Here's a nice marketing checklist -

http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_150.shtml

An interview with a Network Marketer -

http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_146.shtml

A nice snapshot of promoting your site -

http://www.webreference.com/promotion/search/traffic/index.html

How to read web analytics -

Part 1
Part 2

We've been having quite a few storms here - so as usual we are behind. As MySpace takes the world by storm - I'm interested in knowing if anyone has had success marketing something.

Short and sweet today - Google has introduced quite a few products recently - this article explains them.

Click Here

During our trip to Lexington we also stopped at Build a Bear. What a concept - you get to create a toy - and customize it so that it is unique. Of course Haley had to get one, it's her fourth. As we were checking out I got something interesting though - a book by the creator of the company. "Bear Necessities of Business". A quick glance showed that it may have some things of interest - and if it has only one nugget in it then it was well worth the price. As we finish reading it I'll share any thoughts that we glean from it.

We had a few days off and took a trip to Lexington - on Friday we decided to watch a movie which I rarely do (at the theater anyway). The movie we watched was great - I'll take a bit about "Cars" later this week - but the experience was something to be desired. I think I'm beginning to understand why the movie industry is in the duldrums. To me going to the theater should be a unique experience. These days many people have the big screen TV's, and surround sound systems that sound nearly as good as when you go to the movies.... and you don't have to battle the crowds, interruptions while watching the movie.... or watch commercials at the beginning of the movie along with a hundred previews.

I'm sure they added commercials because the movie folks wanted to earn a buck or two more, but don't they realize that this is one of the reasons we stay at home - so we can not have to deal with advertising....

It was a good thing that the movie we went to see made up for things - I can now however more fully understand why fewer people are going. What I think they should do and will do is release movies both at the theater and maybe on a premium DVD version. Or maybe the theaters can clean up their act and try to make the experience something to remember... anyhoo just some thoughts.

Applying to your business - how can you make your customers experience better. I bet if you took some time today you could think of a couple ways to do this. Think on it and I'll give you another example tomorrow.

A nice forum post that lists the number of "things" Google uses to rank sites - some interesting reading.

http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?threadid=12170

Optimizing your blog - some good notes on this are below.

Click Here

Ralph Wilson has updated his promotion list - always some good stuff.
http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/checklist.htm

If you want to add some umpff to your web copy then check this out.
Click Here

Had a stormy Sat / Sunday night here. Lots of thunder, lightning and wind.

A good article on growing your list -

http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_138.shtml

Links from other sites to you can't hurt - see the link below for details.

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060530-082217

A good article on doing things to help you build your business during the Summer -

http://www.smallbizresource.com/growth-strategy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=188700242

We just got back from vacation - we had an "interesting" time. We got a tornado warning while visiting a mall - that is the first and last time I want to see the basement of a store. It didn't actually touch down but we did see some minor damage around the city. We visited Chicago and I'll put their cab drivers up against any of the Nascar racers. The skyline there was definitely something to see. Haley (our daughter) really enjoyed visiting the American Girl Store.

I will say this though I really enjoy living in my small town.

Interent marketing newswatch is a nice site if you want to feel the pulse of some things that are happening.

http://www.imnewswatch.com/

An excellent article explaining Google Sitemaps and what you can learn from utilizing it on your site.

http://www.webreference.com/programming/sitemaps/

We should now be on a semi-regular posting schedule.

Some good info on the Big Daddy update and linking.

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/indexing-timeline/

A nice update on search behavior -

http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/opt/article.php/3604266

Matt - the Google guy has given a large interview - you can find it at the link below.

http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/results/article.php/3605961

Make sure to listen to the MP3s

A list of things from last week -

A good article on search engine spam.
http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/results/article.php/3603906

Notes on the click fraud settlement from Google -
Click Here

Google unleashes some new toys including Google Trends -
http://www.google.com/trends

Redefining Local Search

Google talks about the future -
Click Here

More tomorrow.

Some good notes on a SEO contest for a fictional word - details are here.

http://www.sitepoint.com/newsletter/viewissue.php?id=2&issue=343&format=html

So what is the difference between the first spot and other spots?

As the school year winds down (yipee) we'll be having a more sporadic posting schedule. So if you don't see me for a day or two rest assured that I'm having fun.

