When you think of successful consumer brands in the social media space, names like Dell, Zappos and Pepsi come to mind. Another is Ford. Last year the Ford Fiesta movement generated tremendous amount of awareness (and pre-orders) for a vehicle that wasn’t available to the public yet. At the same time, it inspired a [...]
Small Biz Guide to Search Marketing Advertise Newsletters About Contact Site Map Search Engine Marketing Internet Marketing Courses Internet Search Engines Search Marketing Certification Search Engine News Search Engine Guide Mike Moran I don't have time for Facebook and Twitter Search Engine Guide Blog I don't have time for Facebook and Twitter March 8, 2010 Comments 9 Mike Moran Articles Social media is free , but what's the catch Time . We only have so much time to spend putting our message out there , but we don't want to limit how many people can hear what we have to say . This problem comes up in many ways , but the simplest is the dichotomy between Facebook and Twitter . Many folks decide to spend the bulk of their social time on one or the other , with relatively few people using both . If Google Buzz catches fire , this fragmentation might only increase . What's a marketer to do Image by luc legay via Flickr Let's face it . There's no real difference between friends and followers , nor between status updates and tweets . And why would you decide to spend all your precious social media time updating one venue and not the other , if your customers use both of them But how
Based on the suggestions from David Hertog, Director of Marketing at AdMeld, I did some research on 
As with many bloggers, we’ve been using royalty free images for many years. Many bloggers make use of images from Flickr and we have too but you can’t always find the right image there. I’ve even made a point to take more photos of people, places and things while traveling for later use in blog [...]
I wrote a post a couple of days ago about Ford vs General Motors and which company was currently win
Google is planning to test ultra-high speed broadband networks and is considering Duluth as a trial location, among others across the country.
Google Fiber, so you’re considering a move to Duluth…? Join the club. In 1982 I first came to visit. Then after a decade-long love affair with the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) to [...]
Dear Marketer-folk: You’re missing serious demographic opportunities. The dual income gay & lesbian household, the force-of–nature purchasing power of latino consumers, teens, tweens & African Americans. You’ve probably read the NYT articles or some Adage infographics on these demographics, but if these recent advertising efforts are any indication, the boat = still missed.
Paid Search Bullseye [...]
From Facebook to Twitter to You Tube, there’s no limit to the number of social networking sites that can be leveraged to interact with customers and prospects, and build positive brand awareness.
LinkedIn, however, stands apart from the crowd. The roots of popular sites like YouTube and Facebook are founded on the entertainment side of things. [...]
<FACEPALM> In the past we’ve attended major industry conference-shindigs as one big live-blogging family. But dude, the aimClear team is expanding. Our 2010 conference agenda and travels to and fro might damn near pull us apart at the seams if we all went. In this quarter alone some of us will be returning from SXSW while others [...]
Peter Norvig, you might have heard of him, or felt his presence on stormy mountain tops. Among several other accomplishments, he is the creator of Norvig’s Law, the world record holder for the longest palindrome, former head of computational sciences research at NASA, ballet dancer, current director of research at Google, & a human being.
SMX [...]
Some people think keyword research consists of going to the Google Keyword tool, typing in four of their industry phrases & then just grabbing the keywords with the highest volume. But some people are ultra DumbPants month-punchers & need additional research guidance in order to find the highly targeted keyword permutations, relevant stemming topics & [...]
There’s an old adage – If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, unless you are carefully able to fix it in ways that helps all parties who use it & also it will make you more money, then you should think about trying to fix it, so good luck with this. Google essentially took this [...]
It’s a little ironic that I’m writing this post about iPhone apps using WordPress on a Motorola Droid (Devour actually), but it allows me a chance to experience how hard it is to blog, using a tiny tiny tactile keyboard and also finally get this post started.
Ah, back to a full sized Logitech keyboard and [...]
There has been much written surrounding classic query types. In review, conventional wisdom dictates that there are basically three kinds:
Informational - suggests the searcher is on the broad quest for knowledge about a topic of interest (medical symptoms, film trivia, tips on housebreaking puppies, etc.).
