Filled to the Brim » SEO http://davidbrim.org David Brim on Marketing, Social Media, Entrepreneurship & More Sun, 11 Dec 2011 17:47:17 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 How to Effectively Use Google insights for Search http://davidbrim.org/google-insights-for-search-hurricane-irene-example/ http://davidbrim.org/google-insights-for-search-hurricane-irene-example/#comments Thu, 25 Aug 2011 18:56:19 +0000 David Brim http://davidbrim.org/?p=1258 With Hurricane Irene heading towards the coast of Florida I’ve had several companies ask me how they can better focus their keyword research and search engine strategies to take advantage of this. I thought I would share a tool that can be very valuable in this situation and many others.

Google Insights for search is a tool freely available that can be very useful to a marketer is used properly. Google insights is is similar to Google Trends, a tool that shows the increase in frequency a keyword is searched, but Google Insights provides much more robust information that can be used for market intelligence and research.

Here’s a quick overview of how Google Insights for Search works…

First visit Google Insights for Search

Once you’ve arrived at the tool type in a keyword you would like to research, for this example I used “Hurricane Irene”.

You also have the ability to filter your search by type of search, location, time frame, or category.

Once you’ve done your search you’ll be able to…

See the Increase in search frequency over time

You can play with the time frames for your specific purpose and as you do so the graphical output will change.

View Top searches

You can see a list of the top searched keywords related to your initial search. This can be helpful to generate keyword ideas to get in front of a particular customer.

Uncover Rising or Break Out Search terms

Similar to the top keywords, but this shows those keywords that have the biggest increase in searches lately. It could be that these keywords will become top keywords soon, so this data can be very valuable as well.

Regional Search Data

This map functionality reminds me of the one in Google Analytics, and provides a map displaying the areas with the greatest number of searches. The initial search query, if left unfiltered will show countries. You then have the ability to drill down into that country and view the states and cities that have the highest frequency of searches. Though the example I used is for hurricane irene, one that could be a very profitable set of keywords for generator, travel, hurricane window, hotel and other types of companies this tool can produce data that would be immensely valuable for nearly any type of business. Whether you are a local service based business, or a large brand planning where to invest your advertising spend on a local level this feature can really help.

Though there are numerous tools that help with keyword research Google Insights for Search is one of the best to help identify and take advantage of trending or topical searches. In many cases there may be a very popular event or trend that causes a huge surge in search engine traffic, but because this is out of the normal search pattern it may not show up in other keyword tools. Though Google Trends shows the top or break out searches on a high level, once you’ve focused in on one Google Insights is a fabulous tool to really knock it out of the park.

I hope that you found this post helpful.

If you’ve had experiences with Google Trends, Google Insights, or other keyword tools that help identify trends I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Drop a comment

All the best,

David

]]> http://davidbrim.org/google-insights-for-search-hurricane-irene-example/feed/ 0 10 Local Marketing Tips to Drive Business Your Way http://davidbrim.org/local-marketing/ http://davidbrim.org/local-marketing/#comments Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:57:31 +0000 David Brim http://davidbrim.org/?p=1203 Recently a business owner reached out to me for assistance in marketing his business in a local market.  After writing a response to his questions I thought that others would be able to benefit from the information that I shared with him so I decided to share it with my readers.

I need some help marketing my last two dance classes. Any suggestions on where and how to get the word out?

There are a number of ways that you can do this….

1) SEO: If you have a website optimize it for local keywords so that people can find you.  There are two main aspects of search engine optimization what happens on your website and what happens outside of your website.  The on page factors include your website’s code, content, urls, page titles, etc.  A website’s off page SEO is basically their link portfolio- how many sites are linking to you, what is the quality of the sites linking to you, etc.  Here is a previous post that I wrote regarding link building.  There are many different tactics, but this article will go over the basics.  http://davidbrim.org/seo-and-link-building-101

Also be sure you are listed on google places, yelp, etc and the other major local listing sites.  Check out www.getlisted.org

2) Facebook Ads: Advertise to your potential customers on Facebook.  You can select your target customers demographics, interests (including dance or dancing with the stars, etc), location and more.

3) Google Adwords: Similar to SEO, but pay for placement.  You basically bid on keywords and the combination of highest price and quality score (relevancy and authority in google’s eyes) will show first.  You only pay on a per click basis.  If going this route make sure you track your costs and the amount of sales generated to make sure your getting a return on investment.  You can also target your ads to a specific geographic area so you won’t be paying for those who are not in the right area to take advantage of your service.

