Blog http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/ en Copyright 2010 Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:39:21 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification How to Get Top SEO and Placement Results with Google Caffeine
While recent reports put Google's market share at around 65 percent, a massive update to its search engine technology makes sense at this point. Microsoft's new Bing search engine showed some resiliency in late 2009, while Web 2.0 services like Facebook and Twitter have done a lot to change the way people search for content on the Internet.

For Google to remain the most popular search service, it will have to counter Bing's claims of technical superiority. It would also have to more effectively incorporate "real-time search," the term used for finding information and content - like tweets from Twitter and breaking news stories - that have just been posted.

That means a radically different Google search engine. And it also means that those who care about Website search engine optimization and placement may have a lot of new rules to learn if they want to earn high Website rankings on Google. Because Caffeine is a significant departure from previous versions of Google's search engines, Website owners and marketers could see dramatically different results for their search engine optimization and placement efforts.

But the good news is that Google has offered Webmasters and online marketers a taste of Caffeine's unique algorithms. Search engine optimization and placement specialists have been able to test their Websites against an early version of Caffeine. And while it's a nice gesture by Google to provide the chance for Webmasters and marketers to do some preliminary research, it would be wrong to draw any hard and fast conclusions at this point. It's more than likely that Google will continue to tweak and refine Caffeine and its search engine optimization and placement for months after its official release.

So are there any search engine optimization and placement tips and tricks that we can learn from Caffeine? Yes. Google has hinted that several new things will have a major impact on search engine optimization and placement. Here are the most important changes.

1. Website speed: Google will now place more importance on how quickly a Website loads. That means Websites that load fast will be given prominence in search engine optimization and placement over Websites that are slow and clunky.

2. Broken links: Links that go nowhere aren't just annoying, they'll soon count as a strike against a Website's search engine optimization and placement efforts. It's already an accepted rule that any good website shouldn't have broken links. Now it's even more important for Website owners make sure that every link goes somewhere relevant.

3. Penalties for linking to bad neighborhoods: Currently, linking to spammers and obtaining incoming links from known spammers is not a good way to achieve the best search engine optimization and placement results. Look for Caffeine to place even more importance on staying away from link farms and other malicious online practices.

4. Overall website quality: Some canny Website owners have gotten good search engine optimization and placement results by ranking high in a single factor that Google assesses, while ignoring other aspects. Under Caffeine, the overall quality will be under closer inspection. Having just one or two key search engine optimization and placement ranking factors won't be enough.

So what will you have to change if you want to achieve great search engine optimization and placement results under Caffeine? If you already have a Website that subscribes to Google and SEO best practices, then there probably isn't a lot you'll have to tweak.

Here are some steps you can take to make sure that you're Website is primed to get good results under Caffeine:

1. Eliminate all spam elements from your Website: Any part of your Website that could conceivably be considered spám will likely have a negative effect on your search engine optimization and placement efforts. Spam elements include Website text that's the same color as the background, Website cloaking, and automated linking.

2. Reevaluate your Website design and structure: Make sure your Website looks great and is user-friendly. Users should be able to easily navigate through the Website and search engines should be able to understand and categorize a Web page just by reading its title and meta tags.

3. Get links from social bookmark and other social media sites: Links from social bookmark sites like Digg and Delicious are already important to gaining good search engine optimization and placement. The importance of links from these types of sites is likely to incréase under Caffeine.

4. Check your Website links: Make sure that you aren't linking to any Websites that could potentially be labeled as spammers. Having a selection of quality links is far better than gathering as many links as possible.

By following the above tips and tricks, your Website should have no problem adjusting to Google's new search engine. And you'll have a crucial advantage when it comes to getting great search engine optimization and placement results.

About the Author: Wendy Suto is CEO and President of Search Circus, an ethical and certified SEO firm based in Cleveland Ohio that specializes in search engine optimization, social media marketing, corporate blogs, and link building for small to large businesses throughout the U.S. ]]> http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/09/how-to-get-top-seo-and-placement-results-with-google-caffeine.html http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/09/how-to-get-top-seo-and-placement-results-with-google-caffeine.html News Search Engine Optimization Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:39:21 -0500 Is Google Really Developing a Facebook Killer?
Only Google knows the truth.

However, creating such a site would be a smart move on Google's part since they do need to compéte with Facebook, mainly because Facebook is turning into a real search engine, one that could possibly give Google a run for all those lucrative search dollars. Ridiculous you say - not really, especially when you consider Facebook's recent move towards "Open Graph Search" and its use of the "Like" button and box. is the number of plugins which you can add to your blog.

Unless the surfing public changes overnight, Bing/Yahoo is not going to give Google any real search competition, but Facebook with its massive number of users and rating system could present a true contender.

We also might see a complete change in how the surfing public sees online search. Google and the other search engines are quickly becoming one big "joke" in regards to organic search with big companies buying and selling their way into the top 10 spots and the search engines are helpless to stop it.

Link buying and selling has made organic search a joke and more and more web users are catching on to this fact. Once this becomes common knowledge, search engines will be appropriately viewed as corporate billboards rather than anything of true relevance or importance - even the mighty Google could fall.

That's why Facebook and its actual ratings/rankings by actual consumers/customers are becoming much more important. While even this kind of search equation is open to abuse, a search engine based on such "user-based" results will beat Google's SERPs any day.

Once web users realize the true value of such rankings and search engine, then Google will have some real competition at last.

Of course, Google is not standing still. As those of us who make a full time living from search engine marketing will tell you, Google is placing more emphasis on "user-generated" content and ratings. They have placed more emphasis on the "truer" ranking systems on the web, those coming from social networking sites like Twitter, Digg, Del.icio.us, YouTube, MySpace and even Facebook.

How many Tweets does a post get? How many Diggs does your content gather? How many comments does your YouTube video have? How many Thumbs Up? How many times is a web page bookmarked in Del.icio.us and recommended to friends.

Granted even these social bookmarking sites can be manipulated, but it is just a little harder to do than simple link buying or employing simple SEO tactics/services to get your site to the top spot. Which brings us back to the question at hand - is Google developing a social networking site like Facebook? If you count all the programs/sites which Google currently offers up: Google Wave, Google Voice, iGoogle, Google Accounts, Google Buzz, Gmail, Google Profiles... one could argue... does Google really need another social networking program?

Considering all of these current offerings, is it just me, or is there a lack of focus to all these Google products? Google needs one site which connects all of its programs/products at your fingertips. Maybe iGoogle could fill the spot, but it doesn't take in everything or have that crucial social networking element.

Google should have a social network site like Facebook, where you can easily connect with family, colleagues and friends, but the site should also have a sidebar which lists all the Google programs/sites that you use. The site should be a "one-stop-center" for all things Google.

Google and all its countless programs needs a concrete solid focus or center. One clíck and everything that Google has to provide is displayed on ONE page. More importantly, all Google's products need to be consolidated and connected - Google Voice, Wave, Buzz, Maps, Mail, Profiles, Search... all need to be functional in one simple social networking platform.

Create or develop a user-based ranking/rating system within this newly formed social networking site and Google will be able to rival Facebook when it comes to true democratic search. Such a site, if it does materialize, could give Google's Search Engine, and search in general, a much needed dose of honesty. Then again, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride and Google would no longer be a one trick pony.

