This article will be especially relevant for marketers who look for specific niches to market and then find related products, and a little less relevant for small businesses that have predetermined products. However, if you can find a long tail phrase like Leger describes that is related to your product, you may well find a goldmine. So, take a gander at this and apply it to your specific market!

Give People What They’re Asking For « Jonathan Leger

Internet Marketers and Search Engine Optimization professionals often dream of ranking for massively popular keywords like “life insurance” or “business loans.” No doubt owning a top ranking site for those keywords would be fantastically rewarding financially, but it would also be incredibly difficult to achieve and maintain. With the level of competition involved in those kinds of queries it would be a never-ending battle to keep that top ranking as well.

In addition, the spike in social networking between mid ’07 and ’09 has flatteded out slightly though it is still increasing. What I found especially encouraging was that the percentage of 18-29 and 30-49 year olds who use search engines dailyis actually higher than any of the older age brackets.

So, for all you businesses wondering if you should forget about search mareting and focus only on social media, and for all you other search marketing companies- relax- it looks like search is here to stay for the foreseeable future. I’m keeping this post short so I can get back to doing some work on PPC and SEO for myself and some clients- after all, there are people looking right now for what we offer!

Top Internet Activities? Search & Email, Once Again

The key for reviewing is that people need to have a Google account of their own, and from within that account make their way to your business listing. Then it’s simply a matter of giving a rating and writing a few words of review.

The more reviews you have, the better. It is a key factor in ranking your Google Places listing. So get your clients, especially the happy ones, to take a few seconds and give you a review.

First, the cost of off-shore products has been dropping as the Canadian dollar has been climbing. It is very difficult for BC based businesses to compete.

Secondly, and more significantly I think, is the generational issue. The first boomers hit full retirement age this year. As one of the younger boomers myself, born in 1964, I’m getting firmly established in middle age. One of those quoted in the article said “[Baby boomers] are just less interested in fashion. They are interested in discounts.” I think the first sentence is correct, and the second one misses something far more significant.

As a boomer myself, I am certainly less interested in fashion. But for me, it’s not about the discount, it’s about something that goes beyond economics: I just don’t give a rip about keeping up with the latest fads or trends. I’m into function no fashion. I work for myself so the only dress code that matters is one that answers this question: What can I wear that is both comfortable and functional?

I work in a home office. From time to time clients drop by or I run down to the coffee house for a meeting. Needless to say, my suit and tie are not even a consideration. Occassionaly sweats might make the grade, esp if I’m pretty sure no clients are on tap. But I want clothes that work whether I stay at home all day, or need to put in a full afternoon at the coffee house meeting a series of clients. And here’s the challenge to the second part of the quote above: When I find clothes that work, I don’t take much of a look at the price; comfort and function takes priority over price.

For instance, I was recently introduced to a line of men’s organic denim drawstring pants. They have all the comfort of my sweats, but are totally acceptable for me to wear out to a business meeting. You can bet that they will be a part of my wardrobe for years to come.

So, maybe the fashion stores are in trouble because they are a little too concerned with fashion, and not concerned enough with the kind of function boomers really want. What boomers wanted in their 20′s-40′s is not what we want in our 50′s and beyond. We have nothing to prove. We don’t care what GQ says. Even our kids don’t have much clout. Btu give me something comfortable and functional- multipurpose- and your business might just break out of the recession.

Locally made fashion fighting a losing battle

VANCOUVER – Current Fashion, the 10-store Vancouver-based women’s fashion chain and its associated factory, are in receivership.

“We really wanted to try to stay a locally manufactured company,” said Sandy Hayden, co-owner of Kudos Fashion Corporation, which owns Current. Kudos, which has 80 employees, went into receivership April 13.

“There’s just been too many challenges, from the Canadian dollar becoming on par with the U.S. dollar, to manufacturing going offshore and [us] trying to pay fair wages here and run the factory here, and lots of big retailers coming into town that we can’t even begin to compete with,” Hayden said.

Well, if you are the type of person who likes to play close to the edge, let me suggest, via this post I read on itbusiness.ca that maybe you should step away from the edge and play it a little safer, at least in these areas.

The primary issues addressed here include cloaking of your website content, using link brokers, duplicating content all over you website or multiple websites, keyword stuffing (though I admit what actually constitutes keyword stuffing is a little subjective- some topics call for fairly frequent repitition of certain words- just don’t do it needlessly for SEO versus readability purposes), generating reviews of any kind, even negative; and using automatic query tools to ascertain your ranking for various keywords.

Now, when I look at that list, in my mind, “one of these things is not like the other.” But I do agree with the author that all are in violation of Google’s TOS. So, as necessary, let’s all take a deep breath, and step back from the edge…

Six SEO sins that Google won’t forgive

The past several months have afforded several high-profile examples of how search engine optimization, or SEO, should not be done. Last fall it was DecorMyEyes and the case of the abusive business proprietor, and just recently it was JCPenney and the case of the short-lived black hat success.

Such stories are by no means the only ones out there, of course–they’ve just drawn more publicity than most. Either way, examples like these are a rich source of instruction for the rest of us and a good reminder that in SEO–as in so many aspects of life–there’s a right way to do things, and there are wrong ones.

Want to improve your company’s search rankings? Then make sure you don’t try to play any of these dirty SEO tricks.

Unbounce – The DIY Landing Page Platform

Interestingly, two of them suggested that you might want to write for other blogs versus starting your own. This allows you to write- which any prospective blogger obviously wants to do- without the need for the commitment and the pressure that comes from doing your own blog.

