

I'll admit it. I used to be scared of social media. I didn't know what it was, nor did I want to. I'm rarely an early adopter of anything; in fact, some might call me a Luddite. (Yeah, I still use my 1994 HTML editor!) Let's just say that I resist change with every fiber of my being. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

It's funny how we, as website owners, don't always think like our visitors. A course of action that might seem perfectly obvious to us may stop our visitors right in the middle of their buying process. Take, for instance, e-commerce–type copy. Do you realize that what happens after your customers read your copy could make or break your sale? I'm not talking about shopping cart abandonment. I'm talking about good communication that keeps the buying cycle moving forward. Let me give you a real-world example.
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In case you missed them, my September columns for both Search Engine Land and TalentZoo are definitely worth a read (if I do say so myself!). Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Today's guest article comes to us from my friend and long-time HRA subscriber Jim Spencer, founder of JBS Partners  – a website design and marketing firm in Winchester, MA, that serves small business and solo entrepreneurs. I met Jim in person at a SEMNE (Search Engine Marketing New England) event.   Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

The question is a rather odd one: "What's your conversion rate?" The correct response would be another question: "Which conversion rate?" What most people are really asking is how many sales have you made? But the sales process – in almost all cases – takes more than one step. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

When the term "linkbait" first appeared on the search marketing scene a few years ago, I wasn't too keen on it because it has a lot of negative connotations. In fishing, bait is not really a good thing (to the fish). One minute the fish thinks he's going to have a tasty meal, and the next minute he IS the tasty meal! Works out nicely for the fisherman, however. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

I'm honored to have been asked to be a judge in Marketing Pilgrim's third annual Search Engine Marketing Scholarship contest. There are a ton of great prizes for the winner, including a free seat at an upcoming High Rankings Training Class! Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Is your website sick? In many ways, SEO consultants are like doctors, only instead of analyzing your personal health symptoms, we analyze the overall health of your website. It's true we're not working with life or death situations the same way doctors do, but having a website that is not receiving all the targeted search engine traffic it could be, is a sign of a sick website. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Read the third installment of my "Avoiding SEO Brain Freeze" series at TalentZoo. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

In a nutshell, I don't believe we need them. That said, after reading additional forum discussions on the topic, it certainly does make sense for search marketing organizations such as SEMPO to have a set of standards that their members must adhere to (if they don't already). However, there's no way for the search marketing industry as a whole to have standards, as we don't have (nor do we need) some sort of governing body that would enforce them. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Nearly every day I hear from newsletter subscribers, forum posters, and potential clients who've been charged with the task of learning how to optimize their company's website to gain more targeted search engine traffic, but they simply don't know where to begin or the best way to go about it.

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In case you missed it, I wanted to point you to my article at Search Engine Land from last week called “Social Media Marketing: The New SEO?” Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

The SEO world is abuzz today with Google’s smack in the face to a number of websites that are selling obviously paid-for, keyword-rich text links. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

I hope you will take the time to read my latest column at Search Engine Land, where I wonder whether SEOs have lost the plot. It's all about making sure that when you make changes to a site for SEO purposes, you truly understand the reasoning behind why you're making those changes. Unfortunately, many people don't. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

In Part 1 of this series, I introduced you to Announce It!, an online candy-bar-wrapper manufacturer that was seeking professional help with their search engine copywriting. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

The old cliché is wrong. All our lives we’ve heard, “It’s not what you say, but how you say it.” That may occasionally be true, but for the most part it’s what you say AND how you say it. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Hey everyone! I’m back from vacation and the conference and raring to go. Today’s article is an updated version of one I wrote back in 2004 on the art of SEO. I recently reviewed it and was surprised at how accurate it still is today. I figured there are many of you on the list who never read it the first time around, and for those who did, you’ve probably forgotten it by now. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Jill takes a look at Danny Sullivan's Digg-like community for the Search Marketing Industry and is surprised to actually like it! Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

There has been a debate about the use of keywords for years. Many SEO copywriters will tell you that using keyphrases in their entirety is the best practice for getting high rankings. Others insist it really doesn’t matter — that as long as all the individual words within the phrase are used, your copy will do its job. Before we get into whether keyphrases are best used in their entirety or as individual words, let’s sidestep for just a minute to talk about the inner workings of information-retrieval systems (aka search engines). Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

In Part 1 of my article, I said that we need to have an entirely different mindset when researching keywords for PPC vs. SEO. When compiling keywords for SEO, you’re looking for phrases that get a good bit of traffic. But for PPC, you can use all those longer queries that are impossible to work into your page copy. Plus, you’re trying to get a feel for all the different ways people have of phrasing their queries. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

In case you missed it, my column at Search Engine Land this month called "Don't Sweat the Small SEO Stuff" caused a bit of a stir online (which was my intent!). Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Today’s guest article is written by my long-time friend and colleague, Lorelle Smith, “The Keywordsmith.” Lorelle is the reason why you’ll rarely spot a typo or grammar mistake in this newsletter, as she’s been proofreading it for me since its inception in 2002. She’s also my go-to person for keyword research when we don’t have the time or inclination to do it in-house. Simply put, Lorelle knows words better than anyone else I know. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

In Part 1 of this series, we discovered that explaining the value your products offer is only one part of the copywriting process. Creating a visual image is another. While Wholesalers USA knew their target customers better than most companies do, they needed help with two areas: optimizing their copy for the search engines and incorporating visual imagery. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

There’s no doubt. Wholesalers USA knows their customers. They’ve spent the time digging through log files to analyze site stats. They’ve spoken with customers on the phone and emailed with them. They’ve used client feedback to develop new products that have taken off like a rocket. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

The title tag has been — and probably will always be — one of the most important factors in achieving high search engine rankings. In fact, fixing just the title tags of your pages can often generate quick and appreciable differences to your rankings. And because the words in the title tag are what appear in the clickable link on the search engine results page (SERP), changing them may result in more clickthroughs. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

You have one, whether you know it or not. Everybody does. There is something unique about your business; you just have to discover what it is. And therein lies the problem. Most business owners and managers don’t understand how to create a truly unique selling proposition (USP). There are specific criteria to consider in order to get your message across clearly and succinctly. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

As you know there are a lot of so-called SEO/SEM experts/gurus claiming all
sorts of things. The analogy to me is like "quack" doctors compared to the
genuine article.

Are there 6 or a dozen questions that would expose those purporting to be
experts? Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Karon's back today to show us the results from the Julie's Jewels copywriting makeover that she wrote about last time. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Time for a pop quiz! Name three products that sell better when a facts-based approach to copy is taken. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

The length of search phrases continues to grow. Back when the Internet was just an upstart, single keywords were the only thing you needed. But in recent years we've seen the number of words used in search phrases triple and quadruple. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

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My friend and fellow High Rankings® Seminar speaker Matt Bailey writes today's guest article. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

My good buddy, Scottie Claiborne, writes today's guest article about how she's created an instant staff to do her website work. Enjoy! - Jill Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Shel Horowitz writes today's guest article. I've been a long-time fan of Shel, the author of "Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First" (which I totally agreed with!), "Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World," and 5 other books. He is the originator of the Business Ethics Pledge campaign to change the world. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Here’s Karon’s latest and greatest article on…well…writing articles! Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>