About the Author: All opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author who has been following Google since it was a mere BackRub. He is also a full time search engine marketer who operates numerous niche sites, as well as two sites on Internet Marketing, where you can get valuable marketing tips for free: internet marketing Titus Hoskins Copyright 2010. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.  ]]> http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/08/is-google-really-developing-a-facebook-killer.html http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/08/is-google-really-developing-a-facebook-killer.html News Social Media Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:14:45 -0500 Does Your Marketing Stop When Your Content Starts?
This article is an edited version of a chapter of Wordtracker's The Website Content Recipe Book - 21 irresistible content ideas to wow visitors and boost your search engine optimization.

Don't Stop Marketing - Every Page is a Marketing Page

Visitors may first enter your site through almost any page. And for various reasons no matter what you do, many will not read more than one page. Therefore, to maximize response you must treat every page as a marketing page. So add adverts to where they will be seen - a subject I plan to write about next week (look for 'How to make your articles sell').

But only a small percentage of readers will respond when first seeing even quality adverts. You'll have to work a bit harder for the rest of your readers. You'll have to use your pages' content to make them consider a marketing proposal (perhaps another day). You must prove that you (and your brand) are expert at delivering what's wanted, and can be trusted. To do that, your page must first be read.

Who is Your Site for... and What Do They Want?

When you're busy creating content, it's easy to forget that your website exists to sell your products and services to particular groups of people. And even if you wouldn't forget such a thing - can the same be said for everybody who writes for you?

As well researched and expert as you are in your field, it can be hard to put yourself in the position of your targeted visitors who, when they come, will spare just a few seconds to find a reason to read the content.

When constructing an argument or presenting a product, it seems logical to first present the building blocks of your case before giving the end result. The end results should be something that will make your readers' lives better. But...

People Purchase Benefits Not Features

If you want readers to read on, you must spell out the benefits before describing and explaining the features.

Features are the characteristics of what you're selling. Benefits are the things that those features will do for you.

For example, people don't purchase light bulbs for features like being long lasting, bright, and cheap. People purchase light bulbs for benefits like saving money or the planet and helping them do things in what would otherwise be darkness.

Your Headline is the Most Important Part of Your Content

If your headline does not promise something of interest, then your article won't get read and you'll struggle to sell. This is because most visitors arrive at a page, read a headline and then make a decision to stay or go.

Also, if a page is linked from elsewhere on your site or others then your headline is likely to be used for the link. When reading headlines, potential readers are looking for what a page might do for them. They are looking for benefits and if your headline does not deliver, they are gone.

Here are a few guidelines for headline writing:

• Promise benefits - tell readers what the content will do for them.

• Don't be clever or obscure and don't make the reader think too much.

• Don't be ironic because most readers won't know you are being ironic.

• Don't force readers to read the story in order to understand the headline.

• Try asking a question about a problem and entice with the solution.

For a masterclass in headline writing, try Wordtracker's recent eight-part headline writing course by Sean D'Souza, a master of the craft.

Your First Paragraph is the Second Most Important Part of Your Content

Make your first paragraph (aka the lead or the standfirst) as succinct, clear, and uncluttered as it can possibly be.

If a visitor has been interested enough in your headline to read on, the next thing they will read is your opening paragraph where you have to give the same benefits with a little more detail.

You can't explain everything with your first paragraph. So find the most important idea you want to put across, explain what it is and perhaps begin to elaborate on it.

For example, this article's lead is:

"Your content will get noticed, get read and get customers if you use your headlines and first paragraphs to let readers know what is in it for them. Here we'll introduce you to some techniques you can use to make that happen."

It starts with a benefit:

"...get noticed, get read and get customers..."

...and then comes a summary of how to achieve that:

"...if you use your headline and first paragraph to tell readers what is in it for them"

Then the second sentence repeats the benefit with some detail about how this will be achieved:

"...we'll introduce you to some techniques you can use to make that happen."

Hopefully we've achieved what this first paragraph set out to do and in the future no visitors to your site will leave without you having done everything you can to get them to read on and reach your marketing.

About the Author: You'll find more about how to use effective headlines in your marketing - as well as loads more website marketing tips and ideas in Wordtracker's Website Content Recipe Book - 21 irresistible content ideas to wow visitors and boost your search engine optimization. ]]> http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/08/does-your-marketing-stop-when-your-content-starts.html http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/08/does-your-marketing-stop-when-your-content-starts.html Problem Solving Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:10:55 -0500 Top 10 Google Search Features for Your Business
Since Google is just a click away, I think it's a very useful for everybody involved in the supply chain to be aware of how much easier it can make their lives. Everybody from traffic managers, to purchasing people, to accounting people and customer service will likely need to reference what Google can do during the course of the week. There are a lot of people who don't even know all of Google's capabilities. So without further ado, here is your:

Top 10 Google Search Tools That Will Help Your Supply Chain

1. Package Tracking - You can track packages by typing the tracking number for your UPS, Fedex or USPS package directly into the search box. Some of the LTL and motor carriers also allow for you to plug in their pro numbers as well. Google will return results that include quick links to easily track the status of your shipment.

Example of what to search for: "1Z9999W9999999999"

2. Time - This is huge when dealing with vendors or customers overseas or across the country. To see the time in many cities world wide, type in "time" and the name of the city.

Example of what to search for: "time London"

3. Currency Conversion - This is cool! To use Google's built-in currency converter, simply enter the conversion you'd like done into the Google search box and they'll provide your answer directly on the results page.

Example of what to search for: "150 GBP in USD"

4. Unit Conversion - Countries use different metrics for measuring. This tool is extremely useful. You can use Google to convert between many different units of measurement of height, weight, and volume among many others. Just enter your desired conversion into the search box and Google will do the rest.

Example of what to search for: "10.5 cm in inches"

5. Calculator - Since Google is right on your desk top you don't have to go searching for your calculator. Plus it uses Excel style equations so it's really easy for business people who think in Excel. To use Google's built-in calculator function; simply enter the calculation you'd like done into the search box.

Example of what to search for: "5*9+(sqrt 10)^3="

6. Weather - Weather plays a big role in transportation so this is great for getting a snapshot of the world's weather. To see the weather for many U.S. and worldwide cities, type "weather" followed by the city and state, U.S. zip code, or city and country.

Example of what to search for: "weather San Francisco, CA"

7. Maps - Want to see the mileage between a shipper and a consignee or try to figure out where your vendor is located? This is great! Type in the name or U.S. zip code of a location and the word "map" and Google will return a map of that location. Clicking on the map will take you to a larger version on Google Maps.

Example of what to search for: "Seattle map"

8. Area Code - This can be helpful in situations ranging from trying to find where a phone call is coming from to finding out what part of the country you are calling. To see the geographical location for any U.S. telephone area code, just type the three-digit area code into the Google search box and hit the Enter key or click the Google Search button.

Example of what to search for: "212"

9. Stock Quotes - Wanna see how a freight carrier or a vendor is doing in the market? Just type the ticker symbol into the search box. On the results page, you can click the link to see more data from Google Finance as well.

Example of what to search for: "MSFT"

10. Earthquakes - I have heard carriers make up some crack pot reasons why they missed the delivery. In case you are given the old earthquake excuse, you can use Google to see if the story checks out. To see information about recent earthquakes in a specific area type "earthquake" followed by the city and state or U.S. zip code.

Example of what to search for: "earthquake 90210"

*When entering keyword or phrase into Google's search engine with these tools, do not use quotation marks.

