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Archive for December, 2010

Search Engine Marketing: Associations Are King

The human mind…operates by association…of thoughts in accordance with some intricate web of trails…the intricacy of trails the detail of mental pictures is aweinspiring beyond all else in nature;1

Vannevar Bush
As We May Think 1945

The tricky thing about search engine marketing is that people are NOT shopping for the products or services you offer via search engines. In fact they will NEVER shop for the products or services you offer via search engines or any other type of marketing/advertising media for that matter.

Why?

Because people don’t shop for products they shop for a meanstoanend; for pleasurable or exhilarating feelings for intelligence for increased opportunity etc. In fact your products and services are worth 0……..UNLESS your products and services are associated with a desired meanstoanend and presented as such.

How to Create Associations for Your Next Search Engine Marketing Campaign
When considering your next search engine marketing campaign and the keywords you choose to select it’s important to remember that people not business professionals manifest the desired meanstoanend that they want the most if you are a careful observer and then marketers advertisers or business persons tie those associations to their respective products. So it’s important to 1 realize that marketers depend on people first and foremost 2 marketers should study people and understand what it is that people really want and 2 marketers should create effective content that will tie meanstoanend; products to the true desires of your target audiences. These three steps will take you closer to a more effective search engine marketing campaign.

Tying the Associative Knots with Effective Content for Your Next Search Engine Marketing Campaign
Contentmdash;especially free and useful or entertaining contentmdash;is the powerful tool that creates associations for a search engine marketing campaign. Content whether text videos podcasts or pictures creates the associations that help convince people or fail to convince people that your products or services could at one time or another help them achieve a desired meanstoanend. Whether the germane end is happiness power intelligence success or a great love life you can tie the right content knots between products and desires and convince your website visitors to buy your products via your next search engine marketing campaign.

A Localized Search Engine Marketing Example
Let’s say that you own a local donut shop and you want to expand your online business with a search engine marketing campaign. You have also been a conscientious business professional and have taken the time to notice the associations your customers have with donuts. For instance your clients often associate donuts with the following:

• Group Activities
• Halloween Parties
• Games
• Early Morning Gatherings
• Breakfast
• Quick Food on the Go
• Delicious Food on the Go
• Sweetness and Deliciousness

These associations help people in some shape or form to feel that when they buy donuts they are contributing to their social lives to traditions i.e. Halloween to fun and excitement to gaining more time for oneself and to satisfying appetites for flavor.

These associations give people reasons to buy donuts and could be supported by the following content for your next search engine marketing campaign:

• Group Activities for Holidays
• Fun Activities
• Food Games
• The Best Breakfast Recipes
• Fun Breakfast Ideas
• Quick Food Ideas
• Delicious Recipes
• Delicious Food for Busy People
• The History of Sweets and Pastries

All of these titles; could make great content pages videos pictures or even podcasts.

Search Engine Marketing Content for Groups
Also If you notice that a specific group of people buy donuts more than other groups of people such as firemen for instance you could also create content entitled:

10 Reasons It’s Great to be a Fireman

This type of content could be accompanied by product ads or coupons for fresh samples. The content gives the client information and associations that they want and the donuts provide a means to an end. Content and associations could well be compared to the queen and king of a profitable search engine marketing campaign.

1 journals.ecs.soton.ac.uk/newpub/newpub2/sld003.htm

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About the writer:  Marci Crane is a copywriter for Main10 in Orem Utah. For more information in regards to search”>http://www.main10.com/advertising/search_engine_advertising.php”>search engine marketing services please feel free to contact”>http://www.main10.com/contact.php”>contact a Main10 representative.

