I’ve touched on the subject of how to use PPC for link building a few times before but after Panda, I’ve been forced to think about it even more. While I hate paying for just about anything, I’d be remiss not to understand how important paid advertising is to an online marketing campaign. Whether or not you actually participate in PPC isn’t of concern with this, either…you just need to at the very least be aware of how to use PPC tools and data in order to finetune what you want to do elsewhere. For our purposes, I’ll be explaining how to use PPC for three main areas of link marketing:

1. Keyword data for anchor text

2. Boost traffic when there’s a dip

3. Use with social media promotion to help build links

Keyword Data

(Since Wordstream are kind enough to let me guest post there, I do suggest that you check out their suite of keyword tools.)

Did I mention that I like free? A Wordstream effort, the Free Keyword Tool is quite intuitive and here’s an example of how I’d use their data:

Let’s put in a nice long-tailed keyword here since the database contains over a trillion keywords. For the free tool, you have 10 sets of searches that you can run (then just one per day moving forward), with or without the adult filter on, and you can “nichefy” results. That sounds so German but I’m not going to check the box because I’m stubborn. I’ll keep the adult filter on since your children may be reading this blog and I don’t want any angry emails about how I’ve ruined them forever. Since I can’t seem to grow up, let’s go with a search for “punk rock clothes” as I’ll pretend that I’m cool enough to make and sell such items.

Notice all of the greyed out information, which is available to you on the paid tools, but since we’re talking about free ones right now, let’s just focus on the Relative Frequency. It seems that there are lots of searches for baby punk rock clothes (and naturally I sell those.) What this says to me, as a parent, is that there are other like-minded posers who want to slap a Ramones onesie on their offspring. This will naturally become a sought-after anchor as I’ll make sure my content is well-optimized for this, I’ll make sure there are some great sections of the website that are devoted to this, and I’ll pursue links with this in mind. It also tells me more though; people looking to buy a bib emblazoned with Joe Strummer are possibly people who’d like to purchase a Clash tshirt for themselves, for example. These people are probably on Twitter and Facebook, possibly using Spotify or Grooveshark, and might like to interact with my site on those other platforms too. They might want an email reminder in 1 year that there’s a new 12 month-sized punk hoodie available after they’ve bought one in a newborn size. They might want the chance to follow me on Twitter and get access to sales, and they might want to like me on Facebook and be entered to win $500 worth of free clothes. This isn’t just a good idea for a successful anchor text strategy, it’s a start to a full-blown sales brainstorm.

Getting More Traffic

Everyone wants more traffic but there are times when bad things happen (algorithm change that kicks your butt, server downtime, idiot developer screwing up your robots.txt file, etc.) and you need to keep things rolling. PPC is brilliant for this. If you already run a PPC campaign, you can always just increase what you’re doing, but if you aren’t doing anything currently and a loss of traffic could sink you, you might want to start one, even if it’s quite small. You can’t simply buy your way to the top of course, as there are things like that pesky Quality Score to consider, but just as a new site doesn’t immediately perform brilliantly, a new PPC campaign probably won’t either, so in the interest of seasoning things, you could allocate a bit of your budget and get one running for when you really need it.

Let’s turn to the Google Adwords Keyword Tool and, again, see what’s going on for punk rock clothing, with the idea of figuring out what a small PPC campaign might cost us.

I really like this tool because you can define the language you want, the geolocation, and the devices you will be targeting.

Now, if I am going after a small account to get started, I probably am going to be cheap and spend as little as possible. Thus, I’d sort the list of keywords by Competition to get the low ones, then look at the keywords with loads of searches. There aren’t a lot of great ones but I did find a few worth going after:

gothic style (I’ll take it, as I’m not proud.)

punk rock style

alternative fashion

Their Traffic Estimator is also awesome…let’s just throw in these three keywords to see what sort of budget we’d need:

As you can see, for a little over a dollar a day, I can have a very basic account running for these three phrases. It’s not much but it might be easier to build on this when I need it than it would be to start from scratch. If you’ve ever been upset and tried to set up an Adwords account, you know what I mean.

PPC Meets Social Media

Both of the aforementioned keyword tools could easily be used to gauge popularity of certain terms so that you could slap in a mention of them when you’re tweeting or posting on Facebook. First though, let’s find some people to follow for an example, using our terms we gleaned from the earlier work: For this I love, love, love Followerwonk.