Navigational - indicates the searcher is on the hunt for a specific website, usually [...]
Small Biz Guide to Search Marketing Advertise Newsletters About Contact Site Map Search Engine Marketing Internet Marketing Courses Internet Search Engines Search Marketing Certification Search Engine News Search Engine Guide Mike Moran What To Do When Reviewers Lie About You Search Engine Guide Blog What To Do When Reviewers Lie About You March 2, 2010 Comments 4 Mike Moran Articles When my friend called me , there was a little panic in his voice . He owned a successful , customer-friendly small business , and was generally an easygoing person . But he didn't know what to do . A long-time and loyal customer alerted him to a savage review of his business on an Internet Yellow Pages site . And so now he was turning to me to find out what he could do about . it I asked him for the details and he ruefully related the story . When he read the review , he immediately knew who the unhappy client was , recognizing some details in the story . He told me that this client had been impossible , constantly changing her mind about what she wanted with no notice , and although he did his best to satisfy her , at the end he had to tell her that he had done all he could for what he had been . paid
A lengthy and detailed post, that goes into quite a bit of detail on the subject of the Google AdWords Quality Score and methods on improving Quality Score. This post details the reasons behind Quality Score, the detailed Quality Score factors as well many ways to improve on each of the many factors. It also goes into detail on how to troubleshoot the most common QS problems and defines the subtle nuances that go into finding the Quality Score sweet spot. 
“If you don’t eat your meat you can’t have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat!” Pink Floyd, The Wall.
That quote from Another Brick in the Wall reminds me of the cart horse situation with social media marketing: If you don’t know your customers you can’t engage them. [...]
It’s remarkable really. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will take the stage for a “Fireside Chat” with Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of SearchEngineLand.com and conference co-chair, to kick off SMX West on March 2, 2010 in Santa Clara. In his inaugural address speaking directly to the inner-search marketing community, Mr. Ballmer will discuss Microsoft’s evolution in search [...]
Relevant, Consistently Updated Content + Flawless Technical Functionality & User Experience = Perfect Blog Launch
What’s missing from the equation above? You guessed it: blog promotion.
Creating a glitch-free blog with informative content means next to nothing without attracting readers.
Start promoting your blog today with these five effective tips:
1. Involve influential industry bloggers.
By linking to [...]
Not exactly sure how to handle the 2.5 million people following Google’s twitter feed.. but we’ll try
Google’s Twitter Feed
Yooter’s Twitter Feed
PR firm Burson-Marsteller studied the 100 largest companies in the Fortune 500 list and found that 7
Our agency TopRank Marketing has been working with Marketo providing SEO, content and blog marketing consulting services for about 2 years. I finally had the opportunity to meet Marketing VP Jon Miller in person today prior to his presentation at Online Marketing Summit: Marketo’s Secret Sauce for Demand Generation.
Marketo is one of the fastest growing software [...]
TopRank ran a survey of journalists, reporters and editors on their use of search and social media in 2008. We found 91% use search engines like Google to do their job. 64% use social networks. Published in Jan 2010, a George Washington University and Cision survey of journalists reports 89% use blogs and 65% use social [...]
Online Marketing Summit 2010 in San Diego is host to a smorgasboard of internet marketing topics and this afternoon I am priveledged to participate on a panel about Social Media. Panelists include:
Chris Baggott, CEO, Compendium Blogware
Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Online Marketing
Michael Senger, CEO & Founder, StoneMass
Caitlin McCabe, Founder, WhiteLabel Marketing
Ben Hanna, VP Marketing, Business.com
That’s a [...]
[Last week, we shared some web analytics basics for small businesses or web site owners new to tracking website visitor data. Building on that, this post explores what you should do next to report that data.]
It’s an exciting time to be a small business owner or communications professional. Why? We’ve never had [...]
Many business owners and managers are perplexed by the social web. The effect of customer participation with social media on brands is undeniable. The effect of employee participation with social media can be a bit of a quandary. The range of acceptance for social web activity runs the gamut from IT blocking all internet connections to [...]