4) Social Media: Use tracking tools like www.socialmention.com and monitter.com to see who is discussing dance related topics in a certain geographic area on twitter and facebook.  Viralheat.com is another good tool for monitoring social media conversations globally or locally, but that is a paid subscription based tool.Once they are found you can engage these users with various tactics to raise your brand’s visibility.

5) Craigslist & other Classified marketing sites: Post your service on craigslist in your city.  This is a very highly trafficked classified site and can be very effective.  Other popular classified marketing sites include: Back Page and Epage.

6) Referrals: Tap into your current client’s social circles of influence and ask them for referrals.  It’s also wise to have your current clients become a fan of your brand on facebook so your brand gets out to their friends.  Possibly offer an incentive of a free class or discount to those who refer other clients.

7) Direct mail & Traditional Marketing: We worked with a dance company and did a direct mail campaign to kick off their grand opening.  We had formal invitations developed and mailed them out to homes tax assessed at $350K+.  They had a great turn out, but direct mail can be very expensive.  Radio and TV are also options depending on your budget, but internet marketing will provide a more cost effective and measurable solution.

8) Give a free performance- Attract people in with a free show or performance.  Once they are there give them food and/or wine (if legal aged) which can be donated from sponsors.  While there have people offer a free lesson to those who attend and sign them up on the spot.

9) Local Coupon Sites like Groupon- The local daily/weekly coupon craze is going full blast.  Leading the charge is Groupon, however competitors like LivingSocial, Tippr, and Buywithme are all gaining traction.

10) Harness the power of Local Meetup and Facebook groups- Local online groups can be a very powerful way to raise awareness of your venture.  Visit www.meetup.com and do a search for your zipcode and a relevant keyword.  Also visit Facebook and do searches to find relevant groups and fan pages.  There are several ways to utilize these groups and pages.

  • First- you can simply participate in a popular local group- by sharing an insightful comment with a link to your website people will be intrigued to learn more and click through the link to learn more about your business.
  • Second- You can contact the group creator or page admin and ask them to send out a message to their audience.  This may cost some money, but will give your brand good viability if you can find the right group.
  • Finally- Start your own interest group.  If you have the time, it can be very valuable to start an online group around a topic of interest yourself.  You can network with people interested in this topic and if you ask intriguing questions and share thoughtful responses you will be perceived as an expert and someone a potential customer would want to hire.

I hope this helps!

If you have any additional questions let me know.

–

What do you guys think…Did I miss any anything?

If so feel free to comment.

All the best,

David

]]> http://davidbrim.org/local-marketing/feed/ 5 What Every Business Owner should know about Google Instant Previews http://davidbrim.org/what-every-business-owner-should-know-about-google-instant-previews/ http://davidbrim.org/what-every-business-owner-should-know-about-google-instant-previews/#comments Fri, 03 Dec 2010 14:04:54 +0000 David Brim http://davidbrim.org/?p=1199 Google recently released a new feature called “Instant Previews” into their search engine results page.    As the name suggests this feature enables a searcher to preview all of the websites on the listings page before making the decision on which website they should visit.

This may seem like a small adjustment, but what does this mean to your business?

This small preview icon in the search engine results means a great deal to a business…It can work for or against you, bringing you more customers or less.

If you show up highly on the search engines for various keywords, but have a poorly designed website you now have a higher chance of a customer selecting a lower result that appears (from instant preview) to better fit their needs.  On the other side if you have a strongly designed website you now have the chance to steal away customers who in the past would immediately click the first or second result that they came across.

Now if you have a strongly designed website, but are on the second or third page Google Instant Preview doesn’t necessarily help you, because consumers often don’t venture past the first page when making decisions via search.  Having a strong SEO presence consisting of optimized title tags, url structure, content, proper keywords and quality links is still extremely important.

If you have a website that is not being found through search engines now is the time to assess how it was built (functionally and aesthetically), enhance or re-design the website and implement an SEO strategy.

Have Google Instant Previews work for your business, not against it.

]]> http://davidbrim.org/what-every-business-owner-should-know-about-google-instant-previews/feed/ 1 SEO and Link Building 101 http://davidbrim.org/seo-and-link-building-101/ http://davidbrim.org/seo-and-link-building-101/#comments Wed, 15 Sep 2010 05:03:06 +0000 David Brim http://davidbrim.org/?p=1161 It’s no secret that reaching more customers is a goal of nearly all business owners.  As I discussed in a previous post…your potential and current customers are online and searching.  There are roughly 5,500 searches that occur every second.

That’s right….every second!

The harsh reality is….roughly 90% of all of those searches will not venture beyond the first page of the search engine results.

So how do you get higher on the search engine rankings, so that you’re the one your potential customers find?