This search gave me 299 Twitter users who have some form of the “alternative fashion” keyphrase in their Twitter bio. You can follow these people on the spot, sort the results, or visit their associated websites. If you’re a paying member you can also download the info but since I’m keeping it cheap, we won’t get into that right now. These are people who view alternative fashion as being important enough to mention it in their bios, so it’s probably safe to say that they’re the people you want to connect with. That’s when the hard part starts of course, as properly engaging with people on social media is not quite as simple as many people think. If you aren’t viewed as an authority, no matter how much you tweet or promote yourself, you probably won’t build many links through social media.

None of these methods/tools should replace actual tools and methods that are strictly designed for link building of course, as many of those are totally irreplaceable. However, I do definitely think that it’s important to learn how to market outside of your specialty, and learning more about how PPC works opens you up to different ways of interpreting data that you can get from paid ad sources AND proper link building tools. And who knows…with the way things work in Google today, you might need to know how to run a great paid ad campaign sooner than you think.

Article source: http://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/using-the-ppc-mindset-for-link-building-0112258

There are over 200 attributes Google looks at in their search algorithm when determining where a website should rank. Many of them are known while others remain mysterious. Additionally, the weight assigned to the attributes in the algorithm and the relationships they have with each other are estimates. Couple that with the fact that the algorithm itself constantly changes and you potentially have a daunting task in auditing competitors’ websites for SEO.

The recommended SEO audit approach is to focus on just a few well vetted attributes. This way, you don’t have to waste your valuable time trying to dissect a competitor’s entire website. The below 12 steps will give you a good assessment of a website’s visibility, on-page optimization, off-page optimization, technical optimization and an overall sense as to the robustness of the website’s SEO campaign or lack thereof.

Keyword Assessment (On-page SEO)

1. The Google Keyword Tool

There are many tools you can use to assess a website’s keyword relevancy. It’s recommended to start off with Google’s own keyword tool. By typing in your competitor’s URL in the tool, Google will return a list of keyword phrases it believes the website is relevant for. This is important data because it’s Google’s impression of the website that’s important. Download the Excel spreadsheet containing all of the keywords.

2. SEOQuake and Keyword Density

Next, download the SEOQuake toolbar for your browser. Once it’s installed navigate to your competitor’s homepage and click the Density link in the tool. The link leads to a breakdown of all density rates for relevant phrases on the page. If SEO has been done on the website it’s likely that the higher density words and phrases are intended to help the page rank for those phrases. While keeping track of the results, continue to explore the entire website or a select number of pages with the tool.

3. Page Titles, Meta Descriptions Meta Keywords

In addition to noting the keyword density of the selected pages, keep track of the page titles, meta descriptions and meta keywords displayed in the Density link. This will shed some additional light on your competitor’s keywords. Pay close attention to those phrases and/or conventions which seem to repeat, suggesting a keyword theme throughout the website.

4. Header Identification

Download the Web Developer plugin for Firefox. After installation you’ll be able to navigate to the select pages of the competitor’s website and outline all of the H1 tags, H2 tags, etc. Make a note as to the phrases in these tags.

5. Blog Tags

If your competitor has a blog take an inventory of the tags used on posts throughout the blog. Chances are pretty good that the tags are phrases they wish to rank for. Also, make note of the posting frequency.

6. Tracking Your Competitors in the SERPs

With the free version of CuteRank you’ll be able to paste in all of the keyword phrases you came up with above and find out exactly where one competitor ranks for each phrase. The paid version will allow you to track more than one competitor. Overtime, you’ll be able to track SERP trends.

Off-page SEO Assessment

7. Inbound Links

This is a little more difficult with the recent death of Yahoo’s Site Explorer. However, it’s still important to get an idea of your competitor’s link popularity. By going to SEOmoz’s Open Site Explorer and typing in your competitor’s URL you’ll be provided with page authority, domain authority, linking root domains and total links. The higher the numbers the better the off-page SEO and the more difficult it will be to overcome. Also, take note of the competitor’s Google Page Rank in the SEOQuake toolbar. The closer to 10 the page is the better the off-page SEO.

8. Social Media

Take note of how many Facebook fans, Twitter followers and LinkedIn followers your competitor has. Although many will hate this, note their Klout score as a general measure of their socialness.

Miscellaneous SEO Items

9. Indexed Pages

With the SEOQuake toolbar you’ll have access to how many pages the competitor has indexed by Google and Bing. The more pages they have indexed the more opportunities they have to rank.

10. Site Maps

Look in the header or footer of your competitor’s website and look for a sitemap link. Also, use the SEOQuake toolbar to determine if your competitor has an XML sitemap. If SEOQuake says there is no XML Sitemap then type in your competitors URL with “sitemap.aspx” at the end. If the page 404s than your competitor is sitemap feed free. Whether your competitor has the above or not make sure you do.