A blog that makes 10 k a day - who would have thought it -

Some info -
More info -

If you skip out on implementing super targetted keywords then you may be missing out on additional revenue.

Check out the link below for some ways you can do this.

http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_123.shtml

http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_124.shtml

Are you following these eight steps / requirements for building your business.

Google is getting a bit angry over the new browser - ie the default search box is MSN.... hmm.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/01/technology/01google.html

Requires you to be registered.

So does penalize sites that have dashes or underscores?

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/dashes-vs-underscores/

Google released a free 3D tool.

http://sketchup.google.com/

Some interesting notes on statistics.

http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3601546

So Google has finished there "Big Daddy" update - so what's the deal?

http://www.marketposition.com/blog/archives/2006/04/google_complete.html

Some good info on making sure your site architecture is up to snuff -

http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/results/article.php/3600826

For some reason blogger has been acting a bit funny lately - go figure.

A informative article on predicting prices with pay per clicks.

http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/strat/article.php/3598616

A nice article from Site Point -

Click Here

Some good advice on web design -

http://www.thinkvitamin.com/features/design/how-crap-is-your-site-design

A good article on the "future" of search engines.

http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3599566

A nice article on "textbook seo" - does it work?

http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/results/article.php/3599126

An article I like on spring cleaning / sprucing up your site a bit.

http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/opt/article.php/3597916

Also Google just introduced a calendar....
http://www.google.com/calendar

We hope everyone has a great holiday weekend.

So some things from the report.

1) Most people find what they're looking for on the first page of the search results.
2) If most people don't find out what they're looking for on the first couple of pages they refine there search or go to a different search engine.

So the trend is to get the results from the first couple of pages or try something different.
We've been noticing a trend that very specific searches are on the rise - ex. black prom dress.. etc. So if you haven't thought of expanding things for more specific searches then now may be the time to start doing that.

I prospect has an interesting study on search behavior. You can check it out here -

http://www.iprospect.com/about/searchenginemarketingwhitepapers.htm

It's the one for April 2006 - I'll give my thoughts on it tomorrow.

Some notes from Danny Sullivan on some search engine stuff.

http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3597726

Some unique ways to advertise (this one is sure to get those creative juices flowing).

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0%2C4621%2C326697%2C00.html

Expanding your keywords / research.

Part 1

Part 2

Enjoy your week.

A nice article on Spam and how algos work to stop it.

http://www.seobythesea.com/?p=160

Google has changed a few things about Local ad campaigns work. Details on that can be found here.
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060331-080623

A nice article that looks at Google Backlinks -

http://www.wilsonweb.com/art/promote/google-backlinks.htm

If you haven't done your taxes yet - this may help if you use contract workers.

Click Here

If you want to expand your optimization reach then this may help for Europe.
Click Here

We had some wicked storms here last night - does your family have a plan for bad weather. If not this site may help you make one.

http://www.redcross.org/services/prepare/0,1082,0_248_,00.html

Some good stuff from the WebPosition newsletter -

The essential tags what are they and how to use them.
http://www.marketposition.com/blog/archives/2006/03/the_7_essential.html

And some info on link building.
http://www.marketposition.com/blog/archives/2006/03/link_building_s.html

You think only the younger generation uses gadgets - think again.

Click Here

In case you need to validate what you're spending on your marketing efforts. This may help.

http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/opt/article.php/3594496

Do affiliate links count for your link popularity -

http://www.wilsonweb.com/art/promote/affiliate_link_popularity.htm

What's up with duplicate content -

http://www.marketposition.com/blog/archives/2006/03/duplicate_conte.html

Search engine optimization for your blog.

http://www.searchengineguide.com/hartzer/007133.html

An excellent article on conversions - how is your site doing in comparison.

http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/strat/article.php/3593696

It appears that some results from Google Base are showing up in the search results.

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060321-173017

Enjoy your weekend !!

Some nice ideas for taking care of your email.

http://www.wilsonweb.com/art/email/customer-focus.htm

A website sues for a drop in Google rankings... nope didn't make it up.