About the Author: George specializes in consulting companies to run their supply chain as efficiently as possible. He also hosts a blog called www.freightsavingstips.com where he offers shippers cost savíngs tips and best practice ideas. Feel free to email George with any freight related questions at george@freightsavingstips.com.  ]]> http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/08/top-10-google-search-features-for-your-business.html http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/08/top-10-google-search-features-for-your-business.html Cool Finds Problem Solving Search Engine Optimization Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:04:07 -0500 The Death of Squeeze Pages...Google Slapped Em Dead
These pages do OK at helping marketers identify which keywords or keyword phrases do well in terms of attracting targeted traffíc and if they're well designed, at gathering email addresses or other contact information from these visitors. However, there are much better methods of doing keyword research than creating a separate squeeze page for each of your keywords. Additionally, building and maintaining these pages represents an investment of time and money which isn't likely to produce a worthwhile return.

The squeeze page is dead - it just doesn't know it yet and neither do the marketers who still use this direct marketing-style methodology in their líst building efforts. I know there's probably at least a few of you out there reading this that still use them and are wondering what exactly is wrong with squeeze pages.

As it happens, the answer is plenty. They're unappealing to consumers and increasingly, they're seen as undesirable pieces of virtual property by the search engines as well. When you're trying to market your business with a tool that turns off both your target market and the search engines, it's clear that the time has come to abandon ship. I'll explain in more detail below.

They're Completely Unappealing To Readers

You've seen a squeeze page before - and chances are you've hit the back button on your browser almost immediately. These pages almost universally feature incredibly unattractive cookie cutter designs and copy which is generally nothing but sensational hype. That alone is enough to turn off most readers, not to mention that squeeze pages seem all too often to be riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. Put simply, they don't look professional by any stretch of the imagination - but they do look professional enough to fool many business people who are new to the medium of the web into using them at least for a while.

Think of it this way - if you got a flyer in the mail that looked like one of these pages, would you be in a hurry to contact the marketer to sign up for their mailing líst, let alone actually do business with them? Probably not.

As a general rule, if it looks too awful to be true, it's just what it looks like and squeeze pages are a prime example of this. They lack any kind of credibility with your prospective customers, especially when you're in the real estate business. These pages make you look like the online equivalent of a shady used car salesman, not the kind of person that people want to do a real estate deal with. There are other things about squeeze pages that turn off your potential customers, but since there's some crossover with this and the SEO shortcomings of the format, we'll get back to that a little later on.

Google Slaps Squeeze Pages

It's true: squeeze pages are nothing less than poison as far as your performance in the search engines is concerned. Google and other search engines have been working on ways to discount the rankings of these pages, which are rarely the kind of content that users are actually looking for when they use the keywords which these sites target. It comes down to what it always comes down to when search engine rankings are the issue - relevance. A webpage designed to entice visitors to fork over their contact information simply isn't that relevant to many, if any, actual search engine queries, no matter how much content you try to cram onto the page.

Speaking of the content, this is something which has changed about squeeze pages in the last couple of years. Once these pages started being penalized by search engines for their lack of content ("classic" squeeze pages, after all, feature little more than an opt-in form), marketers started turning them into the online equivalent of the long form sales letter - in other words, something no one wants to read, especially not page after page. This unappealing content has led to a further decline in the ranking of these pages in search results, making them even worse marketing tools than they already were.

Squeeze Pages Can Sink Your Main Site

Let's get back to that subtitle about Google "slapping" squeeze pages, because this is one of the most important points I'd like to make here today. If your squeeze pages either link to or are part of your main site, they're more than likely causing a slump in your main site's search engine ranking, making you less visible to your market online. In other words, the exact opposite of what you'd hoped to accomplish. If these pages link to your site, you can be penalized for these links from unpopular sites in what Google considers to be an iffy online neighborhood - and what are the three most important things in real estate? Exactly.

Another way that squeeze pages can drag down your online presence is through having a large percentage of duplicate content. Many businesses throw up dozens of squeeze pages which are basically identical other than the targeted keywords for that particular page. Even if you make an effort to rewrite the content on these pages, there's only so much you can do without putting a disproportionate amount of time or money into the effort.

So if squeeze pages are out, what are real estate professionals to do in terms of marketing online? There's plenty of options, all of which are better choices than building a series of squeeze pages. I won't go into them all here, but as always on the web, it's all about good content which is geared towards readers first and search engines second. When your market sees you as credible and reputable, they'll beat a path to your door and happily sign up for your email list. And where the market goes, the search engines will follow; but no one's flocking to squeeze pages.

About the Author: Former Software CEO turned Internet Marketer, Duncan Wierman shows you how to use creative marketing methods to create a full time income online. Duncan is the original creator of the software that finds business LEADS and converts them to income. Get a trial copy at: www.OnlineLeadFinder.com

]]> http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/08/the-death-of-squeeze-pagesgoogle-slapped-em-dead.html http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/08/the-death-of-squeeze-pagesgoogle-slapped-em-dead.html Search Engine Optimization Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:57:18 -0500 12 Little Known Tips for LinkedIn
• LinkedIn has over 70 million members in over 200 countries.

• A new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second, and
about half of our members are outside the U.S.

• Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members.

To me that states clearly that if you have almost ANY kind of business and are prospecting, LI will be a good resource for you. But just setting up a profile and dabbling once a week or so is not going to do much for your prospecting efforts. Below are a few tips that not many folks know about, but are powerful techniques for increasing your visibility and maximizing that "inbound marketing" that Social Media is known for.

1. Create 3 saved searches. If you are doing a search on a company, person, industry or whatever, save your searches. At the top where you see the number of records in your search you'll see a "save this search" button - you get 3 if you are at the basic level. LI will send you a weekly email, if you want, to get updates to your search.

2. Recommendations are important, so ask for them. But make it easy. I first call or email my contact and ask if they will recommend me. If so, write the recommendatíon yourself - so you are sure that you are sending the right message. Be sure to talk about the problems you solved - that's really the point, isn't it?

3. Use the Question and Answer area to gain more visibility on the Internet. On the question that you answer you will see a "share this" with a drop down menu. You can email your network, Digg it, Bookmark the question on Delicious, or use the link provided in your answer and link to one of your blog posts, or somewhere else on your site to pull in traffic.

4. Join groups that are in line with your business, your objectives or your hoped for job. Fish where the fish are. The more "on target" the group, the more valuable the content they provide, and the networking opportunities will be.

5. Use groups to expand your network, but be selective. In the groups tabs, you will see "Groups Directory". Select that and on the next page use Search Groups, selecting "other" from the drop down categories menu. Join the groups that interest you. Once you are a member, you will have access to the members in that group. Try connecting with the ones that make sense. You might evaluate based on the size of their network, the type of company or industry they are in or how much interaction they have had with the group.

6. Did you know you can export your connections? Go to "Contacts." Then "Connections. " At the bottom of your Connections box is "Export Connections. " Export the connections and import them into your preferred address book. Do this frequently so you are consolidating all of your contacts in one spot (might be Outlook, Act, Salesforce).

7. Refer to both the LinkedIn Learning Center and their blog. The Learning Center is full of great tutorials and the blog has info on updated and new features with full explanations.

8. For better and more valued networking, when you invite someone to join your network, don't use the canned LinkedIn message. Say something about who you are and why you want to connect with that person.

9. To really maximize your profile, find one or two LinkedIn specialists (Google that phrase, or check Amazon for authors) and look up their profile. Study carefully and learn by example.

