19 Jul 10 Online Lead Generation
With almost 12 years of online lead generation experience, I definitely feel comfortable talking about SEO strategies and internet marketing execution. Most businesses live or die based on their ability to generate leads. Really either you buy leads effectively or you generate leads online from your website or through email marketing. Bryan Dornan and Nationwide Marketing offer result-driven lead generation services that will improve your internet marketing both short and long term. My team of lead generation specialists eats drinks and sleeps lead generation and search engine optimization.
We offer the following lead generation services for start-ups and small business internet marketing solutions.
- Organic Search Engine Optimization
- Local Search Marketing
- Opt-In Email Marketing
- Pay-Per Click Lead Management
- Online Affiliate Marketing
- Voice Broadcasting
Tags: Nationwide Marketing, small business internet marketing
25 Jun 10 Online Reputation Management
One of the hottest SEO services in 2010 is online reputation and brand management. In this “information age” we are living in, managing your reputation online is more important than ever. Did you know that people are searching for your name on Google all the time? Other search engines, like Bing, Yahoo and Ask.com are being used as a tool to examine your reputation online. Don’t forget the social media networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Word travels fast with social network media and they have search engines integrated into their systems.
Search Engine Optimization is an Effective Tool for Online Reputation Management
A recent Microsoft survey, “Online Reputation Management is essential in a connected world,” stated that 78% of recruiters are using search engines and 63% are using social networks, to conduct background checks on candidates. As an employer myself, I’ve received a lot of internship applications from students who are just plain careless about their online reputation. For employers the world wide web is considered a global talent pool because anyone in the world can have a presence online. Image is very important for business and if you are serious about maximizing opportunities then you must manage your reputation online.
Get Control and Manage Your Online Reputation
Set up a Website – Purchase your domain name. For less than $10 a year, you may be able to use name as a domain name. This will give you an edge to protect yourself from others who may share the same name as you. If your name isn’t available, then use your middle initial, your full middle name, or a shortened version of your name. After buying a domain name, you should have a company like Smart Search Strategies create a website that promotes your name or business. Utilize this website as an opportunity to feature your career highlights or business niches. You can’t risk your reputation, because if you take a pro-active approach you will be able to control your image and reputation online.
Publish a Blog - Another method that Bryan Dornan’s SEO team recommends is have a professional blog created in an effort to promote your business and add credibility to your name. The search engines bots typically recognize the weblog as being associated with your business or name and often rank you site favorably.
Social Media Marketing - Promote your business or name on social networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google. Just like your website and blog, these are significant opportunities that can benefit you and your ability to succeed with internet reputation management. The Wall Street Journal recommends to visit Facebook.com and to set up the appropriate usernames to claim your short URL. For LinkedIn, create a custom URL when editing your profile. For Twitter, just register your full name as your account name. Finally, for Google, go to Google.com/profiles and fill out your profile completely, because the most thorough profiles for each full name will appear at the bottom of the Google search results.
Publish Articles Online – Contribute content to other sites. By writing an article you can build credibility and benefit from having another link indexed that comes up on a search when someone is querying your business or name.
Become an Online Authority - If you share expertise on the internet, locate bloggers and traditional journalists online and build relationships with them. Comment on their blogs or articles for a few weeks and then send them a note with resources, tips, or even your story.
We recommend being proactive managing your reputation online. It is much better for people to see positive results show up when they Google your name. Please complete this quick request form and get a no cost evaluation for online reputation management. – content sources: Wall Street Journal, Google and Twitter
Tags: brand management, online repuation management
08 Jun 10 Article Marketing and the Highs and Lows of SEO
Someone asked me the other day about the value or de-value of article marketing. This person was frustrated because all of the articles they posted had very little if any on their search engine rankings. Let’s be honest…organic search marketing can be a tiring process that has its highs and lows. Even people like me who are very passionate about search engine optimization get tired when we hit walls optimizing. Many A few years ago article marketing was hot topic for the SEO world. After a while the search engines caught on to the aggressive internet marketing that SEO operatives were using and it seemed that at least Google was not valuing the links as high anymore.
As a publisher and SEO specialist I have always valued content and posting articles online. Posting articles on article directory sites, blogs and websites creates a new opportunity to promote websites and brand companies. To me, the recent Google May Day algorithm update reiterated that search engines are committed to driving traffic to relevant authority websites. I noticed that websites I’m working that were negatively affected by the Google May Day update were my sites that had little or poor content. Most of the other websites saw the traffic volumes remain steady and some websites have even experieiced a pleasant rise in rankings.
