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Looking after your big SEO clients
Posted by Prevyn Jeftha on 13 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: Articles, SEO Strategy, Search Engine News
Recently, my significant other landed an opportunity to work in a retail company. Due to my past experience within the retail sector, she asked for my advice. My response was simple, “Keep your clients happy, regardless”. My reasoning was that word of mouth spreads faster than wildfire, and wildfire is bad for any company trying to make a few bills. Also, my father recently had a vehicular issue and subsequently called the insurance company to get it sorted out, but he was shunned to the extent that he is considering publicly stating his unhappiness at the manner in which the situation was dealt.
We’re not the rational decision-making beings we think we are
Posted by Sandra Cosser on 27 May 2008 | Tagged as: Articles, SEO Strategy
Gord Hotchkiss (CEO of Enquiro) writes a fantastic column called Just Behave on Search Engine Land every Friday. He analyses search behaviour, often delving into the complexities of the human mind to get to the bottom of thorny issues. His most recent column dealt with the illusion of conscious will, which shows that even when we think that we are making conscious decisions, we are in fact acting subconsciously.
This has huge implications for all marketing-related activities, especially search, because it proves that people aren’t motivated by the factors that they think they are. We believe that we’re being honest when we answer survey questions or participate in market studies, but we’re actually not. Hotchkiss cites his first research study as proof of this phenomenon.
Become a Search Guru – spread the good word
Posted by Katia Pereria on 08 May 2008 | Tagged as: Articles, SEO Strategy
It’s no easy task to master and could take years and years. The search landscape is extremely dynamic, so if you don’t have passion, determination and a thirst for knowledge, there is no way you will ever reach the pinnacle of success.
Hard work is a given, high energy is a prerequisite. If you have all of the above and adequate resources and relationships to support your endeavour, there is no reason why you shouldn’t succeed.
According to Adam, the challenge is in getting clients to adopt SEO when they have never heard of it, don’t believe it is “really that important right now” (typically heard from startups), or still believe SEO is spamming.
The demands of the Google Generation
Posted by Thomas Schonenberger on 07 Feb 2008 | Tagged as: Articles
Is the younger generation really smarter? Just because we have an insatiable demand for knowledge and want everything, including answers to all our questions, NOW, doesn’t mean that we are getting any better at analysing or interpreting our information. In fact, it seems that we are over reliant on the big G to provide us with answers!
Big brother is always watching
Posted by Katia Pereria on 07 Feb 2008 | Tagged as: Articles, SEO Strategy
If you think that you are keeping a low profile and Google isn’t tracking all those quick fix misdemeanours, you couldn’t be further from the truth. The reality is that Google knows all, and Matt Cutts and the crew are getting smarter by the day.
As grey-hat SEO tactics become more subtle, Google continues to expand its guidelines and even if they don’t have enough to hammer you right away, they may be archiving your movements for future evaluation.
SERP ‘walls’ impact on search behaviour
Posted by Katia Pereria on 30 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Articles, SEO Strategy
A little while back, Gord Hotchkiss, president and CEO of Enquiro (Canada’s leading search engine marketing firm) spoke in-depth about user behaviour on the results page and compared it to a shopping mall.
He mentioned that in recent eye tracking studies, there are numerous factors that can create barriers or “walls” in these ’shopping malls’, and that can keep traffic from ever finding your listing.
Firstly, Gord discusses the traffic flow and how it runs through these search “malls”. People enter in on the upper left of the page and scan down four or five results. This area (of results) is where these people will hang out, explore and compare. They then either click on a result, continue scanning elsewhere on the page, or relaunch their search.
How to use action words
Posted by Celeste Yates on 15 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Articles, Copywriting
Action words combine techniques of linkbaiting and keyword optimisation into one. Linkbaiting is when you use keywords, key-catching titles and a searchable topic to make an article as viral as possible. Users love the article and spread it to all their friends. The article, which holds links to your original site, moves around the internet getting traffic and good links back to your site.
Counteracting Wikipedia vandalism
Posted by Sandra Cosser on 14 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Articles, Hot off the Press
Wikipedia has become one of the largest and most frequently used information sources on the Internet. More often than not, when typing in keywords for your search, Google comes up with a Wikipedia option near the top of the list. One of the features that makes Wikipedia unique in the world of search, and one of the reasons that it’s so popular, is the fact that articles can be edited and have information added by anyone interested in doing so.
The future of travel, search and offline competition - Are offline travel agents doomed?
Posted by Katia Pereria on 06 Dec 2007 | Tagged as: Articles
The travel industry has had a major revamp in recent years, and it’s no secret that holiday-goers are increasingly using the internet to research and book their holidays, with so many people admitting to not having visited a travel agent in two years. People are using the internet because it’s easier and quicker; they can find better prices and an online travel agent is open at all hours.
Therefore, with so many people already using the internet to plan their holidays, and as the market becomes far more competitive, it’s important to focus on the future. The question revolves around how online marketing is changing the face of travel.
The future of online advertising
Posted by Katia Pereria on 08 Nov 2007 | Tagged as: Articles
As search engines become critical to life online, the future of online advertising becomes increasingly blurred. We find ourselves searching for the website we are looking for even when we know the URL. Its laziness really but we all do it, everyday. This just emphasises how all online activity starts with the search engines.
Have we become immune to advertising, sponsored ads and those annoying banners and popups. Has our selective viewing officially kicked in? I think it definitely has.
