How Search Engines Work

by Christi on April 25, 2012

There is a lot that goes on with search engines such as Google when you do a search and it delivers your results. Matt Cutts, from Google, published a new video on April 23rd, answering this question:

Hi Matt,

could you please explain how Google’s ranking and website evaluation process works starting with the crawling and analysis of a site, crawling timelines, frequencies, priorities, indexing and filtering processes within the databases etc.

As he explains, he could spend hours answering this question. However, he explains the basics of how search used to work and how search works now.

As marketers, we have to take the time to understand how SEO works and how to reach our target markets organically through search engines. Need more help? Download our SEO 101 eBook for step by step instructions.




seo-101-ebook



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What is Driving Your Internet Marketing Decisions?

by Christi on April 23, 2012

Recently, we have run into business people who have attended conferences where they were told they had to be on Facebook or Pinterest or Twitter, etc. or they would soon be going out of business. The response to this type of claim is pretty predictable. When faced with get on or go out of business, many business owners panic. What do they do and what should they do?

Some, jump in on their own, creating profiles for every social media channel and working to get their name out. Others hire “social media experts”. Unfortunately, many times the expertise that is claimed tends to be rooted in the amount of time the “expert” has spent on social media rather than any real expertise.

Is doing something better than doing nothing? In many cases when you are doing the wrong something, you would have been better off doing nothing. What should a business owner do?

  • Focus on your goals! Don’t get caught up in fear. Your goal may be centered on not going out of business at the moment, but think further. How many new customers do you need to add to your business? How much money will you make from each new customer?  Remember, you have to consider the cost of customer acquisition. If you are spending $1,000 per month to add 4 customers that add $100 each to your top line, you are not doing it right!
  • Focus on your customers. Think about the different social media platforms and determine which may be best for your business. Where are your customers? Do you really need to be on all of the social media platforms? The main demograpic for Pinterest is women who are between the ages of 25 – 54. Does that fit your target market? The point of using social media for marketing is to be where your customers are, engaging with them and gaining their trust.
  • Focus on your strategy. What strategies are appropriate for reaching and engaging with your customers. Social media is a great way to add customers, but remember it is “social.” This is not the place to use old style marketing techniques like reaching out and grabbing your potential customers and bombarding them with advertising messages. Social media is a place to interact and engage. What strategy might be appropriate to attract potential customers to a call to action? What might entice a social media contact to take a step towards becoming a customer?
  • Focus on what works! How will you know what works? Measure it! Get your analytics in place and keep track. How many visitors do you actually get to your site from social media? How many of those visitors convert into leads and customers for your business? How much time, effort and money was expended to get those visitors to your site? Is it cost effective? Could it be more cost effective?

Just having a social media presence is not enough. As you can see, if you aren’t doing it right, you could end up wasting a lot of time and money.




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New Orleans HUG is Having Its 1st Meetup!

by Christi on April 16, 2012

You may be wondering, what is a HUG? A HUG is a HubSpot User Group. HubSpot is an all in one inbound marketing software platform. It is also, a highly effective, cutting edge marketing methodology. HubSpot has attracted many investors that include Sequoia Capital who said:

Sequoia Capital has a long history of partnering with founders to help them build long-term, multi-billion dollar companies, including Google, LinkedIn, AdMob, YouTube, Yahoo!, Apple, and Oracle. “We back companies that are transforming their industries,” said Jim Goetz, General Partner at Sequoia Capital.

Another investor, Google Ventures Partner, Rich Miner (co-founder of Android) said,

We agree with HubSpot’s belief that search engines, social media, and mobile devices have fundamentally changed how businesses should market themselves. We’re thrilled to support their efforts to help thousands of small and medium businesses reach potential customers.

We are so excited that HubSpot is coming to New Orleans!  This meetup is for users and business owners and entrepreneurs who are interested in kicking up their marketing efforts with inbound marketing.

One of HubSpot’s Product Managers, will be traveling to the event from the company’s Boston headquarters to be on hand to discuss HubSpot and inbound marketing and to answer questions.