Article marketing requires good planning and a pragmatic plan with a committment for fresh and insightful content in an effort to maximize search engine rankings. I believe that writing compelling content will enhance most SEO campaigns and separate the performance of websites. Search engine algorithm changes can be an SEO specialists worst nightmare, but on the flip-side it can be an exciting ride offering the rewards of higher rankings as well. – Bryan Dornan
Tags: article marketing, Google May Day, organic search marketing
22 Mar 10 Organic Search Engine Optimization Converts Better than PPC
Organic SEO should be the bread and butter of internet marketing campaigns for most businesses. It was interesting to learn that more than 8 out of 10 online users go to search engines to find information and the products or services they want to buy.
- Up to 85% of consumers searching ignore paid listings
- 63% of the top natural organic search listings receive click through rates
- Natural organic search engine results convert 30% higher than Pay-Per-Click
15 Mar 10 SEO Tips for Small Business Marketing
Search engine optimization has become an effective strategy for marketing small businesses cost effectively. SEO requires good content, adequate site structure and a driving force defined by an original “call to action.”
Top 5 Search Engine Optimization Tips for small businesses from Vendor Seek:
1. Use appropriate page titles like Creative Bakery in Chicago, IL Specializing in Wedding Cakes instead of just Welcome
2. Choose the right keywords in your text. See what terms users are searching on in Google and make sure they appear on your website
3. Build a Sitemap so that search engines can easily navigate your web site and include them in the search results
4. Optimize your local advertising by submitting to Google Local, including your physical address on your website and submitting to free directories like Yahoo, Yelp, SuperPages, etc.
5. Analyze your visitors that come to your site using Google Analytics (free) or another web traffic analysis program. This will tell you what people do when they come to your site and how to improve.
09 Mar 10 Content Really is King
Anyone in the internet marketing arena has heard the phrase, “content is king.” Many SEO marketers and web developers do not want to admit how important good copy written articles can be for SEO marketing campaigns for most industries. Let’s face it, when you combine a relevant link building campaign with good keyword rich content, you have most of the formula nailed for successful organic search marketing. The search engine spiders love content and in most cases so do your visitors, so build your website with insightful content that features a clear “call to action” and incorporate catchy landing pages into the mix to maximize lead generation. I recommend focusing on posting interesting articles that command the attention of your readers.
02 Feb 10 Google on Page Speed as Ranking Factor
A few months ago, Google’s Matt Cutts informed WebProNews that page speed could become a factor Google considers when ranking search results. Cutts’ comments usually get a lot of attention with the SEO community. Many search marketing insiders believe that Google has not considered page speed for ranking websites until recently. Web Pro News makes it clear that Matt Cutts never actually said that page loading speed would become the top criteria for ranking factor on Google. Cutts posted an SEO video discussing page speed as a ranking factor on Google. This has become a popular video with search engine marketing enthusiasts.
Google Video: Is Speed More Important Than Relevance?
The video is a response to the following user-submitted question: Since we’re hearing a lot of talk about the implications of Page Speed, I wonder if Google still cares as much about relevancy? Or are recentness and page load time more important? In the video Matt addresses the question posed to him Relevancy or Page Speed? Cutts answers, “No. Relevancy is the most important. If you have two sites that are equally relevant, you’d probably prefer the one that’s a little bit faster, so page speed can be an interesting theory to try out for a factor in scoring different websites. But absolutely, relevance is the primary component, and we have over 200 signals in our scoring to try to return the most relevant, the most useful and the most accurate search result that we can find.” Cutts continued, “If you can speed your site up, it’s really good for users, as well as potentially down the road, being good for search engines.”
What are Google’s 200 ranking factors for search engine placement? WebProNews points out that once you get into how much weight each one carries, it gets even more difficult to speculate.
I think we can all agree that ensuring your website loads quickly is in the best interest of your visitors because offering a good user experience is important to your site’s credibility and we know Google values the “user experience.” Therefore it’s logical to think that Google would factor speed into their algorithm for ranking websites. Google offer webmasters various tools to enhance the website loading speed. Read the original WebProNews Article written by Chris Crum > Google Sets Record on Page Speed as Ranking Factor
29 Jan 10 Leveraging Social Media to Enhance Sales
Creating groups on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. is an easy way to build a network. Like building a mailing list for regular mail or email, connecting with people and businesses via social networking creates another opportunity to sell your product or services.
