How to Be a Search Engine Marketing Expert

January 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When businesses are designing their website and considering the elements to incorporate often they use a search engine marketing expert. Anyone that is considering this as a career needs to have an idea of how to start this career and keep it going.

Anyone can say they are a search engine marketing expert. It is more than just writing some articles and adding keywords. It is best to have Internet marketing skills that are more advanced and have obtained certification. Some things to consider are:

  1. Earning a degree or certification
  2. Business experience, knowledge or degree
  3. SEO knowledge
  4. Social media understanding

A search engine marketing expert is up-to-date on the latest trends in social media. This expert will talk to the business owner and learn everything about the business. This will help them determine what keywords and key phrases will work the best. Anyone working as a search engine marketing expert will appreciate their experience and training when they are set before a business owner that wants help building a successful website.

While SEO experts don’t have to have a degree if they have experience many businesses are seeking to work with individuals with degrees. It won’t be long before a degree will be required for this job. Actually, it won’t be long until many colleges are offering this type of degree or at least a minor. Business owners are realizing the best designed website is worthless if potential customers don’t visit the website. Using the right keywords and key phrases is important to draw in more visitors. Experienced and skilled experts are a hot commodity. Business owners want to trust their search engine marketing expert and give them the job of ensuring every element of search engine marketing is considered.The most talented and sought after search engine marketing experts have a proven track record with improving sales for businesses.

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Using SEO Marketing for Businesses

January 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There are different approaches to search engine optimization (SEO) marketing. Businesses strive to reach as many customers as possible. That is why it is important to find the best SEO approaches.

Businesses benefit from this sort of marketing because of the frequency of words or phrases available that lead customers to their website. Two of the most popular ways to use SEO:

  1. Articles incorporating SEO keywords
  2. Setting up websites for SEO marketing

When a business decides to use SEO marketing they want to incorporate various keywords to lead customers to them. If the business can approach this then when a potential customer searches a phrase or keyword in a search engine then the business could be listed in the results. The objective is to be listed as high up on the results list as possible. When listed at the top there will be more customers that see the website.

Many websites have articles on it. This could be an “About us” section that gives some history and background information about the business. It could be an article that announces a new service or award that the business has earn. Each of these articles can have popular keywords added that relate to the business. This will help it get a high listing on the search engine results list.

When a business is building a website it is the perfect time to include SEO elements. Start with the keywords that will be used. They should be keywords that have high ranking to increase the business’s chances of a high ranking during a search. There are various websites that offer keyword services. There will be a chart where keywords or key phrases that are being considered for use on the website can be typed. The outcome will be receiving a strength rank for these elements. This will help the website content developer to determine the stronger keywords to use on the website.

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Search Engine News

January 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Businesses are finding the use of search engines to be a great way of marketing their business. When putting items about their business online in either articles or on their website they use Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is an important Search Engine News element that is showing useful for all businesses.

These can be done by a company hired for this effort or through employees of the business. When doing SEO marketing many strive to find what is working with search engine in the news. The person or company in charge of SEO will research the most used keywords. Using the most popular keywords that relate to the business will put them high on the search engine results list. This in turn will draw more visitors to their website.

Using search engine marketing news will help businesses even decide how to design their websites and what to put on the website. There even websites that help individuals with their SEO work. They can help them find if particular keywords are useful or not. This happens because it provides percentages of how often certain keywords are typed in the search engine.

There are many different search engines available. Individuals will type in a word for something they are searching for such as customized picture frames. The most relevant businesses providing these will be listed and the searcher can choose who they click on to learn more. Popular search engines include:

  • AOL
  • Bing or MSN
  • Yahoo
  • Google
  • AltaVista
  • Excite
  • Ask or Ask Jeeves

Sometimes when people are doing a search they only use a favorite search engine. Others use a variety of favorite searches. It is, of course, personal preference what search engine they use. Another option is if an individual does not find an answer they will go to another search engine to try for better luck finding the information they seek.

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SEO: Connecting Consumers with Businesses

January 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
seo block
Image via Wikipedia

Have you ever wondered how Google does such a good job of finding the perfect match for anything you type into their little search bar? This popular search engine knows because each site gives it a little clue about what type of information can be found on its pages. This strategy, known as search engine optimization, connects consumers with businesses for a win-win situation. Let’s take a closer look at how this works:

DrJays: A Practical Example

When you enter “Hip Hop Apparel” in the Google search engine, the number one site is DrJays, a site that has existed since the mid-1990s and sells just what you were looking for! The creator of the site uses search engine optimization to tell Google that the keywords “hip hop” and “apparel” are relevant to the URL. This results in Google awarding Dr. Jays a top ranking and a very high position on the result page whenever anyone searches on any combination of these two keywords. Whether you’re the owner of a new e-commerce site or starting a personal blog, you can use the right combination of keywords to receive a top ranking at Google to drive traffic to your site.