Several of the others hit on various aspects of passion- the need to be an expert, adding real value, the need for other networking, solving real problems of real readers, writing for an extended period of time with no payback in readership (the two month rule) and tracking down other related experts for their input.

i won’t tell you how many of their tips I have broken (and am breaking) but I think you will find their input useful in your blogging life.

11 Pro Tips for Better Business Blogging

Blogging isn’t easy — and certainly not for individuals who don’t have the capacity or desire to commit their minds and time to a long-term cause. In an age where everyone and their mother has access to Blogger, Tumblr, Posterous or other flavor-of-the-year services, getting your blog to be well-trafficked, highly syndicated and massively popular is no easy task.

I’ve been following one of our U.S. client’s rankings via a proxy so I can see the results as they show up in the business location. This is critical since up here in Canada where I’m located they are ranking in the top 3 for all three keywords we are optimizing them for. And they did have similar rankings in their location. However, even before the Panda update we saw some slippage- nothing major, just a few spots- and then a few more spots with Panda.

Now, it wasn’t a cataclysmic slide. However, when someone is paying you to promote their site and they go backwards in the serps, well, it ain’t a happy day.

What is especially concerning to us is that two blogs we built on our own keyword based domains, have climbed steadily and now outrank our client’s site! Yet we’ve done almost nothing to boost those sites except build them and write original content on the pages.

Our blogs are WordPress, and the client’s site is inside a proprietary, industry specific portal, which was awful to try to optimize for SEO. so our conclusion at this point is that the problems our client’s site is having may be as much due to its site structure as to any change in the algorithm. Unfortunately, they are locked into a contract for another year or so, at which point I hope I can convince them to move to WordPress!

Anyway, amidst all the random speculation about the update online, I found a pretty good article from Mark Nunney on the Wordtracker website about doing soem analysis of your U.S. search results to try to anticipate how your searches in other countries will be affected once the rollout of the update goes global.

Google Panda update survival guide | Wordtracker

As of 24th Feb 2011, a major update by Google on how it ranks sites has affected 12% of search results and halved many sites’ visitor numbers. Named the Farmer or Panda Update it’s only affecting US Google results as I write but if you’re outside the US it is coming to you soon. Here’s how to find out if you have already been hit, are going to be and what to do about it.

Can your business handle a 50% drop in organic (non-paid) visits from Google? That’s what might be coming your way courtesy of Google’s Panda algorithm update.

Before we get into the whys and wherefores, find out if you’ve been hit by Panda …

According to the email, “ Based on the author’s 50 years of experience, this is the only text covering the laws, regulations and court decisions governing transportation and logistics under one cover.”

Wow- pretty compelling eh? It gets better:

“What does it cover?

1. Laws and regulations affecting shippers and carriers in a “de-regulated environment”

2. Federal regulations governing brokers and surface freight forwarders and how they are legally different from brokers

3. Laws and Treaties affecting air and ocean carriers, ocean freight forwarders and NVOCC’s

4. Shippers and carriers duties and exposures to lawsuits

5. Bills of lading and individually negotiated contracts

6. Terms of sale, FOB origin and destination and Incoterms

7. Responsibility for freight charges, the 180 day rule, and the 18 month statute

8. Loss and damage claims, limitations of liability, and an overview of claims filing

9. Warsaw Convention and Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA)

10. Cargo insurance and cargo liability insurance”

The most interesting part of the whole email was at the bottom:

“You’re receiving this email because you may be interested in this book.”

So, just to be clear, I’m receiving this email because you think I may be one of the seven people in the world who might actually be interested in the book? I hate to break it to you, but I’m not what you would consider your ideal lead for this topic.

I must confess, I was so DIS-interested in the book that I was interested in their marketing, so I went to the website.

“I am amazed with the scope and number of citations and addenda and the quality of the information being presented.”

“Book from one of the most prominent transportation attorneys in the U.S. will open your eyes.”
-Tom Foster, Senior Editor, Global Logistics & Supply Chain

I don’t really want to know. When I hit the unsubscribe link on the email -which I considered not doing, for fear of more spam, but the hope that there was a “report as spam” option compelled me- it told me I was unsubscribed, but gave no chance to report anything.

Ultimately, this exceedingly irrelevant email made me reflect on my own marketing: Am I communicating with people who care about my content or am I wasting the time of people who are as disinterested as I am with this offer?

Most of my websites offer a “double opt in” email offer, and I try to keep follow up emails relevant to the initial sign up topic. I’m sure that some recipients of certain emails may consider those emails irrelevant to where they are at, but they can of course opt out, and even report the mailing as spam if they like.

How about you and your business emails? Is everyone you mail to a willing recipient? Don’t assume that because you exchanged cards with someone at a networking event that they want to be on your list. Go double opt in or don’t send it.

And, in case you’re wondering, I use this email service.
And yes, that’s an affiliate link; it’s how I pay the bills.

Now, go delete me, and anyone else who didn’t sign up, from your mailing list!

However, what isn’t so clear is what smaller businesses and website owners should be changing in response to the update. That’s because for every seeming observation of “this is what Google is doing” there are exceptions: some sites with crappy content still seem to rank high; some sites (many sites actually) with “low quality links” are still doing fine. One of the most actionable bits of content I’ve come across was this comment on a Search Engine Watch blog post from a Jeff Snyder. Bottom line: Get your original content out there in any way you can. Good tip. Thanks Jeff.

Google Panda Update: Say Goodbye to Low-Quality Link Building – Search Engine Watch (SEW)