10. Be creative about how you use the Answers section. It can be used to ask for solutions to problems, for resources, for vendors, for processes. But it can also be used to find good connections, or find other groups you may want to join, to deliver information on your products or services, IF it provides an answer to the question. Sometimes you've got the perfect solution!

11. You can share a group with your connections - more value added to your community. When you are in a specific group, on the Overview tab you will see an option to "share group" and you can send an email to 50 of your connections.

12. Don't hop over the "People You May Know" suggestions that appears in the upper right corner of your home page. Expand the box and start connecting with people on an ongoing basis. This is a great way to widen your circle.

LinkedIn is a powerful tool for almost any social media objective - branding, lead generation, or job searching. Invest some time in learning the finer points - you will be glad you did.

About the Author: Elyse Tager is a social media strategist and founder of Elymedia. Elyse develops effective marketing strategies to help the small business grow significantly. Want to learn more about growing your business with Social Media? Sign up for Elyse's free introductory teleseminar available at => www.elymedia.com.
]]> http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/07/12-little-known-tips-for-linkedin.html http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/07/12-little-known-tips-for-linkedin.html Social Media Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:55:59 -0500 6 questions to ask when choosing CMS for your e-commerce platform A CMS is just about content so it doesn't need much attention, right? Wrong. In an e-commerce environment CMS means so much more than being able to edit and publish content.

E-commerce pages have dynamic content served by code and this content can change depending on the visitor session; given such variation, how can you weave static content into dynamic pages without screwing the display?

As the sophistication of consumers and online technology has risen, so have the demands on e-commerce managers to understand which tools are the best-fit for the business. Having worked on many CMS implementations and seen the pitfalls, I thought I'd share some advice on what questions you need to be asking.

Before I start, indulge me in a CMS definition. CMS is a rather generic term for a myriad of things. For this blog I'm defining CMS as the toolkit that enables web teams to access, edit and publish content to multiple channels including the website as well as targeting content based on customer segment and user profile.


1. What are the different types of content I need to manage and who owns what?

Yes I know this sounds obvious but I've seen this part often under-planned. You should start by mapping what content management means to your business:

  • List everyone involved in producing, editing and managing content, including commercial teams selling web space to partners.
  • List the different types of content that each person/team needs to manage.
  • Outline which pages display copy, images, rich media, html snippets, overlays, pop-ups, pop-unders etc.
  • Define what access you require to SEO assets such as meta tags, alt images, URLs etc.
  • Define the landing pages you need to support the online channel.
  • Define the access you need to CSS files.
  • Define responsibilities - who has edit only access and to what, who approves what content, what is the workflow and what are the timeframes you have to work to.

It's a straightforward piece of work but it takes time. You need to sit with key stakeholders and canvass their opinions and knowledge. Get this right and your project is off to a good start.


2. On what pages do I have dynamic content being served and how will this affect the implementation of a CMS?

Take, for example, your product details page. The bulk of the content is dynamically generated in a page template. The product data will be held in a database and the page will reference this to show the latest information. You will also be using cache management to serve pages quicker.

Around the product info you might want to display messages and banners to help with customer service and marketing. This content must work in conjunction with the dynamic content to ensure the page renders well and is legible to the customer.

You need to specify to your development team exactly what type of content and size, shape etc you require so they can plan the best way to integrate it into the page without compromising the existing content.

This discussion is most common for the following pages:

  • Category landing page.
  • Product details.
  • Product list.
  • Search results.
  • Basket.
  • Checkout.


3. What merchandising tools do I want to use to personalise the shopping experience?

Enterprise level CMS solutions are getting more sophisticated; some have in-built merchandising tools that enable you to target content to specific users and customer segments.

When evaluating CMS providers, it is useful to define your merchandising hit list and see if you can kill two birds with one stone and reduce your cost base. Areas to look at:

  • Display different content in marketing spots based on user profile.
  • Ability to refine product display based on browsing behaviour of individual customers.
  • Control site search and use business logic to define results based on search terms.
  • Control navigation structure and refinements.
  • Trigger activities such as outbound emails based on customer actions.


4. What testing do I want to do across the website?

Ask this question before you choose the CMS. Define what type of testing you want to do (A/B, MVT or both) and what content components you wish to be able to test - ideally everything so you're not restricted.

It's an important consideration because few CMS solutions natively support testing (i.e. you can't program content tests via the CMS interface), so you'll either require a customised plug-in or you'll need the technical team to map how your chosen testing tool can be integrated into the CMS and where you access the testing UI from.

Make sure you work out what tools are programming and controlling the tests and where the data is being collected. You might use a CMS to display the content versions but a dedicated testing tool to program the conditions.


5. How do I want to measure the impact of my content?

Linked closely with Testing, it's important to measure the impact of your content on site performance. To achieve this you need to understand how you can tag each content component to ensure the data is being collected in the right reports in your web analytics.

Many of the enterprise level CMS providers have plug-ins for tools like Google Analytics and the leading analytics suites like Omniture SiteCatalyst but ask the question, don't assume it will work.

Start by defining what you want to measure, then work back to how it can be measured. If you're not sure how it should work, speak to an expert


6. What other systems does my CMS need to talk to?

Unless you're running a pure content website, you'll have any number of back office and ecommerce systems helping your site tick over. You need to understand how the CMS interacts with these systems to ensure it doesn't destabilise the platform.

A good example is external cache management tools; if you want to implement rapid content changes but pages are cached to improve site performance, you'll need a way of invalidating the cache at component level to release the new content.

So what do you think? I know this isn't an exhaustive list, so what else do you think is important? I'd be interested to hear your experience of the above as well as other techniques you have used to improve the quality of your CMS solution.

]]> http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/07/6-questions-to-ask-when-choosing-cms-for-your-e-commerce-platform.html http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/07/6-questions-to-ask-when-choosing-cms-for-your-e-commerce-platform.html News Problem Solving cms content management system Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:24:15 -0500 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Designing a Website 1. What Are Your Business Goals?

It's easy to say, "I want to make monéy," however, this is not a great motivator. Think of a deeper motivation that you feel passionate about e.g. "I want to have the financíal freedom to spend more time with my kids as they are growing up."

2. What's the Purpose of Your Website?

This is the question most visitors will ask when accessing your website. Your home page must clearly explain the purpose and benefits of the products and/or services you are offering.

3. What Type of Products or Services Will You Sell?

Research the marketability of your products or services by doing keyword research. Use the Google Keyword Tool to find out how many searches your main keywords receive every month. If there are no searches, it means there is not much demand and therefore not worth marketing.

If it is a very competitive market (millions of searches per month), it may be difficult to stand out from your competitors and create a profitable online business.

4. How Many Products Will You Sell From Your Website?

This will determine how many pages your website will have. If you're only selling one product or service, you may only need 4 web pages e.g. Home, Product (or Services), About, Contact. If you're selling 100s of items, you will need a database driven site to store and manage all of them.

5. How Many Variables Does Your Product Have?

Variables may include size, color, type, sku#, shipping, tax? Make sure your shopping cart allows you to include these variables.

6. How Will You Accept Online Payments?

To accept bank card payments online, you will need a shopping cart, merchant account, payment gateway and SSL certificate for secure transactions. This means you will have monthly fees and processing fees every time a customer purchases something from your website.

A less expensive option for accepting payments online is the Paypal shopping cart. You don't need to purchase a separate merchant account, shopping cart, payment gateway and secure certificate. For a small processing fee it takes care of all this in one place.

