From the category archives:

search engine marketing

Google’s Chief Economist, Hal Varian, explains the AdWords auction system by way of example.  This is a must-watch video for any AdWords advertiser.

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The Easy Button…

by Greg Tirico

There is nothing easy about tying your online and offline marketing tactics together.  Do you *really* know that the most recent PPC campaign resulted in those additional real world sales calls?  If you are smart about how you track your metrics then the answer should be, “Absolutely.”

Here’s a recent article from Search Engine Watch that should help to spark a few ideas around tracking your offline and online conversions.

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One of the more common speeches that I give focuses on the overall internet marketing mix. Taken in bite size chunks, it is easy to read up on and master any particular piece of the puzzle.

Want to become an email marketing expert? No problem.
Need to start a pay-per-click advertising campaign? Easy.
Looking to create a cool microsite for a new product? Done.

When you start pulling all of the pieces together things tend to get complicated. How do you make sure that all of your efforts are working in concert and that your overall spend is being put to good use? I use a pyramid analogy to demonstrate the basic building blocks required to successfully execute on an internet marketing plan.

Lets look at each one of the pieces and how they all stack up together:
Click to continue…

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As of this week I am now a guest blogger on SearchEngineExperts.com. This site is run by the well-respected eCommerce recruiter, Harry Joiner, and is primarily focused on SEO/SEM related news. Expect the posts here to continue as they have before. I will always let you know when there is a new post up on SearchEngineExperts.com.

Read the first post about Google Suggest and its affect on SEO

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Why Design Matters…

by Greg Tirico

A well designed site increases conversion rates and ultimately affects sales.  That’s nothing new.  I’ve just spent some time perusing through the Yahoo! Design Pattern Library.  Based on their experience Yahoo! has made a number of key recommendations available regarding how to design important elements of a website.  This is not just a reference library.  This is an enormous source of information for how to pick the right design complete with case studies and even a stencil kit.  Oh yeah…and all of the code is available including CSS files that can be referenced from the Yahoo! servers.

Why is this so important?  I’ll spell it out for you:

  • Site visitors demand ease of use.  A site that is easy to use is more likely to increase sales.  That’s a no-brainer at this point.
  • Search engines demand ease of use.  The equation is a simple one:  A well designed site attracts more visitors…which attracts more links…which attracts a higher ranking in the search engines.  And that’s just one example of a key benefit regarding a well designed site.

If you are struggling with the design of a site or the conversion rate of a particular feature than this is the place for you.  Run….don’t walk….to the nearest browser tab and pull up this link.

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