Know About The Role Of Breaking SEO Myths Part One

Could there be another industry more inflated by ego misinformation and repetition than search engine optimization? Perhaps there are a few others out there but not many. But what else can one expect from an unregulated industry? There’s no FCC FTC FEC FMC FERC HIPAA ATF SEC FAA or any other acronymed agency standardizing legitimate SEO practices.
Search engines like Google Yahoo MSN and Ask Jeeves each have their own secret algorithms which mathematically select arrange and prioritize search results. No two search engines work the same. No two search engines yield exactly the same search results unless they are actually powered by the same search engine but packaged under different names. No SEO expert or firm knows all of the search engines secrets. So how do they write so many articles blogs and forums with such authority? And why are the ones pinky swearing that theyre honest only telling you enough to maintain enough mystery to keep you relying upon their expertise and yet still wondering what the heck they are doing behind those closed doors?
Am I saying that theyre all scam artists? No. Many of them arent. But even the ones who are legit are still count on an air of mystery and difficulty to keep the client from demanding too many specific answers. Why? Because if these search engine specialists revealed all that they know to a client they know that an intelligent client would be unimpressed. For more information .The truth is that most companies could perform their own SEO and be quite successful. There are exceptions like the home mortgage industry. Certain industries are so competitive in organic search that most companies will not be able to compete even with professional natural SEO services.
So why should a company hire an SEO professional? In my opinion such contracting of services only makes sense when a company either has enough money to throw around or they have much more important tasks for their own employees to perform. I compare it to online grocery shopping it saves you time and effort but unless youre disabled filthy rich or ungodly busy it is not a cost effective option.
Of course Im not going to begrudge anyone the opportunity to sub out a service they do not feel comfortable with performing themselves. Every executive has the right to decide which is more valuable to the company in this situation: time or money. I understand that and I also respect a person who focuses on contributing their strengths rather than faking strengths that eventually cost the company due to incompetence and pride.
You will find those same types of people in the search engine marketing profession. Men and women have forged careers in search engine marketing because they learned how to retell someone elses stories and to write new articles containing recycled information. Those types are actually better at sales and personal PR than SEO.
So what exactly makes a person an SEO expert? Seriously. Don’t accept someone’s claims without critically examining them. There’s no federal or industrywide standard. So who makes an expert an expert? Whats the difference between an expert and an expert fake? And how can you tell one from the other?
It’s a slippery slope. Sadly it is an industry where many companies profit from client ignorance. Am I going to present clearcut evidence here of my claims? Not a chance. I don’t have to and I dont want to make any specific enemies. I learned what I know by studying SEO online wherever I could because I was trying to join the industry. What I realized through my extensive online reading and professional relationships is that a good humble businessperson is always more trustworthy and reliable than a selfproclaimed expert. Humility is key. Use your discernment.
If you don’t believe me subscribe to a few SEO newsletters and catch up on your SEO articles. For more infomation .See for yourself if you don’t read the same thing over and over only presented in a different order or from a different angle. Study which groups or individuals support and compliment each other in SEO articles forums and blogs. Notice how they build a castle of thoughts out of thin air. In this industry some will corroborate each other if it means reinforcing the fuzzy logic that has benefited their own business. The lack of fresh information is fairly convincing evidence that search engine optimization and keyword research are not all that complicated. If they were the experts wouldn’t have to recycle to put out new articles and blogs.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;www.the20seotools.com

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Is Search Engine Optimization A Form Of Internet Marketing?

Search engine optimization is internet marketing! Search engine optimization also known as SEO is one of the most effective things that you can do on the internet to increase your web traffic and get more potential customers or clients. Optimizing your website for the search engines is how to move your site up in the organic search engine rankings. The higher you are in the rankings the more traffic you will receive.

SEO is not rocket science but it is a time consuming ongoing process. Unless you have a few hours each day to focus on optimizing your website you should probably leave it up to a professional firm to handle your campaign. If you do have the time to do it yourself there are five simple things that you can start doing today to help you move up in the search engines. I will list each of them below and go into a little detail for each of them.

1 You must do proper keyword research for your website. Before you build your website or at least before you begin marketing your site online you need to find out exactly what keywords you will want to target in the search engines.

2 You need to always use header h1 h2 h3 tags. If you use a header tag on each of your web pages it is like screaming at the search engines what you website is all about. The search engines will have a better idea of where to place you site when someone searches for it.

3 You need to use proper keyword usage also known as density. Try to use your keyword 23 of the time in your text. If you overdo it you are asking for trouble.

4 Make sure to use contextual links. You need to do everything in your power to get visitors to your site have them visit a lot of pages on your site and pushed toward the product or service you are trying to sell.

5 Update update update! Make sure that you update and add content to your website on a regular basis. No one likes coming back to a website and finding that nothing has changed. Keep things fresh and new. Not only that the more often you update and add content the more often the search engines will visit and index your site.

By implementing these things on your website you will have greater chances of moving up in the search engines. Like I said at the beginning of the article SEO takes time don’t give up on it after a few weeks.

About the writer:  Bart Icles works for a company that provides Utah SEO Services. He works for ioVentures who provides Utah SEO to small and large businesses. You can also visit their Internet Marketing Blog for SEO tips and internet marketing techniques to help your business.