7. Do You Have a Web Hosting Plan?

Your website needs to be hosted on a server for it to be available online. Select a hosting plan that has sufficient space for all your files and bandwidth to receive 1000s of visitors each month. Make sure you have the flexibility to upgrade your plan should you need more space and bandwidth.

8. Will You Need to Maintain the Website Yourself?

Asking this question before the design will determine what software your designer will use to build your website. If it only consists of a few web pages which don't need regular updating, then use software such as Dreamweaver to build it. It creates clean code and you will have only a few files.

If your website has 100s of pages, consider a content management system such as WordPress, Joomla or Zen Cart. They all enable 100s of items to be stored in a database. The website can be managed (add, edit, or delete items or pages) by logging into an administration area.

9. Do You Have a Marketing Plan?

To create a profitable online business you must create a plan to promote it. Some methods may include, search engine marketing, pay-per-click, article marketing, press releases, social media, video marketing, etc. Website campaigning needs to be done frequently and consistently to be effective.

10. How Will You Monitor Your Website Statistics?

Check if your web hosting plan includes site statistics (e.g. AW Stats). If not, create a Google Analytics account and insert the code on your web pages. It will track how many daily, weekly, monthly, yearly visitors you receive, where they are coming from and what keywords are being used to find your site in the search engines.

If you answer these 10 questions first, you'll avoid the pitfalls of designing and building a website and add to your potential of creating a profitable online business.

]]> http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/07/10-questions-to-ask-yourself-before-designing-a-website.html http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/07/10-questions-to-ask-yourself-before-designing-a-website.html News design website Fri, 16 Jul 2010 09:23:38 -0500 10 Business Blogging Tips to Improve Your Blog Performance Business blogging is a different kettle of fish to blogging for money and that, in turn, is entirely different to blogging socially. The type of blog you manage will determine the voice, design, and style of your blog as well as the efforts you're likely to put into promoting it.

A business blog needs to be professional as well as appear it. Regular posting on topics that your readers will genuinely find interesting can promote you as an expert in your field. A blog can keep the line of communication between you and potential customers open. It enables you to post relevant, keyword rich postings that encourage new traffic and help build your client base.

It's far from an exhaustive list but below are ten tips to remember when blogging for business:

1 - Set Your Goals Early

In just about every guide you ever read it says "set your goals"; it might be a cliché but it's true. With a business blog your most likely goal is to incréase sales but other worthy goals can include:

    • Communicating with your existing or potential clients
    • Relaying company news
    • Answering queries and questions
    • Providing guides for current customers
    • Providing a portal to everything useful related to your industry

The design of your site, type of content to include, whether or not to include ads, and numerous other decisions will be governed by the reason that you start blogging. The sooner you realize what it is that you want to achieve, the sooner you'll achieve it.

2 - Use SEO Friendly URLs and SEO Plugins

WordPress is an invaluable SEO tool. It is a dedicated Content Management System but, more than that, it has a team of frighteningly dedicated users that create themes, plugins, widgets, and more and then provide them free of charge to other users. Among these tools are a great number of SEO related tools that can be used to determine your meta description and title tags.

A simple but potentially effective SEO fix is to change the format of permalinks or URLs so that they dispense with the default page id to be replaced with an easier to read and keyword optimized page URL. You can do this through the Wordpress dashboard.

3 - Consider Your Media Placement

Adding photos and illustrations, logos, videos, and other forms of media are great for reader engagement, but you should consider each of your blog assets and place the most valuable and useful in the most prominent position. The quicker you can grab a reader's attention, the more likely you will be to keep it for longer.

Certain themes allow you to easily embed video and slideshows into the sidebar of your blog and this can be a very useful tool to make your pages appear more attractive while relaying genuinely useful information.

4 - Consider Your Ad Placement

The primary target of a business blog is not usually to make money directly through the blog itself. Therefore, the placing of third party ads is not necessarily a good choice. However, you can add ads for your company or service as well as associate websites. You can even add banners to specific categories, tags, or pages in your blog. Don't overdo the number of banner ads and other distracting advertisements though and try to keep the interface clean and professional.

5 - Offer Your Readers the Chance to Pass You Around

Add me, share this, retweet, and email this functions should be provided to your users. When you post something useful and one of your readers shares it, it has the potential to go viral and create a lot of exposure for your blog and therefore your website and your business. This works especially well with highly unique content and can be text, audio, video...

Some themes have these functionalities built into them, but do ensure that they're enabled. Alternatively find a sidebar widget or a social bookmarking plug-in that offers the same features and install this. Many blog readers read a number of blogs regularly and by enabling them to add you to social bookmarking and social networking sites you may well develop a long term relationship with them while also letting them inform others of what you provide.

6 - Keep Quality Content Coming

Try to set yourself a regular schedule but remember that it can be broken and it can be added to when necessary. If news breaks, then post your commentary on it. If you intersperse product reviews and articles that relate to your business then try to schedule these. Make sure you post regularly, at the very least once a week, and spend some time getting involved in the community that builds up around your blog.

7 - Not Every Post Need Be an Advert

As long as you fill your blog with relevant, interesting, and well written posts then visitors will take the time to look around, read a few posts, and even clíck the ads to your site in order to see exactly what you have to offér. Not every single post needs to include multiple links to your website pages.

You can download plugins that further the likelihood of users reading more posts. Some add a list of related posts to the bottom of each entry while many themes provide the chance to show "most popular" and "most commented" posts to further direct the flow of traffic around your blog.

8 - Respond Where Responses are Expected or Deserved

Managing a blog is more than posting a missive of the week's news every Friday. No matter how often you post you should spend some time interacting with the community that develops around your blog. Answer questions and queries, provide insight, and give a response where one is requested.

A business blog should always be professional, which means keeping posts and messages that are too personal away. Similarly, spam comments can prove extremely damaging for your SEO as well as the trust your readers place in your business. There's decent spam settings in Wordpress and you can further extend these.

9 - Stuck for Inspiration? Immerse Yourself in Web 2.0

More specifically read forums and blogs, wikis and news sites related to your industry. Look for those news stories, articles, and videos that you like the most and are relevant to your blog and write about them. Read the comments in your blog and look through your analytics to determine the pages that are most popular with readers.

Look at emerging keywords and news topics and try to act quickly. Slant the resulting article in favor of your business, if possible, and then post this to your blog too. There's plenty of online portals and sites for news in your industry and you can use email updates, RSS readers, and browser or home page plugins to display them regularly and in an orderly and comprehensible way.

10 - Blogging is Great for Business But Business is Also Great for Business

Getting stuck into a blog and truly developing your blog community can be a great way to build traffic to your website and develop clients for your business. Reading related blogs and becoming an active member in social networks can help you find out what your readers want and deliver it frequently.

Blogging and Web 2.0 in general can quickly become addictive. It should be treated as a tool to assist in managing your online business, which means that you need to concentrate on the other aspects of your business. Outsource your blog development and content creation if necessary and enjoy the results.

]]> http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/07/10-business-blogging-tips-to-improve-your-blog-performance.html http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/07/10-business-blogging-tips-to-improve-your-blog-performance.html Cool Finds Problem Solving blog blogging business tips Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:54:50 -0500 Online Profiles Can Make or Break Your Social Networking Success Almost every social networking site offers a feature called a "profile" that allows members to include their picture, a biography, live links to their websites and other detailed information. Most of us have multiple online profiles that are empty or only partially completed. It is this profile that helps other users decide if they want to work with you. Another perk of online profiles is that the live links pointing to your website may impact your search engine ranking.