SPACE IS LIMITED

Our first meetup will be April 27th from 10 a.m. to noon. This is a great opportunity – don’t miss it! The event is free, but you must register to attend. Space is Limited. Get more information about location, time, etc. and register for the event HERE.

Join the Linkedin HubSpot New Orleans User Group NOLA HUG.

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Internet Marketing | Give Your Customer What they Need!

by Christi on April 16, 2012

Website design is an important part of internet marketing, but it is just a part. How often, in website design circles, do you think a discussion with a client starts out with questions centered around how the website should “look” or “feel?” Probably, more than you may think. How often do you think that is the wrong place to start? What is your guess? My answer isn’t a guess, it is a statement that how the website “looks” and “feels” is ALWAYS the wrong place to start. Don’t get me wrong, you will need to get to those issues at some point, but it is certainly never the first issue.

Let’s look at what is important to your customers when they visit your website:

From: HubSpot

76% of people think that finding what they want is the most important factor of design, while only 10% think beauty is most important. Having an attractive website is important, but making sure that people can find what they are looking for is most important. Possibly, the first questions for clients should be centered around things such as:

  • What is the goal of your website?
  • What do you want people to do once they are on your website?
  • What calls to action do you need on your website?
  • Who is your target audience?

Once you have answered some of these basic questions, the design can fall into place around that. Remember, every element of your website should have a purpose. Making it easy for visitors to discover the information they are looking for in an easy to navigate, simple way is most important. It is what will convert visitors into leads and customers for your business which is, generally, the ultimate purpose of your site.

The actual “design” as in the layout, colors and fonts on your website are the easiest part to put together. Your site should be aesthetically pleasing, but just make sure it does not distract from the information and calls to action that you present. Pretty, elegant and simple are good goals to reach for as far as looks. Just keep it simple. Think about your own experience with websites. Have you ever done business with someone you found online because of the font they used on their website? What about the background color or layout? Has that ever gotten you to pick up the phone? Most likely not. Those are just elements that should contribute to the overall goal of your website.

What do you think?

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Why PPC Ads Don’t Always Work

by Joe B on March 29, 2012

How many times have you clicked a PPC ad for something specific that you were searching for only to be taken to some website’s home page. Once there, you have to search the website for what it was you were looking for. I’ve asked people why they do this with their PPC ad campaigns and they either don’t know or they want visitors to look around their whole website.

Wrong answer! It’s not about you, it’s about your customer. Sending a PPC ad clicker to your home page is akin to having an ad for iPhones in front of your store and then when someone comes in your store and asks “Where are your iPhones?” You say, “They’re here somewhere, have a look around the store. I’m sure you’ll find them.” It’s not good customer service.

When people are searching on the internet (Google, Bing, etc), they are usually looking for something specific. If your PPC ad is for that specific something, they don’t want to click on it and have to start their search all over again from your website’s home page. They want to be taken to a page on your website that is about the specific item they are searching for.

This is not rocket science, folks. You have three seconds to convince someone to stay on your site. Your website visitor decides in that three seconds whether or not she is going to find what she is looking for on your site.

If you are doing PPC ads and you want those ads to be as effective as possible, have a specific landing page tailored for that ad to send the visitor to. Don’t send them to your home page.




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New Orleans HubSpot User Group to Meet!

by Christi on March 28, 2012

We are so excited to be hosting the first NOLA HubSpot User Group (HUG) meetup. You may be wondering what in the world that is. HUGs are groups of people that use the HubSpot Inbound Marketing software and strategies to attract more visitors and leads for their businesses.

HUGs usually meet about every other month, getting together for a few fun, social hours to talk about how they use HubSpot. People attend to learn new strategies, share their results, talk about challenges, and become better marketers. It is a great opportunity to network with other people who are working to become marketing superstars for their own businesses.

Joining a HUG is also a great way to brush elbows with a HubSpot employee once in a while. HubSpotters frequently fly across the country to attend HUG meetups whenever they can. Generally, they will come to share new features, answer questions, and collect feedback.