Internet marketing is an inexpensive way to reach at the diverse communities all over the world. TheOn Saturday, the 23rd of January, I attended an online PR workshop run by Damien Mulley from Online PR Company, Mulley Communications. I’m a little late to the party, but that’s only because I had to rush out and buy seasons 1-6 of The West Wing and watch them all back-to-back. Thanks Damien!
The Workshop
The course [...]
Without a doubt, one of the most popular shiny new objects of many social media marketing programs is Twitter. There are Twitter books, Twitter conferences, Twitter blogs and numerous articles devoted to Twitter marketing. Unfortunately, there’s not enough time left over after reading all the promises of marketing nirvana from using Twitter to actually implement [...]
Dear “SEO Consulting Services New York” and you too “Starting A Home Business”,
I have an admission to make: I don’t like comment spam. You are comment spammers. Our readers don’t like you. I don’t like you. You’re not welcome here.
Our Akismet filter has been doing a good job of filtering out spam and our commenting [...]
Just about every business with a web site does something to market and promote it. When those companies are asked about web analytics, it’s surprising how many look back with a blank stare. This isn’t the case with mature online marketers but it does happen a lot with new business web sites and blogs.
For many [...]
Though social media participation has exploded, we meet businesses nearly every day that have barely, clumsily or not dipped their toes in the in the water. They ask, “Should we have a Facebook page,“ “What about YouTube” or “Gee, should we be tweeting?”
These entrepreneurs are usually full of life, energy, present a history of offline [...]
The PR industry is in a state of flux with increasing importance on getting into the content and social web business. Consumers are spending more time with digital and social media. Advertising dollars are following. That means less budget to staff newsrooms and reporters, journalists and editors to pitch.
Understanding the needs of their “customers’ customer” [...]
Today we’re super excited to announce the launch of Why140.com, official website of the new book Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day authored by Web Ad.vantage president Hollis Thomases. Why140 is a hub for all things Twitter marketing related and features book news, Twitter tips, giveaways, and more!
Visit Why140.com to follow author @hollisthomases and get [...]
A friend of mine who is an experienced corporate marketer started a new business. The store just opened and being the good pal that I am, I was able to provide some advice regarding marketing on the web – specifically regarding blog marketing.
This is a new small business, so considerations for what to do about [...]Want to meet with us in 2010? The Redfly team will be traveling the globe to attend a wide verity of Internet marketing and blogging events in 2010. Why not get in touch if you're at any of the same events or even nearby and we can go for coffee or just shoot the breeze?
Take a moment to think about, and count, the number of B2C social media success stories that pop into your head.
I’ll venture to guess that you could immediately name five to 10, if not many more. From Ford to Dell to Zappos to Best Buy, B2C social media winners – those organizations that caught on [...]
Recently I was invited to give a basics webinar on optimizing news content for search. The intersection of search and PR/communications are obviously something quite familiar and while I’ve done several such presentations with our client PRWeb, I had not done one with Search Engine Watch before.
The outcome exceeded all expectations thanks to the excellent [...]
I know I did an upcoming events roundup last week but the upcoming Online Marketing Summit in San Diego is certainly worth a post of it’s own. Besides, I get to announce that one of our clients from Zoomerang (MarketTools), won a free conference pass! Congratulations to Amy Lindahl!
Last year OMS came through Minneapolis [...]
With search engine optimization, small businesses have two advantages larger competitors often can’t match: creativity and agility.
By embracing these two philosophies as part of their digital marketing DNA, small businesses can carve out a search marketing strategy that runs circles around larger competitors.
Today, we’ll briefly explore why creativity and agility are advantages small businesses have [...]
On Twitter, about how often do you find value in the links that other people tweet? Do you find that it’s usually worth your while, or is it more often a time waste?
Did you know?
Hollis Thomases, CEO of Web Ad.vantage, is the author of the new book Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day. She’s always [...]
This week’s blog post is contributed by David Stansbury, Web Ad.vantage’s Search Marketing Specialist and IT superhero!
Can We Trust the Cloud?
Last week Google broke the story about a major cyber attack against their internal systems. Security leader McAfee explained in more detail how a highly-targeted phishing attack exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Internet [...]