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/technology/14132232.htm

And Google launches a Finance page -

http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3592876

Some very interesting info on making money with Google Adsense -

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum89/12751.htm

Science and SEM
http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/results/article.php/3592376

Some notes on how Google payments work -

http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/003486.html

Is Google getting ready for retail -

http://news.com.com/2061-10812_3-6050284.html?part=rss&tag=6050284&subj=news

Some additional notes on the Google Fraud Case -
http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/strat/article.php/3591851

If you have a pay per click campaign then you'll definitely want to check this out.

http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3590951

We're having spring break at our place so this will be the last post till next week.

Much hub bub has been made over Google paying to settle a lawsuit - more info about that can be found at the following link -

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060309-001743

Also an interesting purchase by Google is Writely - an online word processor. Some discussion on that can be found here.

I love numbers - if you enjoy them as well then make sure to check out this article.

http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/strat/article.php/3590171

Google is getting into the calendar business -

Click here

If you have a podcast or are thinking about doing one then make sure you check this out.

http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3590246

Some more info on the Google snafu - included links to the original files - and the "new" file.

http://glinden.blogspot.com/2006/03/in-world-with-infinite-storage.html

An excellent article on content spamming.

http://www.wilsonweb.com/art/promote/content-spamming.htm

Some Do's and Don'ts for launching a site.

Click Here

Google (ahem) says forget the leak talking about possible earnings.

Click Here

and Microsoft is working hard to get ahead.

Click Here

A look at Search Engine Strategies / Conference -

http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/results/article.php/3589231

Some good stuff from the weekend.

Tuning your Google Ad Campaign
http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/strat/article.php/3588511

Some good info on buying ezine ads -

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3198

Enjoy your weekend.

Site map and seo info -
http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/opt/article.php/3588136

Search engine strategies is in New York - below are some highlights for you -
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060228-220735

Some more thoughts on the Google payment system.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/022706-google-base.html

From Forbes

Debunking some SEO myths -

http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/results/article.php/3587096

We had talked some before about Google taking on PayPal - looks like they might.

http://google-blog.dirson.com/post.new/0382/

An interesting discussion on Link Baiting.

http://www.highrankings.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=20391

A nice article on trends -
http://www.marketposition.com/blog/archives/2006/02/a_new_research.html

Google has launched a web page creator -
http://pages.google.com/-/about.html

One note as usual is the case they have suspended new signups for the time being.

It seems Google visitors convert less... hmmm
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3189

An article that may give you some ideas on growing your list.
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3192

Found something interesting today - UC Berkley is offering some free podcasts of their web design courses. Details can be found below.

Click Here

Another nice article talking about the Super Bowl and how some of the advertisers flubbed.

http://www.marketposition.com/blog/archives/2006/02/plan_ahead_and.html

A very interesting article especially if you use RSS to promote things

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3188

If you have today off - enjoy it :o)

Here is a blog that has some useful info at times -

http://williecrawford.com/blog/

A nice contest - especially if you have a killer idea but not enough funds.

http://www.marketingexperiments.com/napkin1-010.asp

A collection of some informative blog articles.

http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3585561

A nice article on Local Search and Yahoo.

http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/local_search/article.php/3585521

Enjoy your Weekend!!

A nice small article on how long it takes to start seeing some results with a campaign.

http://www.btobonline.com/article.cms?articleId=27048

A nice article on some alternative payment methods.

http://www.wilsonweb.com/art/ecomm/3rd-world-ecomm.htm

Like it or not tax time is coming soon - you can get some advice or help at the official IRS site.

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/

If you are digging out of the snow this morning I feel for you :o) - we got no where near the amount folks up north got but we did get 6 or so inches.

If you like sports you may want to check out the following links.

Medal counts -
Click Here

Whats on TV
Click Here

Some interesting things on Email patents - note get this one quick because free access is limited.

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3182

We talked some about the Super Bowl earlier this week - the following article talks some about it as well.

http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3583516

Especially interesting are the before and after search data from Yahoo.

Before Super Bowl
After Super Bowl

If you had a product related to those featured in the Super Bowl Ads - I think you could have really racked up quite a bit.

May you soon have to pay for your emails you send - hopefully not but maybe... some details on that can be found at the link below.

http://www.wilsonweb.com/art/email/goodmail.htm

So what did you think about the Super Bowl ads - for someone paying 2 million + a commercial, I thought they were bland. Another thing I'm curious about is how they tracked their success (or lack of it). Like them or not I think Go Daddy did well on their spot basically forcing people to go to their site to see the end of the commercial. The Hummer ad did well by giving you a specific link to go to. The others not so well.