So, what is HubSpot anyway? HubSpot is an All-in-One Marketing Platform that takes all of the best inbound marketing methods and consolidates them into one integrated software package. HubSpot provides tools to help your website get found on the internet, tools to convert website visitors into customers and tools to analyze your internet marketing effectiveness.

With HubSpot’s Marketing Analytics Tools, you can analyze site traffic from first visit to most recent conversion. Their Competitor Tracking compares important site performance metrics to key competitors to help you stay ahead of the game. And HubSpot’s in-depth Blog Analytics make it easy to assess the impact of your blog.

Want to join us for our first NOLA HUG meetup? The meetup will be at our home in New Orleans on April 27th at from 10 am to noon. This is the first day of JazzFest so plan ahead! You can get more details on the registration page. Click HERE to register!

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How to increase the life span of your battery?

by Joe B on March 27, 2012

We all use equipment with lithium-ion batteries, cell phones, laptops, tablets, etc. And we have all experienced the battery charge in that equipment not lasting as long as it once did. Even if you don’t use the equipment for a few years and try to charge it, it won’t work.

A number of factors can accelerate battery degradation (see study from Battery University).

Battery Temperature


Permanent capacity loss when
stored at 40% state-of-charge
(recommended storage charge level)


Permanent capacity loss when
stored at 100% state-of-charge
(typical user charge level)

0°C

25°C

40°C

60°C

2% loss in 1 year; 98% remaining

4% loss in 1 year; 96% remaining

15% loss in 1 year; 85% remaining

25% loss in 1 year 75%; remaining

6% loss in 1 year; 94% remaining

20% loss in 1 year; 80% remaining

35% loss in 1 year; 65% remaining

   40% loss in 3 months

By not charging your battery fully, your run time might be a little less, but your battery will last longer. Heat is also a factor in battery degradation. Keep this in mind when recharging the batteries in your equipment.




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Google to Penalize Over Optimized Content

by Christi on March 26, 2012

According to a report by Search Engine Land, the head of Google’s search spam team, Matt Cutts, was asked this question on a recent SXSW panel discussion:

“With so many SEO companies showing up claiming to do SEO, a lot of markets are getting saturated with optimized content…What are you doing to prevent, for example, if you’re looking for something, and the first page is just optimized content, and it’s not what you’re actually looking for? Are you pretty much out of luck if you’re not optimizing your site but it has relevant content? If I’m a mom or pop and I’m trying to optimize a site by myself, I’m going to get beat by people paying thousands of dollars.”

Matt explains that the new over optimization penalty will be introduced into the search results in the upcoming month or next few weeks. The purpose is to “level the playing field,” Cutts said. To give sites that have great content a better shot at ranking above sites that have content that is not as great, but do a better job with SEO.

In an article by our HubSpot Partners, they predict that “If your content is driven by topics, you shouldn’t expect to be penalized when the new algorithm update rolls out, even if you do take the time to search engine optimize that content with keywords and relevant links. If your writing is driven by keywords, however, we predict it’s more likely you’ll suffer some search ranking slips.”

Does that mean that SEO does not matter? Matt Cutts also goes on to add, ”SEO can often be very helpful. It can make a site more crawlable; it can make a site more accessible; it can think about the words users are going to type whenever they come to a search engine to make sure those words are on a page. The same things you do to optimize your return on investment and make sure things spread virally or socially are often the same things that work from a search engine perspective…but there are some people who take it too far. If you’re white hat or doing very little SEO, you’re not going to be affected by this change.”

Also on the panel was Bing’s Duane Forrester, who added, “If you’re not engaged socially, you’re missing the boat because the conversation is happening socially about you and about your content. Those are really important signals for us. Whether you’re involved or not is your choice, but those signals still exist whether you’re in the conversation or not.”

We also know that search engines like fresh content as they have told us in the past. So what does this mean for you and your business?