It is very important that you think of these profiles as your own "Public Relations Department or Media Room", specifically designed to sell you and your business. Imagine that you only have a few seconds to sell a new prospect on why they should want to get to know you and possibly do business with you. What is said and offered during these few seconds can make all the difference in the world. This is EXACTLY why your online profiles need to be completed to capture the attention of anyone who visits these sites.

Let's look at the different aspects of social networking profiles and what information and content you should include to ensure that you get the maximum results. The following information may or may not be included in every profile, but the majority of it is standard:

Your Picture - Your photo is the first thing people will see upon visiting your profile or when reading your posts. How does it represent you? Wearing a tank top while giving the peace sign with a beer in your hand is not the way to impress potential clients. If you are looking for clients, then professionalism is a must. You can show SOME personality in your photograph but try to strive for conservative whenever possible.

Your Biography - This is your chance to tell others more about you, such as interesting aspects of your life and what makes you, YOU. Take your time here, as this area is the equivalent of sitting down with a prospect and telling them exactly why they should do business with you. Include specifics about your expertise, your business, how you have helped others and even your personal philosophies. You want others to be excited about connecting with you and this is YOUR time to shine.

Links - Make sure to include helpful links in order to allow others to find you online. A link to your website, your blog and additional information about your business is crucial. However, some people make the mistake of including each and every link that points to a profile of theirs online. If you have 25 social networking memberships, it is NOT advisable to include them all here. A good idea would be to vary these links on every website where you have a profile.

Contact Information - You have to include contact information if you want people to have the ability to contact you. Do not try to hide at this point. Many people have the wrong opinion that they should NOT put contact information in their profile, assuming that people contacting you for business purposes is a bad thing. Would you include your contact information in a yellow pages ad? Then why not provide it online? Please only include information you want to be made public.

Interests - Do you like to play golf, workout, volunteer or build model airplanes? You might be surprised that many people would be interested in connecting with you just based upon similar hobbies and interests. This connection can lead to a deepening friendship that may lead to business and even referrals down the road.

Education - While some people may or may not care about your schooling, including specifics about your education can do two things to help you add to the number of responses. First of all, those who went to school where you did may want to connect. Secondly, by offering details about your education, it will help others to see your experience and expertise in various areas.

Favorite Movies or Books - While you may not see the correlation between your favorite movie and a potential new client, trust me, it exists. Just like much of the information above, the information in your profile is designed to help you connect with potential clients and to build business relationships. Sometimes, simply sharing your favorite movie can be the start of a beautiful business relationship.

Testimonials from Past Clients - One of the best ways to demonstrate your ability to help others is by including testimonials from past or current satisfied clients. These testimonials will help others to get a snapshot of some of the work you have done in the past and help to build a foundation of a great business relationship.

Looking at the líst above, there is a lot of information that should be included in each and every social networking profile. Because of this, many people decide to skimp and their profile winds up being about 3 or 4 sentences long. This is a mistake. It is better to leave a profile blank than to create such a lackluster one. If you need inspiration, visit some of the most popular social networking sites and read a few profiles to get some idea of how to get started.

If filling out multiple social networking profiles is too much for your busy day, you might look at getting help from a virtual assistant. Many of them have experience in this area and can create a compelling COMPLETE profile that will best represent you AND your business. We live in a world of social networking ... making it a part of your business marketing simply makes sense. Take the time to do it right or hire someone who can do it for you.

]]> http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/07/online-profiles-can-make-or-break-your-social-networking-success.html http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/07/online-profiles-can-make-or-break-your-social-networking-success.html News Social Media social networking Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:47:31 -0500 What to Include in Your Social Media Marketing Strategy? Creating a "buzz" around products, services, businesses or an event is a requirement from all clients. There is no social media marketing wand that someone will wave and a target audience will automatically start coming to your site. And what works for one brand may not work for another.

The process of creating buzz doesn't start from creating a Blog or creating a video, it's a social media strategy that encompasses social media and word-of-mouth marketing. We have compiled a list of social media tools that companies use to build their social media marketing mixes.

1. Blogs

Blogs have become a great tool for social media marketing. First because, if optimized correctly, they can be used to drive traffic to a website. A good blog will help in creating internal links, fresh content, active community, or non-search engine traffic.

Examples of popular blogs where you can create your account are: Wordpress, Blog.com, Bloggers.com, Typepad, etc.

2. Microblogging

Like blogs, microblogs propose huge opportunities for business endorsement. That is both through content consistency and good optimization. Two of the most used are Posterous and Twitter.

3. Online Video

The importance of online videos has rapidly increased during the last few years. To read more on this topic, have a look at our blog on The Growing Importance of Online Video. Popular video sharing websites include YouTube and Vimeo.

4. Photosharing

Social media is all about sharing! Therefore, there are numerous platforms that allow photo sharing with your friends. Some of them are: Flickr.com, Memeo.com, and Photobucket.com.

5. Podcasting

Podcasting is part of the new media tools that are offered to both promote your brand and your products/services. Check out Blip.fm or RadioPodcast.fr.

6. Presentation Sharing

Another great way to put your brand's name in the spotlight is by offering presentations on topics of interest for your audience on presentation sharing websites. They are increasingly gaining in popularity nowadays. Some of them are: SlideShare.net, MyPlick.com, Scribd.com, or AuthorSTREAM.com.

7. Social Networks: Applications, Fan Pages, Groups, and Personalities

Social networks are the place to present and promote yourself as well as to keep in touch with your targeted audience. You can read a list of the most popular on our blog on our blog on Top Social Media Network Sites!

8. Crowd Sourcing/Voting

Crowdsourcing is an effective model because it can be used for developing programs, marketing efforts, research, and education. For example Dell has used Crowdsourcing as a distributed problem-solving and production model and has reduced costs and increased their efficiency. Also look at the Grand Challenge for FNIH to see a crowd sourcing campaign.

9. Bookmarking/Tagging

Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to share, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web resources. Examples of popular social bookmarking websites: delicious.com, Digg, Diigo, Fark, Mixx, MyBlogLog, Newsvine, Propeller, Reddit, Slashdot.org, StumbleUpon, Yahoo!, and Buzz.

10. Discussion Boards and Forums

Online forums are a great way to market your products/services and interact with other professionals or your audience. Engaging your audience in your niche forum can bring high value to your site and brand too.

11. Content Aggregation

Content aggregation offers you the chance to bring all news and feeds around your online community accounts in one place. Some say this is the future of social media. Emerging content aggregation websites: Bloglines, FriendFeed, Lifestream.fm, Lijit.

12. Brand Monitoring

Social media is also offering a variety of tools that help businesses understand the positioning of their brand. Popular examples are: Buzzlogic, Radian6, or ReputationDefender.

13. Ratings and Reviews

The best way to find out where your website stands or how your brand is perceived by others is through ratings and reviews. See Yelp, or GetSatisfaction.

14. Widgets

For those who are trying to promote their own brands, they can create personalized badges, using interesting widgets on Facebook, Twitter, and other networks or by simply using WidgetBox or SpringWidgets.

15. Wikis

Wikis are our online encyclopedia. A short list of wikis: Wikipedia.org, Citizendium.org, AboutUs.org, Pbwiki(PBworks.com), or Wetpaint.com.

Along with all the new ways of publishing your content on networking sites, it is important to publish your articles on publishing sites like EzineArticles, eHow, Google Docs (docs.google.com), IdeaMarketers, Yahoo Articles Group (groups.yahoo.com) and submit your press releases on important specialized sites like i-Newswire, PR.com, PressReleasePoint, and PRLog.org.