Watch SEO Video with Bruce Clay on Social Networking for Traffic
- Utilizing Social Networking Company Branding
- Developing Business Relationships Online
- Increasing Sales through Social Media Sites
- Joining LinkedIn Groups for Advice
- Joining Twitter for New SEO Strategies
According to Windmill Networking, “Businesses wanting to sell into the Social Web need to recognize that they are participants like everyone else and need to follow the same rules of etiquette and conduct.” Some business oriented social networking websites allow you to publish you blog and promote your website to specific community groups. One important aspect key to maximizing business networks online is to create new friends and make additional business connections online.
28 Jan 10 Search Engine Marketing To Do List
2010 is already flying by, it is not to late to take a step back and get some perspective on internet marketing and the search engine optimization that can be done to improve your website ranking on the major search engines, Bing, Google and Yahoo. Sit down and put together a To Do List that prioritizes tasks for your in-house SEO team this year. Everyone has a huge list of search engine optimization tasks that need doing, but let’s focus on larger tactics that will maximize 2010.
Optimize for Bing
If you aren’t running an active paid search account with Microsoft’s Advertising adCenter, 2010 is the time to start. The latest comScore figures (December 2009) report Bing has now reached over 10% in share, closing in on Yahoo’s 17%. If the two year trend of Bing stealing Yahoo search share continues, expect to see your Yahoo paid search account traffic and conversion volumes decline. You’ll need to have a search marketing strategy to recoup Yahoo paid search losses. Shift some of your time and resources to getting your paid search keywords on Bing to take advantage of the traffic shift. The adCenter desktop tool makes porting over existing accounts and making easy find and replace updates efficient.
In terms of the Micro-Yahoo deal, the latest timeline suggests that paid Microsoft/Bing results will being appearing on Yahoo in early 2011 in major markets with the goal of all results by early 2012. While 2011 is still a year away, there’s no time like the present to start preparations for this transition. The announcement of their deal is already six months old, so see how time flies? Bing’s not going anywhere in 2010, Microsoft will likely continue their advertising push to steal search share, and Yahoo is unlikely to aggressively respond to win significant share back. Coupled with the imminent syndication of Bing results on Yahoo, search marketers should start treating Bing as they would Yahoo in terms of search priorities and resources.
Keep Google a top priority
Despite lots of news and noise about Bing and Yahoo, Google is still the focus for search engine marketing and will likely remain the top priority. Google maintains an outstanding share of the search market (65-67% in December 2009) and the market leader position for paid search, so no surprise that the bulk of any paid search marketer’s time should be spent on AdWords, as that’s likely responsible for the majority of search marketing traffic and conversions. In the flurry of activity around other projects and news, it is always a good idea to remind oneself of that. There’s always more to do with AdWords: test content targeting, placement targeting, sitelinks, target devices like iPhones, creating mobile ads (more on that below), image ads, video ads, and classic strategies like simply testing some new ad text.
Optimize for mobile
As more innovative devices (like the Nexus One) hit the market the mobile buzz, and search share, is increasing. Get in on the ground floor by kicking off a mobile search strategy in 2010. For many search engine marketers this might largely consist of lobbying for a mobile friendly version of your organization’s website, or for better reporting and tracking on an existing mobile site. Marketers lucky enough to have a functional mobile site should start testing mobile paid search campaigns to increase direct traffic. Particularly focus on messaging, a mobile user will likely respond to a different ad text than a user at their computer – a last minute, local emphasis might garner a better response. If your organization has a mobile application, consider search strategies to promote the application. Maybe a paid search campaign to encourage downloads is worth pursuing. A strong search presence for an application can also boost PR coverage as most reporters and bloggers conduct searches as part of their research.
Integrate your website socially
Every day, in every way, you are becoming a better search engine marketer. Think about new ways you can add value to your organization’s in-house marketing efforts. Is anyone committed to working on your organization’s social media presence? Becoming the Twitter, Facebook, blogger and all around social media guru is a great way for an in-house search engine marketer to increase their profile and responsibilities. As more Twitter and Facebook links populate the search result pages, this will only help your existing search efforts. Read the original post online.
05 Nov 09 4 Effective Ways to Get Your Articles Read
- Shorten paragraphs in your articles.
When the paragraphs are very long, the words get jumbled in the mind of the reader just looking at it. It can get quite confusing and hard work to read. - Feature the benefits by utilizing bullet points.
As each point is stressed out, numbers or bullets can quickly make the point easy to remember and digest. Format your bullets and numbers with indentations so that your article doesn’t look like a single block of square paragraphs. Dupe Cop recommends when formatting long lists, to us bold alternating bullet points. - Capture the reader’s interest from the start to the finish.