11. Domain Age

Generally, the older a domain name is the more trust Google has for the website. Your competitor’s domain age is available in the SEOQuake toolbar.

12. URL

Are keywords in the URL? Is the URL an exact keyword phrase? If this is the case, outranking your competitors for those specific phrases will be more difficult.

Not all of the above tools are necessary for subscribers of HubSpot and SEOmoz. Much of the reporting capabilities mentioned are built right into these software packages. Also, you’ll probably notice that most of your competitor’s websites will have no sign of SEO. That’s ok because it just makes your job that much easier. Once the audit is complete it’s important to take the data retrieved and build a plan to outdo your competitors in order to surpass them in the SERPs. For more help with SEO download our free SEO Cheat Sheet.

Image: joebeone

Article source: http://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/12-steps-to-audit-your-competitors-seo-0112503

Elizabeth Lewis Pardoe (US) Patience.  Patience:  I lack it, and I need it – right now!  ;)

Ana Dinescu (Germany) Continuity. For me, the word of the last months and the keyword for the next period is: continuity. I want to continue the projects I started and to continue to dedicate a precious amount of time for learning what I think is important for my personal development. I also want to continue writing and reading with the same dedication.

Article source: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/whats-your-word-2012

There’s a smartphone application for tracking your calorie intake and another for your sleep cycles. One lets you watch the New Year’s ball drop in Times Square and another gets you an up-close-and-personal look at the universe wherever you point your iPhone.

And now there’s an app that will help you find your favorite drink specials at 100 different Happy Hours—right here in Santa Cruz.

Before you cry Yelp (or even Groupon), take a look at this mobile app developed by a longtime Santa Cruz resident and launched just for us locals. It’s called AdXplore, and you just might hear more about it and about the man behind it—Steve Russ— in 2012.

While websites, the Yellow Pages and newspapers offer listings for local businesses, AdXplore delivers advertising and specials for local businesses—potentially 14,000 local businesses in Santa Cruz County.   

Russ calls it a “caused-base business,” and he and Valerie Lasciak, who works with him, were inspired by Think Local First, a countywide organization that promotes the local business community.  

A sailboat builder and former Apple systems and software developer, Russ has worked on the AdXplore application for the past year and a half. He and his team developed the technology and built the Web interface and application. And now they’re setting out to build their sales force and market their product.

So here’s how it works if you’re a user. You download the free app and do a keyword search, say for coffee, just as you would with Google. Up pops a list of advertising—for shops like Coffeetopia and the Kind Grind, all locally owned and ordered on the app according to what’s closest to wherever you are when you’re looking at your phone.

Of course, locally owned means no Starbucks and no Peet’s on your search for coffee. That’s because AdXplore’s approach, Russ says, is to level the playing field, and the giant chains aren’t allowed.

“This is a searchable advertising model, a ‘pull model that makes it cost-effective for locally owned business challenged to compete with big chains,” he says. “Consumers need to find what’s around them, including the mom-and-pop shops. And we’re never going to allow businesses to ‘pay for placement.’”

Businesses are charged a one-time setup fee of $100, of which a percentage is paid to AdXplore’s independent sales reps. There’s a $50 charge to create each ad to promote specials, sales, discounts and coupons, without an extra charge to change the ads.  

Russ says he hopes to attract UC Santa Cruz students and others to be sales reps for all the thousands of businesses in the county. All they need is a smartphone to sign up businesses, fill in forms and set up the mobile advertising.

Russ can be reached at sruss@adxplore.us or 831-239-8078.

Article source: http://santacruz.patch.com/articles/local-app-maker-wants-to-revolutionize-advertising

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Saturday, December 31, 2011

David Huestis, GoLocalProv Astronomy Contributor

What does the sky hold for Rhode Island in 2012?

It seems like my meteor reports for 2011 read more like meteorological summaries. The weather was absolutely horrible. Not only did it spoil most of the shooting star displays that were not already affected by interfering moonlight, but extensive and prolonged cloud cover prevented amateur stargazers from telescopic viewing throughout the year as well. In fact, as of December 8, Ladd Observatory was only clear 14 Tuesdays out of a possible 49 up to that date, and only two of the closures were non-weather related! We can only hope that in 2012 Mother Nature will cooperate and provide more observing opportunities.

Before I highlight the observing prospects for the more productive 2012 meteor showers, let’s see what other astronomical events are scheduled for the new year.

Eclipses

While there are four eclipses in 2012, two solar and two lunar, we will not see any of them here in Southern New England. Mars will be well placed for observing at a reasonable hour once spring arrives. While Mars will be at its closest approach to the Earth on March 5, it will still be about 63 million miles from us. Though the image through a telescope will not be as large as it has been during past close encounters, it will still reveal some detail through the larger scopes available at the local observatories.