This is done through a process called Search Engine Optimization.

There are two main aspects of Search Engine Optimization…On page SEO and off Page SEO.  On page SEO includes altering elements on your website that you can control.  Some of these include:

  • Code structure
  • Title tags
  • Url structure
  • Content
  • Header tags
  • etc

The other aspect of SEO is off page optimization, or link building.

One thing to remember is that Google and other search engines care more about what others say about you then what you say about yourself.  If I was to stand up in a crowded restaurant and yell out…”I am the best marketer ever” I may intrigue some people, but if everyone in the restaurant stood up and pointed at me and said “David is the best marketer out there” I would get better results.

In the search engine world this happens as well.  Links are the currency of the web. The goal is to receive as many links, especially relevant ones as possible. This is done through a process called link building.

Some aspects of link building include…

Article submissions (Write quality content around topics related to your industry and then submit to these sites with your link included in the article or resource box)

Top article directory sites

  1. EzineArticles.com
  2. GoArticles.com
  3. ArticleDashboard.com
  4. SearchWarp.com
  5. ArticlesBase.com
  6. iSnare.com
  7. SelfGrowth.com
  8. Buzzle.com
  9. ArticleCity.com
  10. IdeaMarketers.com

Press Release Submissions: Anytime that you have a new hire, noteworthy client, publish a new whitepaper, are going to attend conference, have a speaking engagement, launch a new product or service, etc…It’s wise to submit online press releases. Here is a very strong list of 50+, many of which are free:

http://www.avangate.com/articles/press-release-distribution_69.htm

Directory submissions (There are thousands of website directories online that will provide a link to your website. You can see a large list here: http://www.addurl.nu/)

Blog Commenting (Conduct a search for your topic at technorati.com and leave a thoughtful comment with a link back to your website on a blog post that someone has published)

Social bookmarking- Bookmark your website on sites like Digg.com, stumbleupon.com and Delicious.com these sites are highly trafficked and provide great awareness.

Guest  blogging- Reach out to popular bloggers within your industry and submit a well written blog post with your link included in the post.

Link Requests- If you have friends in your industry, or others with websites in general email them and ask them to link to your website with a targeted keyword as the anchor text or hyperlink.

-

Working to improve your search engine visibility is a great way to increase your businesses visibility.  Keep in mind that getting a potential customer to your website is only half the battle.  Once they are there you need them to do what you want them to do…typically contact you, register, or buy something (depending on your business).  Having a well designed site and monitoring your analytics is very important to accomplish this.

Signing off for now…There are many more tips, strategies and resources out there to help improve your search engine visibility.  Hopefully this post gave you some basics.

If you have any additional questions feel free to reach out to me.   Brand Advance, my firm, would be more than happy to give your business a free consultation around this topic.  Simply fill out our contact form on the Brand Advance site and we’ll get back to you.

What other tips do you feel should be included in basic SEO & Link Building 101?

What questions do you have?

]]> http://davidbrim.org/seo-and-link-building-101/feed/ 36 2010 Internet Marketing Predictions, Trends & Tips http://davidbrim.org/2010-internet-marketing-trends/ http://davidbrim.org/2010-internet-marketing-trends/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 04:34:25 +0000 David Brim http://davidbrim.org/?p=968 It’s no secret that technology changes extremely fast.  Often times keeping up and implementing trends in technology is like hitting a moving target.  Internet marketing is no different.  From changes in Search Engine Algorithms (like Google’s Caffeine- that had a large roll out following the holidays) to new social media innovations like Posterous…The world of internet marketing has been and will continue to change in 2010. I came across this list on Search Engine Land by Matt McGee listing many different resources discussing predicted changes in various areas of online marketing during 2010.  Enjoy!

SEO

Search Marketing/PPC

Local/Mobile Search

Social Media

Video

Analytics

General Online Marketing

Miscellaneous

Have a Safe and Successful 2010!

]]> http://davidbrim.org/2010-internet-marketing-trends/feed/ 65 Your Customers Are Online….Are They Finding You or Your Competition? http://davidbrim.org/your-customers-are-online%e2%80%a6are-they-finding-you-or-your-competition/ http://davidbrim.org/your-customers-are-online%e2%80%a6are-they-finding-you-or-your-competition/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 04:05:38 +0000 David Brim http://davidbrim.org/?p=923 Have you ever thought about how many people are online today?  Sure it sounds like common sense….people use the internet, but have you ever really thought about it?

How Many People Are Online?