Start off with a sense of purpose and make se sure your articles flow from one paragraph to the next, and writing in a conversational style, you draw the reader from beginning to end. - Provide a stellar benefit statement-with an effective header.
Entice the reader’s curiosity with your title. Use statements that feature keywords that readers are searching for. Provide titles or headers that describe your articles content but should also be short and concise.
Read the full article at http://www.dupecop.com Dupe Cop online.
02 Nov 09 Link Building Tips for Search Engine Optimization
Link building campaigns should be an integral part your SEO marketing plan. Linking should be considered carefully because they can have positive or negative repercussions.
SEO Reference recommends focusing you’re SEO linking on the following:
Target Linking on Authority Sites
High Quality Links that Are Relevant to the Site
Strategically Placed on the Page –
Use Anchor Text Should Reflect Keywords
Don’t be tempted by shady SEO tricks that deliver quick results to boost SEP results but usually these “black hat” link campaigns raise red flags with Yahoo or Google’s search engine standards.
List of SEO Linking Tactics to Avoid:
1. Never outsource your SEO linking project unless you verify those you link to and they are relevant without being associated with “bad neighborhoods.”
2. Avoid only getting links to your index or home page. Work on getting back-links deep to landing pages with good content that you want to maximize with Google rankings
3. Avoid using linking software or
4. Avoid soliciting link ads by sending bulk emails inquiring about link advertising.
5. Avoid advertising with link building services which feature links through an automated system. Google and Yahoo may penalize sites for the purposes of inflating link popularity.
6. Never automate link submission on your website or blog. We recommend manually approving all link requests.
7. Avoid acquiring a high volume of links overnight. Link building should have even flow. A few new links a day is great, but a few hundred links in a day raises many red flags with Google.
8. Don’t make linking building decisions based on PageRank. Rather build a back-link strategy based on authority sites and relevancy.
10. Avoid generic keywords which are broad and not promoting a “call to action.” of the buying cycle.
Read the original linking article.
23 Oct 08 2 Cents on Internet Marketing
Search engine marketing has evolved as a cost effective advertising strategy to connect business with communities across the globe. Search marketing can expand the customer base quickly while offering new opportunities that continue to evolve as more and more consumers use the internet for information, entertainment and purchasing.
Establishing an effective marketing strategy online enables small business to compete with big business. According SEO expert, Zach Good, “Search marketing levels the playing field for small business and individuals.” Examining the different ways searchers find information, you can create an effective search engine strategy that brings you targeted traffic and more sales. Search engine marketing optimization is very important for the online marketing of your business. However, it is not the easiest thing to do. You need to do a lot of hard work and have the determination to succeed. Here are a few pointers towards a successful marketing optimization.
It is no secret that search engines like Yahoo, Google and MSN to provide relevant results to consumers that match their specific search query. Creating an effective search engine marketing strategy doesn’t have to be a chore. By considering your readers, formulating a successful marketing strategy, and examining the different ways searchers find information, you can create an effective search engine strategy that brings you targeted traffic and more sales.
I look forward to helping companies grow online. The economic challenges that our company faces presents an opportunity for business to streamline communication an automate information online with cost effective marketing strategies. > Read Complete Article - by Bryan Dornan
23 Oct 08 Debt and the Foreclosure Epidemic
Consumer debt continues to climb each year. Clearly, Americans have a problem spending more money than they make. Debt to income ratios have been increasing significantly with consumers as incomes continue to decline. However outstanding balances have been increasing at an alarming pace. Over the last decade, homeowners have been able to take out home equity loans and consolidate their credit card debts into a lower more responsible fixed rate payment that they could afford. Back then home values rose annually, so borrowers could refinance their spending problems every few years. When the subprime mortgage debacle turned into a credit crunch, mortgage lenders quickly tightened their loan guidelines. Almost simultaneously, home values began to decline and homeowners were no longer able to refinance and consolidate their debt. People began losing their homes because they were defaulting on their home loans.
Unfortunately a foreclosure epidemic arose and banks began to fail because with increased foreclosures came a serious liquidity problem that significantly limited banks to lend to each other. Even when the Federal Reserve cut interest rate many times, the credit crunch got worse.
Now Americans find themselves with high rate credit card debt and mortgages that are larger than their homes are actually worth. Homeowners aren’t able to refinance for lower payments, debt consolidation or cash out. With home equity loans disappearing, debt settlement has increased dramatically because its legal and gives consumers a true alternative to bankruptcy. Debt settlement provides debt relief because the debt negotiation companies are able to reduce your balances and pay-off your revolving debt that carries the compounding interest.