Venus

In addition, we will be treated to another transit of Venus across the disk of the Sun on June 5. Venus transits occur in pairs, eight years apart. You may recall we experienced the first one of this pair back on June 8, 2004. Locally this event begins at approximately 6:04 p.m. EDT in the western sky with the Sun about 22 degrees above the horizon. Venus will pass between the Earth and the Sun, allowing us to observe, with proper filters, the disk of Venus as it transits the solar disk. The Sun will set at approximately 8:07 p.m. EDT with the transit in progress.

You’ll need a good horizon if you want to follow the transit through sunset. Let’s hope we have clear skies, since the next transit of Venus doesn’t happen again until December 11, 2117!

I will be writing an observing guide for the transit of Venus prior to the event, but if you wish to observe it safely I recommend you purchase solar eclipse glasses early, as the transit will be visible to millions of folks across the United States. They are available from a number of vendors through the internet. Whatever you do, caution will be the keyword of the day. You will not wish to ruin your eyesight by looking at the event unfiltered, for there will be many more astronomical events for you to enjoy in the coming years.

During 2011, I probably observed fewer meteors than I have for quite some time. I love sitting out there under a dark clear sky scanning for a few shooting stars to blaze across the heavens. Unfortunately in 2011 many things conspired to keep me indoors.

Meteor showers

However, in looking ahead to the coming year, the more productive meteor showers have the most favorable observing conditions, regarding Moon interference, than in many recent years. Now if only the weather will cooperate.

We start off the new year with the Quadrantids, which will peak on the morning of January 4. In a dark sky observers can potentially see a sharp peak over a two-hour span of up to 100 meteors per hour. That peak this year occurs at about 2:00 a.m. A waxing gibbous Moon will brighten the sky prior to its setting around 3:00 a.m. Fortunately the radiant point (the area of sky from where the meteors appear to originate) is not far from the end star (Alkaid) of the Big Dipper’s handle. 

From midnight till dawn this area of sky will rise higher and higher above the north-east horizon. This scenario places the radiant point on the opposite side of the sky from where the Moon will be, so moonlight should not hamper observing this shooting star display. The Quadrantids are often blue and frequently blaze more than halfway across the sky at 25.5 miles per second. 

Select an observing location as far from interfering lights as possible. In addition, please dress warmly if you plan on spending more than a just a few minutes outdoors viewing the Quadrantids. And observe with a friend so you don’t fall asleep if the meteor activity has a lull period. Even around Southern New England, mild frostbite can affect exposed skin if you’re not careful. 

And while there are some folks who mistakenly believe one needs a telescope to observe a meteor shower, all you really need are your eyes to enjoy this beautiful shooting star display.  

As I have already mentioned, the remaining 2012 meteor showers have the best prospects I have seen for quite a long time. The brightest Moon phases will fortunately not interfere with the meteor showers that most of us enjoy. As long as the weather cooperates, 2012 could find us spending more time out under the stars waiting for a shower of comet dust to disintegrate in the sky above us. 

Use this 2012 meteor shower prospects chart and use it to plan your observing schedule for the coming year. I will highlight the specifics of each shower in my monthly columns as the peak dates approach.

In conclusion, if you want to get close-up views of the Moon, planets and other celestial objects, please visit the facilities at Seagrave Memorial Observatory (http://www.theskyscrapers.org) in North Scituate, Ladd Observatory (http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Physics/Ladd/) in Providence, or Frosty Drew Observatory (http://www.frostydrew.org/) in Charlestown. While it can be quite cold observing in these unheated domes, these facilities do remain open year-round provided snow or ice does not force closures. Please check their respective websites for any cancellation notices before venturing out for a visit. Currently the winter hours for Seagrave and Ladd are 7-9 p.m., while Frosty Drew begins at 6:00 p.m. with no set end time.

Meteor Shower Prospects for 2012

Let’s hope that the Quadrantids set the benchmark for the entire year by showering a cloud-free sky with a wondrous display of shooting stars.

Happy New Year!

For more coverage of the stars and astronomical happenings, tune into GoLocalTV fresh every day at 4pm and on demand 24/7, here.

Related Articles

• Meteor Shower Tonight
• December Meteors Are Coming
• NEW: Perseid Meteor Shower Starts Tonight
• Looking For the Real Christmas Star in the Sky

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Article source: http://www.golocalprov.com/lifestyle/meteor-showers-more-predictions-for-2012/