A new Google Apps tool has been released that is designed for small- to medium-sized businesses, and now you can have a Google search box on your website that allows visitors to access search results from the website, or websites, that you choose. It is called Google Custom Search Business Edition, and it provides an alternative between the “already existing Custom Search Engine, a free, ad-supported service, and Google Appliance, a hardware device selling for prices starting around $2,000 which customers manages on themselves”. Since your website does NOT have to be running Google ads to use the Business Edition application, you have the ability to turn off the ads produced by the Custom Search Engine service, and you can also customize what your visitors are looking at, similar to Google Appliance.
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Google’s at it again!
10 Questions to ask an SEO firm
I was reading an article on Sphinn and thought it would be helpful to our readers. The article offers advice to any people or companies seeking to hire an SEO firm. The information contained is very valuable to anyone who’s not so familiar with internet marketing and it offers great advice for the selection process.
I thought number one was a particularly handy tip, as some SEO firms will try to lure clients with an un-guaranteeable guarantee. Beware of that!!
So if you have time and are searching for an SEO firm or just want to know things to ask for future reference, here is the article.
Oh yeah? Well Sphinn THIS!
During my daily reading of Search Engine Land I was reading Google Free Fridays and Danny Sullivan mentioned his new product, Sphinn.
I took an initial look at Sphinn and all I have to say is wow, it’s great. Digg is for the techies, Reddit is for random weird stuff but Sphinn is a collection of articles from all over the place about SEO! What a great and NOVEL idea. So if you need an extra resource to get a glimpse of who’s who in SEO or just learn a little more information, this is a fantastic starting point. Kudos to you Danny and the rest of Search Engine Land. A product the web can be proud of!
Why simple never goes out of style
Today I had a very yummy luncheon at the Four Seasons with a hospitality and tourism networking group here in Atlanta. I met some new people, stuffed my face with as much free salad and pasta as I could, then listened to a speaker from a Trade Show marketing company.
His topic? Simple, “The Basics of Successful Marketing.”
I think there are times when we try, not only in marketing but many industries, to dig almost too deep to be the best and the first. Sometimes we forget the basic ideals originally motivating us to pursue our current careers.
I love SEO because it’s such a dynamic industry, things are always changing and moving forward. But with that fast paced progress, I think it’s important to occasionally step away and go back to the basics.
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Googleship Down
Our dependence on certain things we expect to remain static is a little scary. Just as we tend to rely on a cellphone to constantly connect us to friends, family and colleagues, we also expect the cellphone will work. And just as we create brilliant marketing campaigns to target Google traffic, Google may not always be around.
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The Truth About Blogs
With all the buzz about blogs, you’d think that people with really popular blogs would make tons of money. There are people in the blogosphere claiming to get $100,000 checks each month from Google for their AdWords campaigns. And maybe they do, but how many of those bloggers are out there and should we all aspire to this lofty goal?
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Five ways to legally spy on the competition
Having a website entitles you to no privacy, leaving every company on the Internet equally vulnerable to their enemies. Now, this sounds like a bad thing, but there is an advantage to this openness and I have already said it. EVERY company is equally open to scrutiny, meaning you have the same chance as everyone else to spy on the competition.
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X Marks the spot: Creating an Effective Landing Page
Search for any term in a search engine and you will get a list of results. From that list of results you can click on any link directing you to a website.
Type a URL in the address bar and a website will pop up.
Follow a link from one site to another and land on a website.
How to get to a website is the easy part. What to do when you get there is the hard part, this is where landing pages come in handy.
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The Nine Rules of Website Stickiness
“Try a little tenderness”
These words from the great voice of Otis Redding describe perfectly what a relationship should be between a website and its owner. Websites should be coddled, loved and spoiled. Remember that websites work for you 24/7, they represent you and everything your company stands for 100% of the time, so they need to be maintained.
But without any site traffic, the love you give your site won’t be apparent to anyone but yourself. Maybe you get some traffic on occasion, but it trickles off. So what can you do to your site to keep visitors interested and give others a reason to view it as well?
Get out the fly paper because we’re going to make your site sticky.
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Tools for Small Business
Abraham Lincoln once said “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” In the business of online marketing, the best way to sharpen the tool is to find a better tool. As online marketers, we are always on the lookout for better tools for our clients.
Here is a list of 100 Web Applications for Small Business.
Some of our favorite tools are:
Keyword spy was brought to our attention by Rob a 262 blog reader. Thanks for the addition Rob!