The other refinancing alternative that has risen in popularity with homeowners has been loan modifications. Mortgage loan modifications are the result of banks restructuring loans for borrowers so they can avoid a foreclosure. The liquidity of banks has eroded in the foreclosure epidemic and now delinquent homeowners seem to have more leverage, because mortgage lenders don’t want your home anymore. Read Complete Article by- Bryan Dornan
23 Oct 08 Loan Modifications, Refinancing and the Foreclosure Crisis
The foreclosure crisis continues to ravage our economy with more lost jobs, reduced home equity from plummeting home sales and delinquent mortgage payments. Unfortunately, many people have the ability to make their home loan payment on time but they jumped on the loan modification train with their neighbors and stopped paying their mortgage in hopes of reducing their monthly payments through renegotiations with the loss and mitigation department of their mortgage servicing company.
Clearly, there is nothing wrong with renegotiating your mortgage for a lower payment. Essentially that is what mortgage refinancing is all about. Loan modifications are different, because the terms are not fair for the bank because they take a loss. Banks who hold the mortgage note loose income from pre-payment penalties, loss of interest and in some cases loss of principal. The argument could be made that each time a bank agrees to a loan modification jobs are lost, because revenue is lost and expenses must be cut. However the reality is that we are in a serious financial crisis and if the mortgage lenders did not restructure their customer’s mortgage loans, then the banks would crash quickly as the liquidity problems would worsen.
Millions of homeowners are seeking mortgage refinancing or loan modifications in an effort to save their house or make their monthly payments more affordable. Unfortunately for mortgage brokers and lenders, mortgage refinance closings have slowed to very uncomfortable rate.
According to CFB Branch Manager, Corey Galinksky, most refinance loans are taking 7 – 8 weeks. Imagine owning a mortgage company that had to fund four staff payrolls to fund a loan. Imagine paying underwriters, processors and loan officers to work on home loans that likely would not actually close. The mortgage business has seen brighter days. Credit restrictions have tightened lending guidelines to the level that very few borrowers qualify for a mortgage. Galinsky continued, “FHA mortgage loans have been the only lending product we can count on and fortunately the government loans will consider the borrower’s compensating factors for approvals.”
On the other hand loan modification companies have never has more business. With millions of have homeowners on the brink of foreclosure, people are lining up to help people modify their loan terms. With the recent $850 billion dollars from the Financial Bail-Out package, you can bet that loan modifications will only increase in 2009. Once we get past the foreclosure crisis most financial critics agree that home refinancing will resume back on its normal course.
Mortgage lenders have started to negotiate with borrowers who are not delinquent with their mortgage. In most cases, you don’t have to be 60 days late to get a loan modification any more. The Chinese define crisis as danger and opportunity. Hopefully Americans will utilize this foreclosure crisis and seize the opportunity to move forward as a stronger more pragmatic country. Read Complete Article by- Bryan Dornan
Tags: foreclosure
23 Oct 08 Commenting on the Mortgage Meltdown
First the “subprime mortgage meltdown”, then the foreclosure crisis, next the government announce the $750 billion dollar bailout and finally the stock market tanks. After watching the 3 presidential debates and listening to a few of their mortgage foreclosure speeches, in which both candidates promised financial assistance to homeowners while blaming the “big banks”, I realized – this country is in denial. Like an alcoholic claiming “they just like a few glasses of wine with dinner”, Americans have a spending problem. Think about it – every year credit card debt breaks the previous year’s record and somehow people who don’t even have jobs are watching big flat panel TV’s and walk around in expensive “name brand shoes.”
According to mortgage data, debt to income ratios continues to rise while the average incomes for Americans have actually been declining slightly. After a decade of lavish spending, 2006 will be the year remembers because the mortgage companies started going bankrupt and the housing bubble finally bursted. Home values have continued to drop rapidly because so many homeowners had adjustable rate mortgages and mounting credit card debt that they could no longer afford. Homeowners no longer had the luxury of refinancing the home loans and unsecured debt and people began losing their homes. The lending tightened with a credit crunch and it has ultimately become a foreclosure epidemic of the greatest proportion since the Great Depression. The problems swam upstream and now the banking institutions began to fail because with the increasing home loan defaults created a liquidity problem that prevented banks from lending to each other. > Read Full Complete Article. – by Bryan Dornan