There are over 307 million people in the United States according to the US Census Bureau.  Of this number about 220 million people in the US use the internet.  The 87 million people that aren’t online include infants, small children, Amish people, hicks, some older adults and maybe a few people who have lived in a box for their whole life…The fact is nearly everyone is online. This includes you, your friends, your family and most importantly….your potential customers.

It’s sometimes hard to put large numbers into perspective, so I’m going to try.  As I said there are 220 million people in the US that use the internet.  Yankee Stadium holds: 57,545 people at it’s capacity.

Two hundred twenty million people would fill up Yankee Stadium almost 4,000 times- That’s how many people are online in the US alone!

When you’re in a filled stadium like that, in a long line at an amusement park or sitting in traffic jam just think….all of these people are online searching for information just like me.

How Many Searches Occur Daily?

There are roughly 14.3 billion searches every month.  This is according to a research study done by comScore who constantly gathers information from all the major search engines.  That means over 476 million searches occur every day or over 5,500 searches every second.  People are searching for any and everything, including your product, or services as well as the problems your business can solve.  These motivated consumers are going to find someone.  Will it be you or one of your competitors?

How do you Stack up?

Contact Brand Advance today for a free consultation and complimentary SEO report on your current website.

]]> http://davidbrim.org/your-customers-are-online%e2%80%a6are-they-finding-you-or-your-competition/feed/ 35 Search Engine Optimization Tips for Online Success http://davidbrim.org/search-engine-optimization/ http://davidbrim.org/search-engine-optimization/#comments Mon, 03 Aug 2009 02:06:12 +0000 David Brim http://davidbrim.org/?p=853 Search Engine Optimization is nothing new, however many people are still baffled with how it works and what it takes to dominate the search engines for a given term.  Ranking well for strategically selected keyword terms in your niche will drive highly motivated potential customers to your web-presence, which will result in more sales, leads and inquires for your business.

I’ve attended lots of internet industry conferences around the country such as Search Engine Strategies in San Jose, Search Marketing Expo in New York and Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas.  At these conferences I’ve listened to, interacted and built relationships with top thought leaders in the internet space.  Through my research and interactions I believe this image is one of the best depictions of what it takes to dominate the search engines.  The image was put together by Matt McGee of SmallBusinessSEM.com:


Utilizing the various aspects of the SEO pyramid properly will absolutely bring you success on the search engines.  However it takes time, commitment and lots of effort to implement.  Also keep in mind that if internet marketing is not your core competency there can be a large learning curve which can be quite costly.  You can learn from your mistakes, but it is best to hire someone who has experience in the field that can help your business get the results your seeking.  If you’re interested in taking advantage of SEO, social media marketing or lead generation services to grow your business leave me a comment or drop me a line at david [at] abco-solutions.com and I’d be happy to chat with you about your online success.

]]> http://davidbrim.org/search-engine-optimization/feed/ 31 Four Reasons Why Social Media Can Improve your Career & Personal Brand http://davidbrim.org/four-reasons-why-social-media-can-improve-your-career-personal-brand/ http://davidbrim.org/four-reasons-why-social-media-can-improve-your-career-personal-brand/#comments Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:42:08 +0000 David Brim http://davidbrim.org/?p=805 Recently I’ve been viewing a lot of resumes and talking with a lot of recent college grads looking for jobs.   Lots of the resumes I see are dull and unimpressive.  Even many designer resumes I’ve reviewed have been bland with no personality.  It really made me think about how helpful engaging in social media can be to improve their situation.  Creating a blog, interacting with people on forums, and connecting with those in your niche on LinkedIn and other social networks can do wonders for your career or business ventures.   As a recent graduate or current student it can put you leaps and bounds ahead of your peers in terms of building a professional reputation and presence.

I’m going to submit an article to various college professors and career service employees I know in the hopes that more college students will utilize social media to catapult their career or business when they graduate.  Let me know what you think:

Here’s just a few benefits why a college student, recent grad or professional in general should be utilizing social media:

  1. Control Your Online Reputation

    2. When a potential employer or business partner meets you, or comes across your resume you better believe they will often do some due diligence before hiring or going into business with you. When your name is searched on Google or another major search engine wouldn’t you want favorable results to appear? Millions of students around the country let their online presence stop with facebook. Therefore if someone is searching for their name the top results may include them doing keg stand or photos of a drunk make out session at a local bar, night club or frat party. By publishing favorable content and keeping an eye on your online reputation you can control the image and perception people have of you. This is one of the fundamental aspects of marketing any brand and you are the most important brand you’ll ever have to market.