Other SEO Strategies

In addition to using keywords, a few other things can make a difference in your Google ranking. Both Google and the visitors to your site love unique content that provides valuable information! If you simply copy material from another site, Google will know. This search engine removes all duplicates and only provides one listing on the search results page. It might be the original version, or it might be one of the copies. This is why everyone gets so upset about plagiarism on the Internet. Place short, accurate descriptions of your site in the meta-tags while you’re assigning keywords. This gives users a clear idea of what your site includes.

With good search engine optimization strategies, you too can be ranked number one at Google!

Filed Under: SEO

Silobreaker: A News Search Engine All Its Own

January 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Internet can be an overwhelming place when you’re searching for news. With every news outlet—newspapers, television stations, and large news organizations alike—running its own web site in addition to sending their articles to the masses through RSS feeds and social networking web sites, finding exactly what you need can be confusing. Many people want their news in one place, and while RSS feeds offer this convenience, they can be hard to understand and configure sometimes.

Silobreaker is a news search engine, but calling it that doesn’t really give justice to the site. It’s much more than just a simple search engine and offers a rich user experience. Some of the things you’ll experience include the following:

• As you type in the search box, suggestions pop up. Use them or don’t, it’s completely up to you.
• Searches produce basic facts and people with links to articles or biographies (if you’re searching for a person).
• YouTube videos on important new stories and people (constantly changes and updates).
• A list of top stories that is regularly updated over the course of the day for as long as the story remains popular. If you roll your cursor over the story, a box containing links to biographies of people involved in the story will appear.
• When you read a story, a row will appear toward the bottom of the screen that displays related stories.
• A section full of quotes related to your search or a specific story (depending on what you’re reading).
• Links to more content that is broken down into sections such as blogs, reports, audio, and video among others.

While Silobreaker is a paid news search engine, they offer a 30-day free trial. If you’re looking for something easy to get you the news you want, give it a try. You’ll find what you’re looking for.

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Google Search Features

December 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Google isn’t just a place to research a project. There are many other search features that Google offers rather than the basic search box. Many of these specific search boxes you can add to your tool bar.

You can search the everyday essentials such as weather and sports. You can search the stock quotes, and you can see what time it is in any part of the world. Along with these everyday essentials comes music, where you can search for songs to listen to, and the precise times of sunsets and sunrises in many cities world wide.

Google offers many reference tools such as a calculator or a unit conversion program. You can also do special book searches and see information about recent earthquakes. Google also offers a person search where you can type in a person’s name and it will list people with that name.

You can look up local searches such as a store, restaurant, or another local business. Google also shows you show times and reviews for recent movies in your area.

There are several health related searches you can make. If you want to learn about a common disease or symptom, Google can tell you about that. You can also find information about medications and several phone numbers for various health related issues.

Google also shows searches in travel. You can search flights arriving and departing from the U.S. You can search currency conversions and see how much a dollar is worth in other countries. Google also has its own set of maps that you can search for locations or directions. Google Maps has a feature that shows up close pictures of certain locations. These pictures have proven to be useful.

Google offers many types of searches. You can add the Google search box to your tool bar. On the Google home page there is a list of specific searches if you want to narrow down your search.

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Why URL Shorteners Are a Good Idea

December 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Over the last few years, we’ve seen the emergence of numerous URL shortening services, such as TinyURL, Ow.ly, and bit.ly to name a few. Longer isn’t better when it comes to web links these days, especially with the popularity of social media sites such as Twitter. Shortening a link saves space, leaving that space for something more important, but not everyone uses these shortening services. Some claim it’s too complicated and time consuming, while others rely on the service for better communication.

Why are URL shortening services a good thing and why should you use them? A simple answer would be “because they just make life easier.” This is true, but there are other, more detailed reasons. Below is a short list:

1.) Shortening a URL that is regularly three lines long is convenient, especially when space is in short supply.
2.) Longer links are more likely to break that ones that are shortened, especially in communications where they can be “recycled,” such as through email.
3.) Some URL shortening services offer the opportunity to personalize the shortened link. This is especially convenient if what you’re linking to is a new product you’re selling, or a new article you’ve posted.
4.) Most of these services offer users a way to view what are known as “click through statistics,” which is a way to see how many people clicked through your link. This is a must for those who like to track visits to their web sites or product pages.

If you’re interested in using a URL shortening service, there are quite a few to choose from, including the following:

1.) Bit.ly (http://bit.ly)
2.) TinyURL (http://www.tinyurl.com)
3.) Ow.ly (http://ow.ly)
4.) DwarfURL (http://dwarfurl.com)
5.) URLKiss (http://urlkiss.com)

Some popular web sites, such as Google and Twitter, have created their own URL shortening services. With the simplicity of shorter URL’s being such a popular item all over the Web, some of our favorite sites may have URL shorteners built in. There’s only one way to find out!

