Search Evangelist | Blog | Searchology

Search Evangelist

Read the latest blog from Searchology.

  • Social Media Optimization – Is it really worth it?

    There is so much talk, blogs and articles flying around about social media optimization and social media. According to some of my sources, social media optimizaiton has been around for about two years or so. I first read about social media optimization from Rohit Bhargava's blog on the subject of SMO. The online marketing industry moves so fast it can become a full time job just to keep up with it all. Social media added a whole new dynamic to an already complicated and challenging online environment.

    I believe that social media is way overblown and too much is being made out of a small splash in the marketing ocean. Let me be clear; there are huge benefits to using social media channels in the right way. If your business model requires new leads on a weekly, daily or monthly basis...don't waste your time, money and energy diving into the social media clown car. Social media shoul...
    Read More
  • How To Be A Good Client

    I've read many articles about how to pick a good search marketing agency or when to dump your search marketing agency...but I have not read much of anything about a client's responsibilities as they pertain to internet marketing. Sure, there are clients who 'know enough to be dangerous' and can sabatoge [unintentionally] online strategies and online marketing efforts. I've personally heard of clients getting dumped because of various reasons but mostly it was due to lack of payments or "knowing better" than the online marketing person or firm.

    As this is not a perfect world these things will happen. Conflicts may arise and personalities may clash a bit here and there. For the most part, if both sides of the bench agree on goals, key preformance indicators, expectations, budgets, etc., everything should turn out for the best. It is possible for all parties to come out on the other side with warm fuzzy feelings and sign up for another contract term.

    While the above descrip...
    Read More
  • Should You Get Paid Commission Only?

    Recently, one of the marketing greats, Seth Godin wrote a blog post called "Everyone gets paid on commission" in which he suggests that you should get paid for what your produce. In addition, with web 3.0's ability to track damn near about everything all of us are working on commission. And for those that don't produce...find the door.

    Normally, I stand behind most of what Mr. Godin says and I admire the hell out of him. I love reading his fast hitting and concice writing. No kidding, I really dig this guy. However, not on his point; everyone gets paid on commission. Although it may be a step or two away from pretzle logic...most of us in the working world are treated as if we work on commission only. For those of us who have had to work commission only jobs they are brutal and can be very detrimental to a persons well being.

    If it's knocking on doors or po...
    Read More
  • Pay Per Click Works – Patience Is A Must

    Does pay per click work for business?

    Does pay per click work? The short answer is, yes. Does pay per click work overnight? No. Pay per click marketing takes time to generate information [data] in order to figure out what has been working and then make adjustments and optimizations in future application. I have experienced much frustration with clients who want to stop all paid search marketing within days or weeks of initial campaign launch because it is not producing as fast as they may have expected. Pay per click marketing on Google, Yahoo, and MSN\Bing requires the search marketer to preform keyword building, ad copy building, account set up, tracking, bid management and more. Does it make sense to give such an undertaking only a few days or weeks to generated perfect results? No, it does not. In fact, it is quite normal, for an adjustment period of a month to three months before key performance indicators (KPIs) begin to produce positive results [positve or...
    Read More
  • Hey Google, There Is A Fly In My Soup!

    In a recent article by Kevin Lee, "When Did Google Become The Bad Guy" has inspired me to point out a few items which make me wonder if Google's motto is still "Do no evil." Sure just like any huge coporate organization, critics will abide and conspiracy theories will flow. However, there are some issues which make me really wonder how much good the biggest search engine in the United States can be. Google's Customer Service? Where in the hell is it? I have had may oppportunites to work with various types of Google personal on the pay per click side of the house and on the affiliate side of the house. I can certainly attest that the Google Affiliate Team [at least the ones I have worked with] really go the extra mile to build relationships and help where they can. For that they get a big A +. On the pay per click services...not so much. I have been in a few situations [especially when I started out in searchology] w...
    Read More
  • Be A Good Marketing Butcher and Improve your PPC advertising

    10 Steps to increase your ROI with PPC

    William Gladstone said “a leader must be a good butcher…”and this is something that applies to a lot of things; one of which is your pay per click marketing and online media. You may feel compelled to dip into every new marketing idea that is presented to you by your staff or marketing agency. The problem arises whenyou have made these decisions and find that you have a massive amount of meat on your cutting board and no one is getting fed. Too many times I have come onto a project only to find it bleeding money and not producing enough clicks, leads, sales, etc. By concentrating piece by piece on which online marketing methods work FIRST before trying to take on another channel you become a good apprentice butcher. For example,a small business with 50 employees does not need to spend money on banner advertising, pay per click marketing, social media marketing, email marketing,mobile media and forms of traditional media in or...
    Read More
  • To Thine Own Self Be True in SEO

    In a recent SEO article by Mark Jackson he discussed the importance of learning the baselines for search engine optimization. I took it to mean be true to yourself by learning before buying SEO services. Search engine optimization is an important aspect to any solid online marketing effort and your basic understanding of how and why SEO is key to your success. I think most business owners know what SEO is but may have a very hard time explaining it.

    Search engine optimization is gaining higher rank in the search engines by optimizing your website for keywords. As Mark stated in his article, SEO is not about getting to the top page or number one position for keywords you want to rank well for. SEO is about driving higher quality traffic to your site which converts into sales or new customers. I believe there is a major shift in the way professionals envision SEO. The pendulum has swung from the need for top ten positions t...
    Read More
  • SEO Link Building – The new Pet Rock

    Remember the Pet Rock...its back

    I’ve been working as an online marketing professional for 8 years and have seen the web change many times over. For those of us deeply involved in providing excellent service to clients in the search engine optimization disciplines and search marketing arenas, online marketing is a constantly moving target. Over the past few years (around 2 to be exact) I’ve noticed search engine optimization has become much less about quality content and more of a popularity contest. I believe most of us in the search engine optimization line of work would agree link building is one of the most difficult things to do. To some extent, it is almost a necessary evil needed to achieve higher search engine ranking and Google PageRank. I have read tomes of material on link building and its impact on website ranking and I’ve come to the realization that something is just not right with that. Back in the early days, content was king, the better and more r...
    Read More
  • SEO is only part of a digital strategy

    I was recently asked by a client how to increase web sales.  This in and of itself is not a strange question for a client to ask. It is after all one of the most fundamental questions and concerns for any e-commerce business.  However, I was still shocked by the question as it was born out of a lack of understanding of digital strategy. 

    When I started working with this client I was focusing primarily on SEO.  I made sure that they were submitted to the free directory services, I worked on their keywords, I had fresh and unique content created for their site, validated their code,  got their products listed on price comparison sites, posted answers to relevant forums and blogs linking back to their site.  In short I did whatever I could for free or little cost to help them with SEO.  And it worked, their traffic increased by over 100% their sales incr...

    Read More
  • Brian “Bipper” Roberts Joins Searchology Blog

    It is with great pleasure Searchology 101 welcomes Brian "Bipper" Roberts as our new contributor to our blog. Bipper has several years of search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, social media, and data analysis experience. In addition, his insight, commentary, and thought provoking ideas will help change your way of thinking about the Internet and marketing strategies.

    Bipper brings more than commentary and mad Internet marketing skills; he is an experienced singe, mathematician [discrete math is his muse], and a trusted Searchology TM partner.  Bipper has already added valuable content, The Danger of Aggregate Data . Welcome Bip and we look forward to your participation! ...
    Read More

Get Free Quote

    Call us

    1.312.316.7202