Social Media Marketing can be very confusing at times. There are lots of networks and channels to choose from. Creating a presence on all the channels is very time consuming and randomly choosing a network is not a good social media strategy. Companies are struggling to understand what social media marketing mix they should use to make their brand successful in the online world.

We suggest it is important to identify which channels are suitable for your business depending on your target audience. Businesses must plan a step-by-step onlíne marketing strategy and brainstorm ideas with their onlíne marketing agency that will work for their products/service.

]]> http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/06/what-to-include-in-your-social-media-marketing-strategy.html http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/06/what-to-include-in-your-social-media-marketing-strategy.html Social Media blogging branding marketing networking social media Fri, 25 Jun 2010 11:27:21 -0500 "Are You Human" Tests Go To the Dogs, and Cats A new "are you human" test uses easily discernable photographs to protect comments and product reviews from eager spam bots, offering an effective replacement for third-party solutions like reCAPTCHA.

Many spammers use programs or bots to automatically fill out comment or product review forms, and then add links to malicious or scam sites designed to either infect or bilk users. To fight this sort of spam, some developers and designers use third-party solutions like the aforementioned reCAPTCHA. But for the most part, these would-be solutions are nearly untenable, since they are generally unintelligible even to real humans, a significant hurdle to accessibility, and relatively easy to hack.

AnimalCaptcha

BackWritten's solution to at least some of these captcha challenges is to use public domain pictures of dogs, cats, and other animals to test a user's humanity.

Preview Animal Captcha

The solution is implemented using JavaScript and server-side scripting. So it will be generally safe, although it could be vulnerable to some forms of brute force attacks, packet sniffing, or code reviews.

Easier to Read

While AnimalCaptcha would certainly not make sense on all sites, it would be an excellent choice for merchants in the pet space or merchants that otherwise have a customer base that would consider the images to be cute.

Regardless, it is far easier to read than more traditional, text-based captcha solutions.

Accessibility is Still a Problem

Like all image-based captcha techniques, AnimalCaptcha is a problem for site visitors using screen readers or other non-standard browsers. In fact, it is for this reason that accessibility-minded developers tend to avoid any sort of graphic-based humanity test.

If you decide to implement AnimalCaptcha, consider adding an alternative for visually impaired users.

]]> http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/06/are-you-human-tests-go-to-the-dogs-and-cats.html http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/06/are-you-human-tests-go-to-the-dogs-and-cats.html Cool Finds News Problem Solving captcha form validation new Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:31:12 -0500 The Big Six: mandatory sites for local bricks-and-mortar businesses If you're a local merchant with  a bricks-and-mortar presence, it's time to kiss the yellow pages goodbye. There's no longer any excuse for not having a web presence or for ignoring digital marketing.  Eighty-two percent of people use search engines to find information about local businesses - more than any other media. Even if you don't have a website (you should, but that's another story), there are six sites no local business can afford to ignore.

Not only is getting listed dead simple, it's a great leveler. If you own a pizza place, you can compete head-to-head with national chains like Dominos. Hardware? Go up against Home Depot and Lowes. You get the idea.

Claiming your business and getting listed and  on all five of the Big Six should only take an hour or so (though most require you wait for a postcard or phone call o verify that you are who you say you are). Once you've enlisted, and taken advantage of some of the special features these sites offer (mostly for free), you'll reap many advantages. You'll have a presence in organic search results, not only on the web, but also on mobile platforms.

You can offer special deals and inducements to lure new business, you can encourage positive reviews and, to a degree, manage your online reputation. You can precisely map your location and help people to find it, and broadcast your hours of operation. And you'll have access to analytics that can inform you of the keywords used to find your business, the time of day people search for you and other data that can help improve your online presence, offers and advertising and promotional campaigns.

With a near-zero investment of time and money, there's absolutely no excuse to not get started with The Big Six.

The Search Engines

It should come as no surprise that three of the big five are the major search engines. All want to list your business locally and, in their case, listing should not be confined to butchers, bakers and candlestick makers. Any type of business with a physical presence can benefit from local link juice.

Google Places

Google says 20% of its searches (or roughly 2.8 billion queries) are based on location, so small wonder they've just enhanced and renamed their local listing service. Even if you ignore the other four, taking the time to get listed on the Big Kahuna of search is mission-critical. Here's what you get for signing up:

  • Customize the listing on Google and Google Maps
  • Specify hours, menus/products, photos, payment options (e.g. credit cards accepted), and printable coupons
  • Analytics (traffic and keywords)
  • Service areas: Displays which geographic areas a business serves. If a business lacks a storefront or office, the address can now be private.
  • Photos: Businesses in select cities can request a free photo shoot of their interior. Google will use these to supplement existing photos on Place Pages.
  • Customized QR codes: US businesses can download a unique QR code to use on business cards and marketing collateral. When scanned with smartphones, customers are taken to the mobile version of the business' Place Page.
  • Favorite Places: Google is mailing QR code window decals to US businesses that, again, take smartphones to the relevant Place Page.
  • Businesses in select metro regions willing to spend $25 per month can make their listings stand out on Google and Google Maps with Tags.

Bing Local Listing Center

Much like Yahoo, Microsoft's Bing search engine allows business owners to "claim" their local business online. Businesses can be listed in up to six categories complete with a description, tagline, photo (or logo), contact information, hours of operation, payment options, mapping and more.

Yahoo Local Features

Yahoo's basic free listing includes a business' address, phone number and URL, together with hours of operation, and a listing of products, services and brands. For an extra fee businesses can add a company logo and tagline, printable coupons, up to 10 photos and a detailed business description. While some businesses will doubtless find this worthwhile, it should be noted that both Google and Bing give away most of the "extras" Yahoo asks businesses to pay for.

City Directories

Yelp for Business Owners

One of the two leading urban directories, Yelp claimedover 31 million visits in March of this year.Free tools Yelp offer local business owners include:

•    Communicate privately and publicly with customers
•    Track visits to your business page
•    Add photos, a detailed description, up-to-date information, history, and specials
•    Announce special offers and upcoming events
•    Recommend other businesses
•    When you have enough reviews, get a Yelp badge for your website

Citysearch MyAccount

In addition to offerings similar to Yelp's Citysearch is offering a broad range of advertising and marketing services for local businesses including performance advertising, SEO, the ability to enhance listings with links to the business' Twitter and Facebook accounts. The company says it will also soon introduce reputation management and sentiment analysis tools, though details are still vague.

The Upstart

Foursquare

Foursquare's user base has achieved real traction this year, particularly among young, urban users. Restaurants, bars and nightspots can not longer afford to ignore it, and other local businesses will soon have to start paying attention.

It's now easier to do so as Fourquare is allowing owners to claim their businesses on the service. Once you've done that you can create a wide variety of specials based on check-ins, or mayorships, or other criteria. Even if you're not ready for special, it's worthwhile to claim your business to gain access to stats: who's checking in, how often, gender and frequency of visit breakdowns, etc. Because many users broadcast their Foursquare check-ins to Twitter and Facebook, this overview can help businesses monitor their social media presence on.

]]> http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/06/the-big-six-mandatory-sites-for-local-bricks-and-mortar-businesses.html http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/06/the-big-six-mandatory-sites-for-local-bricks-and-mortar-businesses.html Problem Solving Search Engine Optimization search engine optimization Search Marketing SEO Web Analytics Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:07:07 -0500 Dummies Guide to Facebook Marketing Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 4 years, you know how popular and widely used Facebook is today.