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Spinning Search Results With Blekko

December 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Move over Google and Bling, there’s a new search engine available to the masses. Blekko, which served some time in a limited beta phase, was released to the public back on November 1st, and offers a new way to search on the Web. Search results through Blekko are focused around content from professionals and content farms, rather than the sometimes outdated links that search engines like Google and Yahoo offer users.

Blekko also uses something that other search engines don’t—slashtags. These tags are entered after a search term within the search box and allow a user to skew the results to a certain point. An few examples of slashtags that could skew results are “/liberal” and “/christianity.”

If you were to enter something like “abortion /christianity” or “abortion /liberal” into the search box on Blekko, the results you receive would be skewed to either liberal beliefs and viewpoints or Christian beliefs and viewpoints on the topic of abortion. If you want to see the “green” views on a certain aerosol spray, you would type in the name of the spray and put “/green” after it.

The current list of slashtags is at 3,000 and is steadily growing. Specificity in search results is what the creators have aimed for. No other search engine employs slashtags as part of the search method, which makes Blekko the first to do so. While these tags (and this method of searching) aren’t perfect, the results they yield are much more to the point than what you may get through a search on Google, Bing, or Yahoo.

Users can create their own slashtags, or they can browse the quickly growing list of tags already created. In addition to the “specialty” tags, a regular set is available that includes “/news,” “/people,” “/blogs,” and “/forums” among others. If you’re searching for something specific, try Blekko and put a new spin on your research.

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Wolfram|Alpha: A New Kind of Search Engine

December 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Most of us have one or two search engines that we use multiple times every day—Yahoo, Google, and Bing, among others—but few of us really look into the other types of search engines that are out there and available for use. There are many different types of search engines out there—web crawlers, directories, and pay-per-clicks to name a few—but one that most likely never comes to mind for anyone is the computational knowledge engine.

Wolfram|Alpha, developed and owned by Wolfram Research and Stephen Wolfram, is that search engine. Announced in March 2009 and released to the public on May 15, 2009, Wolfram|Alpha can answer factual questions (including mathematical equations) from structural data instead of offering a list of web sites that may or may not have the answer to the question.

Examples of questions and calculations/formulas that can be entered into the search engine include:

• How old was Queen Elizabeth in 1970?
• lim(x->0) x/sin x
• What is the life expectancy of a 10-year-old female in Congo?

These questions are answered with charts, graphical analyses, and of course, regular textual information if the question calls for it. The name of any web site can be entered and “searched,” and the results will be information concerning that web site, such as the number of visitors each month and where the site is hosted from.

Wolfram|Alpha runs on any up-to-date Wen browser and is also available for mobile platforms such as iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad and Android. The search engine also runs on the Opera Mini mobile browser for people not using iOS (Apple) or Android devices.

The current data sets that the engine gets its answer from was assembled over the last few years. Those data sets will continue to grow, as will the range of questions the search engine will be able to answer.

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Charity Search Engines

December 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for a way to “give back” but don’t have the means to do as much as you would like, there’s another option you should consider—charity search engines. These search engines donate anywhere from 30-100% of their revenue to specified charities. Some even let you choose a charity, then donate the money that is earned each time your ISP address clicks through that engine.

Charity search engines function like any of the regular search engines you may use, such as Bing, Yahoo, or Google. Advertisements will be displayed alongside the search results, and that’s how the money is made for charity. If you use the Internet (and nearly everyone does these days), then you’ve probably clicked on an ad or affiliate link at least once. Charity search engines are no different than the regular ones.

When you’re searching for something, you’ll be clicking on at least one of the results. Each of those clicks—and in some cases, even the searches themselves—bring in money for charity. It’s simple, really. The more you click when using these search engines, the more money goes to charity.

There are more of these search engines out there than some may think. Below is a small list of charity search engines that you may want to consider using:

1.) EveryClick (http://www.everyclick.com): Donates 50% of its revenue among a number of different charities.
2.) MagicTaxi (http://www.magictaxi.co.uk): Donates 50% of its revenue to a different charity each day.
3.) SearchKindly (http://www.searchkindly.org): Donates 100% of its revenue to charity.
4.) ClickNow (http://www.clicknow.org.uk): Donates 50% of its revenue to the charities registered with the site.
5.) Clicks4Cancer (http://www.clicks4cancer.com): Donates 70% of its revenue to cancer foundation charities.

There are many more charity search engines than just the five listed above. If you’re truly interested in giving back this way, take the time and search for more. You’ll find plenty!

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