  2. Gain Credibility & Expand Your Circle of Influence

    3. By actively participating in daily conversations happening in your industry (or future industry) on blogs, forums and professional social networking sites like LinkedIn you have the ability to “Flex-your-expertise” and let your knowledge and experience shine through. This will increase your credibility and everything that comes with it such as:

    - Additional job offers
    - Business opportunities
    - Media exposure

    Once you’ve established credibility for yourself, social media and the internet as a whole can increase your circle of influence very quickly. By continuously producing high quality content and contributing insightfully to meaningful conversations in your space you have the ability to reach and influence thousands of people all across the world.

  3. Build Your Professional Network

    4. It is often said that to be successful or land that great job it’s not what you know it’s who you know. One great thing about social media- especially twitter, blogs and forums is that you have the ability to really get to know, interact, and build relationships with a wide range of professionals, potential employers and thought leaders. This is very powerful because people generally want to do business with people they know and respect. There are many times that I’ve met someone that I’ve interacted with on twitter or in the blogosphere and when we met it was like we had been friends for years. I would encourage all marketing professionals especially students to invest their time in using social media to build their professional network, it will pay off immensely.

  4. Improve Your New Media Marketing IQ

    5. The landscape of marketing has changed tremendously with the growth of the internet and personal computer. In the last five years there has been a large switch from traditional marketing which markets “At a Potential Customer” to new media marketing (or Social Media Marketing) where you build relationships with potential customers as well as deliver valuable content which to them at the precise moment they are seeking it. These new media marketing methods don’t interrupt the consumer like a loud broadcast or radio ad, but help potential consumers solve their problems and position you as a trusted resource making them more likely to do business with you. By building your online brand you will become familiar with new age marketing tactics like Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Optimization, viral marketing and more. This will not only make you more marketable yourself, but give you valuable experience that you can take with you for years to come that will enable you to grow awareness of any product, service, or brand you decide to promote.

Did I miss anything? How beneficial do you think utilizing social media is in growing your career, personal brand or business venture?

]]> http://davidbrim.org/four-reasons-why-social-media-can-improve-your-career-personal-brand/feed/ 20 IZEA’s Site Get’s An Upgrade http://davidbrim.org/izeas-site-gets-an-upgrade/ http://davidbrim.org/izeas-site-gets-an-upgrade/#comments Fri, 03 Apr 2009 23:55:16 +0000 David Brim http://davidbrim.org/?p=691 I had to make a post to give props to our design & marketing team at IZEA for releasing a new version of IZEA.com.   The new interface allows for so much more informative content and looks great!

By visiting IZEA’s site you can view an awesome case study on IZEA’s social media campaign for Kmart and download Forrester Research’s recent report on sponsored conversations.  Another great thing that we’ve added to the new site is that you can see a list of IZEA’s clients including brands like USA Networks, 1-800 Flowers, ColdStone, Dockers, and many more.  You can also view a sample of some of the premium bloggers, all of whom I’ve interacted with over the last few months and our IZEA insiders.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, what are you waiting for?

]]> http://davidbrim.org/izeas-site-gets-an-upgrade/feed/ 7 How Google SearchWiki Will Affect CTR & SEO/SEM http://davidbrim.org/search-wiki-affect-on-ctr-and-seo/ http://davidbrim.org/search-wiki-affect-on-ctr-and-seo/#comments Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:05:27 +0000 David Brim http://davidbrim.org/?p=415 A few days ago Google added a personalized search feature called SearchWiki.  This feature allows you to bump search engine results for a term you searched for up or down, or even remove them completely from the results page.  You can also comment on a particular search result and view other people’s comments. Though this feature is really cool, I wonder how will it affect CTR (Click through rates) and SEO/SEM efforts.

SearchWiki reminds me of StumbleUpon in the sense that it allows the user to see comments about a site and decide after they have heard other opinions if it’s a site worth using.  It’s putting the results back in the hands of the end user, not a company paying thousands per month for back links or SEM.  I feel this will alter CTR rates and deemphasize SEO & SEM to a degree.  In six months to a year when people have become accustomed to using Google’s SearchWiki and more people comment on websites in the Google SERPS, less will be focused on the position of the site in the SERPS and more on what real people are saying about the site.  Google will have more of the value that made Digg, Delicious and StumbleUpon popular.  This will force companies to be even more competitive in providing the best service or product possible, or else an unsatisfied customer could slander them on the SERPS.  SEO will still be important, because a person will still have to find what their looking for, however once they find your website it may be tougher to get them to click, or easier depending on what’s being said about you.

You can visit Google’s blog to find more about Google’s SearchWiki and personalized Search or watch the video below.

Even though these features are only available to you when your logged into your google account, do you think Google’s SearchWiki will have any affect on click through rates and SEO/SEM?

What are your thoughts on these features Google has added?

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