Just a couple of years ago, you had to relentlessly encourage family and friends to join this social networking website (shortly after others had convinced you to join). Nowadays, it's rare to find someone who hasn't got a Facebook account.

At last count, there were over 350 million users on Facebook and this number is continuing to grow. It overtook MySpace as the number 1 social networking website on the planet last year and is just behind Google when it comes to online traffic. You can then understand how important Facebook marketing has become for websites everywhere.

It's Not A Pitch Zone

The most important thing to remember about social media is that it is not a place to blatantly and endlessly pitch your product or service. If you do this, then you will not get any favors from social media users, will get largely ignored and even receive bad reviews.

Social media is actually used for building relationships with potential clients in the market. There are a number of ways you can do this:

     • you can post helpful information (links) that helps them solve a problem.

     • you can personally chat with them to assist them.

     • you can create content addressing the needs of users and post it.

The bottom line is that you want to be seen as genuine and helpful. This way, word can get out that you're the real deal and before you know it, people will become interested in what you have to provide in terms of products and services.

Of course, the things you share on social networking sites such as Facebook shouldn't be the nitty gritty stuff that you have to offer. You should share helpful information in the form of teasers that will interest people enough to ask and wonder if there's more. Offering free stuff is great for getting attention too.

How To Market On Facebook

The great thing about Facebook is that from the outset, it has encouraged all users to use the website as a means of sharing information and marketing whatever they please. As a result, it has developed many ways for users to do this. You are not obliged to use every single one of them, but a combination of them can only improve your Facebook marketing.

Pages

This is probably THE marketing tool out there on Facebook. On its website Facebook describes Pages as "a public Profile that enables you to share your business and products with Facebook users." It is specifically designed for promoting a business and everything it has to provide. People can then become a Fan of your page and when they do this, they let their friends know that they've become a Fan of your page via their News Feed. The potential for your Page to gain a lot of popularity in a small period of time is great.

Of course, it's all dependent on the content you give out for people to use. You need to show them a reason to become a Fan of your Page as well as a reason for staying on.

Events

Create events to be held at a certain date and time. Depending on your type of business, you can create one for a local or international audience. It can be any one of the following:
• seminar: It should be introductory and free but you could promote a paid one too.

• webinar: A seminar conducted online which anyone in the world can join.

• product/service launch: If you are about to launch a product or service, this is a way to gain attention.
The best part about creating an event on Facebook is that it can go viral, and before you know it, people will be attending your event in droves.

Advertising

Finally, about a year ago, Facebook introduced an advertising service where people can put ads promoting their website or their Facebook Page and they pay per click (PPC) or impression (CPM). It works in a similar way to Google Adwords.

You can target your ads to certain geographical locations but in addition, given the nature of Facebook, you can attach your ads to social actions. For example, if you were a wedding photographer and wanted to promote your services, your ads could be set up to appear only to females between the ages of 24 and 30 and whose relationship statuses indicate they are engaged.

It must be noted, however, that Facebook Advertising is still in beta mode which means that it will only improve in the near future.

Embrace Facebook

If you want to market your website online, you would be absolutely nuts not to use Facebook marketing as one of your key strategies. Just be careful not to get caught up in it too much because it can become a very time consuming activity.

]]> http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/06/dummies-guide-to-facebook-marketing.html http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/06/dummies-guide-to-facebook-marketing.html News Social Media facebook marketing social media Fri, 04 Jun 2010 09:42:08 -0500 Reverse SEO: Restoring Online Reputations Reverse SEO fits seamlessly within the context of your online reputation management (ORM) program. It is the quickest, most effective solution for dealing with bad press that has surfaced on the search engines about you or your company. By pushing negative listings from the front page of Google, Yahoo, and Bing, reverse SEO shields you from the damaging commentary of others.

Negative publicity online has become one of the most frustrating challenges for companies. It is typically anonymous. Names are often unattached to forum threads, blog posts, and even entire websites. Therefore, it is difficult to track and address the source of the complaint. Moreover, the growing popularity of social networking platforms has made it easier than ever for anyone with a mild grievance to give weight to their grudge. If you or your company have been the target of bad press online, it may be time to launch a reverse SEO campaign.

In this article, we'll clarify how negative publicity gains traction within the search engines, and how it can lead to a public relations nightmare. We'll also provide a working blueprint for executing a reverse SEO campaign and controlling the damage.

Controlling Bad Publicity With Reverse Search Engine Optimization

To appreciate why reverse SEO is effective, you should understand how negative press takes root within the top search listings in the first place. Google, Yahoo, and Bing rank pages based on a large number of criteria. If a website and its individual pages satisfy the most important of those criteria, those pages will rank well.

A lot of the bad press that targets companies (possibly even yours) is placed on websites that meet key ranking parameters in the search algorithms. That means the negative publicity can climb into the top positions and gain exposure. When people search for you or your company, they'll see the bad press. That damages your reputation.

Reverse search engine optimization is an ORM strategy that pushes negative publicity from the top search positions. By moving the bad press off the first page of listings, reverse SEO limits its exposure and stifles its impact.

Ingredients For An Effective Reverse SEO Campaign

Like search engine marketing, reverse SEO uses a methodical, multi-pronged approach to protect your online reputation. The first step is to identify the sites and pages that contain negative publicity about your company and that are ranking for important keywords. Those keywords might include your name, that of your company, or key employees.

The second step of reverse SEO is to analyze those sites and pages for their respective ranking authority. That will help you determine the effort and tools you'll need to use in order to move them from the first page of listings within Google, Yahoo, and Bing. A negative PR blitz that is spreading across social networking sites is more difficult to overcome than a single blog post that is on a non-authoritative domain.

The third step is to gather the necessary tools and execute your reverse SEO campaign. Such tools might include optimized press releases, a new network of competing sites and blogs, social media profiles, and a social bookmarking program. Reverse SEO may also include heavy content syndication to build high-quality links. A search engine marketing specialist will have these tools at their disposal.

Reverse SEO Begins Before Negative Press Emerges

The best time to launch a reverse SEO campaign is before bad publicity appears in the search engines. This is due to the way that the pages link. A page will rank well within the search engines if there are enough thematic links pointing toward it. However, once it ranks, it will gain exposure. That exacerbates the problem.

Negative press can spread rapidly as people attach the press to their own blogs, sites, forums, and social media accounts. That creates a growing portfolio of links pointing toward the damaging press, cementing its position in the top listings. It becomes more difficult to address. By launching a reverse SEO campaign upfront, you can prevent the negative publicity from gaining exposure in the first place.

Protect Your Online Reputation With Reverse SEO

Reverse SEO should play a key role in your online reputation management program. It is far too easy for unsatisfied customers, resentful employees, lazy journalists, and malicious competitors to tarnish your name. And when it happens, it is usually done under the cover of anonymity. Anonymity makes the complaint or grievance impossible to address in private.

Launch your reverse SEO campaign now - before trouble strikes and the damage begins to gain momentum in the search engines. In a year's time, you'll be glad you did.

]]> http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/05/reverse-seo-restoring-online-reputations.html http://www.whoistheoldguy.com/blog/2010/05/reverse-seo-restoring-online-reputations.html Search Engine Optimization search engine optimization seo Fri, 28 May 2010 15:42:14 -0500