Interesting notes -

BMW gets knocked from Google for using redirects -
http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/2642

It seems Google has been testing GBuy a rival for Pay Pal.
Click Here

Some speculation on the "next big Google Update".
Click Here

Hope you enjoyed your weekend. If you watched the Superbowl over the weekend, what do you think advertisers should have done better? I'll share my thoughts tomorrow.

A good how I did it story -

Click Here

If you use Firefox you want to make sure that you have the latest version -

http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

Some nice info on email marketing -

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3175

A nice article on technology trends for 2006

http://news.hosting.com/feb2006_trends.html

Google has a new tool bar - more details can be found here -

http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3581316

An excellent pdf report on shopping cart and improving your conversion rate.

Click Here -

Best way to do it is to click then save as and download it on your computer.

If you're interested in the next big thing (in web apps) - you may find the following site useful.

http://webreakstuff.com/blog/

Eight things that can be bad for your website -

Click here for details.

Enjoy your weekend.

If you do a lot of advertising with Ad Words then you will enjoy this new program from Google.

http://services.google.com/adwordseditor/index.html

An excellent article on what you should be doing / trends for 2006

http://www.clickz.com/experts/crm/traffic/article.php/3573016

A good article on the state of SEM that you may have missed -

http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3575926

Have a good one.

A couple of good articles from a newsletter we like -

1) http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_82.shtml
on truths in email marketing.

2) Getting some traffic from the media -
http://www.demc.com/artman/publish/article_79.shtml

Looks like Google and Yahoo still number 1 in America -

http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3578491

Also seems like search records will be under scrutiny -

http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?threadid=9701

Enjoy your weekend :o)

Seems that Google may soon have Google Ads on the radio - if you have a podcast and are looking for ways to make some cash this would be excellent for you (or for anyone that wants to earn some cash from recordings).

Click Here
More
and More

Some nice words of wisdom - download - print it and start reading it today.

http://wisdom.marketingsherpa.com/

If you've wondered how to create a 301 redirect - what you should use if you change a page on your site. The following link shows you how to create one.

Forum post with comments -
http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29607

The tutorial itself -

http://ekstreme.com/webmaster/301-redirection.php

Hope you have enjoyed your week - and will enjoy the long weekend. We'll be back on Tuesday.

Till then a very in depth post for you to enjoy on SEO - one key point diversify.

Click Here

Interesting news bits from yesterday - tomorrow we'll try and add more of the "old" news.

Google increases their lead over Yahoo -
Click Here

How to add a Google map to your pages.
Click

Keyword prices fall - cost per clicks.
Click

An excellent article we found yesterday on SEO - it's pretty long so I won't burden you with more.

Click Here

I found these interesting -

On click fraud -

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/050405-073942


Site maps expands -
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/051116-155209

Trusted links -
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/051111-102522

Hopefully you enjoyed your weekend. This week we'll continue to review some things we received over the break.

The one thing you need to do today is patch the recent WMF vulnerability

http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us

Click on the "Custom" link if you only want this update.

Enjoy your Monday.

A nice article on readability -
http://www.timetabler.com/reading.html

and about skimming -
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/helpingvisitors

Both may help you convert browsers to buyers which is always a good thing.

Some top searches for 2005

Ask Jeeves

Google

Yahoo

AOL

Lycos

A9 (the top 9 searches with 9 letters)

Nice article on local search -

Click Here

An excellent article with five tips on selling more online.

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.cfm?currentID=3149

So how to change (or not) your marketing efforts after the AOL / Google deal.
http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3572781

Hopefully you enjoyed your weekend / holidays. Happy New Year. This week we'll be posting some news from over the holidays. Enjoy!!

TimeWarner sold 5% of AOL to Google - remember whoever has the most eyeballs wins.
Click here
You'll need to log in.

A nice extension for Fire Fox -
http://quirk.co.za/searchstatus/

A nice explanation to librarians about how Google works.
http://www.google.com/newsletter/librarian/librarian_2005_12/article1.html

Have a good one.