You must keep delivering fresh, interesting content to the people who are looking for your products and services. Obviously, if you want to rank for a keyword or phrase, those words will have to be included on your site. It seems that people who try to “game” the system make it more difficult for small businesses. Search engine companies like Google and Bing have told us over and over how to use keywords effectively to optimize our content. I’m not sure how they decide what is “over optimized.” The problem, in my opinion, is that search engines are in fact “engines” and they have to decide what to deliver based on something tangible.

The easiest way for a small business to deliver fresh and relevant content is through a blog. Blogging can be time consuming, as can social media, but for today’s small businesses, it appears that they are a must.

What do you think of Google’s announcement?




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Website Design vs. Graphic Design

by Joe B on March 22, 2012

Lately I’ve seen a lot of websites that look good on the surface, but are horrible when you look at their underpinnings (on page SEO). When I ask about this, I am told that the website designer doesn’t do SEO. Really?!

From a graphic design point of view these websites may be stunning. But from a website design standpoint, they are ineffective at best. Graphic design is not website design. Website design incorporates graphic design and much more. It is possible to build a website a hundred different ways and still achieve the same finished look. However, hidden in the code and content can be a website’s inability to be marketed, managed or monitored properly because a designer/developer used poor or dated techniques.

Some of the items that need to be considered when designing a website are:

1. Canonicalization (does www forward to non-www or vice versa [301 redirect])

2. Map 2-3 keywords per page.

3. What is the density of the target keyword on each landing page?

4. Image & Hyperlink Optimization

5. Header Tag Optimization

6. H1 Analysis – Is the target keyword in the H1 for each page?

7. Title Tag Optimization – Is the title keyword optimized?

8. Nofollow – Are non-target words nofollowed on site.

9. W3c Validation

A website is like a house. You can cover up the poor underlying structure with an aesthetically pleasing surface, but you still have a poor structure. Would you buy a house where you knew the underlying structure was in disrepair even though it looked good on the surface?

Ask your website designer if s/he includes SEO with the website. If not, find another website designer.




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How To Fail At Internet Marketing

by Christi on March 21, 2012

Sometimes the best laid plans just don’t work. It could be that you have the wrong tools or maybe outdated tools. Maybe your technique wasn’t correct. Probably the main reason for failing when it comes to internet marketing is because you didn’t have the right plan or perhaps you didn’t have a plan at all. What makes an internet marketing plan fail?

  • No clear goals – if you don’t care where you are going, anywhere you end up is fine. Or is it really? Sometimes we don’t get where we want to go because we didn’t have a destination in mind in the first place. Decide on realistic, measurable goals for your business before you start to implement any internet marketing plan. Your goals will help you determine what tools and techniques are correct.
  • Focusing on things that will not help you achieve your goals. -  Let’s take your website as an example. Everything on your website should have a purpose. Perhaps you should have content that is search engine friendly to help you get more organic traffic. If your goal is to convert traffic into leads for your business, you should probably have clear calls to action to help you achieve that goal. If your focus is on having just the right color of blue as your background color or using a particular font, you need to think about how those things will help you achieve your goals. When is the last time you visited a website just to admire their background? When is the last time you filled out a form on a site because of the font they used? Oh, and by the way, that perfect shade of blue that you love so much will look different on my screen than it does on your screen or your customer’s screen.
  • Adding elements to your marketing without understanding how they fit into an overall plan that will help you achieve your goals. – Perhaps you are told that you have to be on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Google+. While those are all great marketing tools, you need to be sure that you are using them in a way that fits your overall internet marketing plan. Too often, businesses feel like they have to jump on the latest thing without deciding first how it can be used to help them reach their goals. Without a plan, many businesses end up wasting time and money on efforts that are not moving them to their goal.
  • Not measuring your results. – If you are not measuring your results, how will you ever know if you meet your goal? How will you know if you are veering off course and need to adjust? Measuring your results is an often overlooked but very important part of internet marketing.
  • Not working with people who understand the importance of having an overall internet marketing plan with measurable goals.

Don’t fail! Make a plan and do it right. In the long run, you will save money and you will have measurable success.

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