Tropik Media

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Sat, 02 Mar 2013 22:43:33 -0500

Apple Now Owns the Beatles’ Apple Corps Logo

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:46:42 -0400

Apple Now Owns the Beatles’ Apple Corps Logo

8 Tips to Optimize for Mobile Searchers Across Multiple Screens & Devices

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 09:56:46 -0400

8 Tips to Optimize for Mobile Searchers Across Multiple Screens & Devices

Top 50 Websites: Google No. 1, Instagram Makes Debut

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 10:00:39 -0400

Top 50 Websites: Google No. 1, Instagram Makes Debut

How to Take Advantage of Google AdWords’ Improved Geotargeting

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 09:57:15 -0400

How to Take Advantage of Google AdWords’ Improved Geotargeting

B-School Applicants Decline for Four Years

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:55:33 -0400

B-School Applicants Decline for Four Years

Bare Minimum SEO: 3 Things You Must Do

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:49:04 -0400

If you could do only three things for SEO, what would they be? This is a question encountered by many smaller businesses, and even somewhat larger companies, either due to not having enough people (time) and/or dollars available to invest in a big way.

If this is a scenario you’re facing, what follows are three minimal SEO tasks you must do.

Step 1: Check Your Indexing Status

The first step is to make sure that your site is getting found! The best way to do this is to check your indexing status in Google Webmaster Tools and see how many of your pages are indexed by Google. Once you’re logged in, click on “Health” and then “Index status” in the menu on the left.

I like to go a little further and click the “Advanced” button as well, which brings me to a screen like this:

The first thing to look at is the number of indexed pages, in this case, 887. How many did you expect? Obviously, if you think you have 1,000+ pages that you want Google to index and Google shows 10 indexed pages, you have a problem. In the case of this particular site, the problem looks to be the opposite of that - 887 pages indexed and 5,751 “Not Selected”?

This could be an indication of a lot of pages that are duplicates, near duplicates, pages with the noindex tag on them, or URLs that Google found that redirect to another page. Here is whatGoogle says about this status:

Not Selected: URLs from your site that redirect to other pages or URLs whose contents are substantially similar to other pages.

To keep this simple, the bottom line here is to get a quick indication whether you have a problem. Too few pages being indexed? You have a problem. Too many, or too many that are “Not Selected”, that could be a problem too.

If you find you have a problem, what is the next step?

Unfortunately, that isn’t an easy one to take on by yourself, due to your time constraints. That means the next step is to get some help and to get your indexing problem diagnosed and fixed.

(Footnote to this diagnosis step: Some blog software packages, such as WordPress, create lots of category type pages, and these could explain why you have a lot of pages that were Not Selected, but you still need to determine how you want to address that, and expert advice on that topic is still something you should get).

(Footnote 2: Definitely check the indexing status in Google Webmaster Tools instead of using the “site:” query operator in a Google search, because the Webmaster Tools number is the “real number” and what you get from a site:query is not.)

Step 2: Focus Site on Target Keywords

The next step is to figure out whether you are effectively competing for keywords that users might enter into a search engine, which would indicate that they are a prospect for you.

If one of the products you offer is left-handed golf clubs as a product, for example, is there a page on your site focused on left-handed golf clubs? If this is one of your products, at a minimum, you need a page dedicated to left-handed golf clubs where the search phrase “left handed golf clubs” is featured in the title of the web page (this is the title tag in the head section of your web page source code), and in the content on the page.

Implement such pages for each major product/service you offer. Pay a lot of attention to your title tags, and they can help you understand how to focus your pages. I have two golden rules for title tags.

Here is the first rule:

The title tag should focus on the unique aspects of the page.

Here is the second rule:

Very important too! Do the best you can to never duplicate a title tag on your site. If it isn’t possible to come up with a different title tag for a particular page, then why does it exist? This is great question to ask yourself.

What keywords should you focus on? There is a good article on keyword research here that goes into that in a little more detail.

The two main tools you should use are the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, and the keyword research tool you find inside Bing Webmaster Tools. The Bing tool is nice because it providesactual numbers for the keyword search volume on Bing (the AdWords tool doesn’t reflect actual numbers from Google, but are instead some sort of estimate).

Step 3: Go Get Links

The key realization here is that getting your indexing issues resolved and the keywords addressed is only the start of the SEO process. You need to spend some time on that because if you don’t you can’t even compete for ranking on a keyword. You won’t get traffic for “left handed golf clubs” if the search engines can’t find your site (Step 1), or if you don’t have a page dedicated to the topic of left-handed golf clubs.

That’s great to resolve those issues, but now that you have solved these issues, you are only one of 388,000 people trying to get traffic for that phrase:

Links remain the main signal search engines use to determine which of those 388,000 sites shows up on the first page of results. Bearing in mind that this column is about people who don’t have the time or budget for SEO, my suggestion is that you integrate the knowledge that you need links into your day to day business thinking.

Better still, pursue marketing activities you would value even without search engines, but that will also get you some links.

Can you give an interview to a media site (traditional media or a blog)?
Can you write an article and place it as a guest post on an authoritative site?
If you’re a local business, can you get the local chamber of commerce to link to you?

You have to avoid the easy way out, and don’t buy links, or purchase one of those services that offers links by the hundreds (these won’t help you anyway, and may get you penalized by Google), and the like.

For purposes of this exercise, make sure that any link you obtain also offers brand building value. If you find yourself arguing that a link might bring brand building value, then it doesn’t. You shouldn’t need to defend the link, you should know that it provides brand value without having to justify it.

What about social you ask? Social media isn’t yet a major driver of SEO signals. There are some specific cases where it does.

For example, when someone follows your brand page on Google+, this can cause your pages to rank higher in the search results for that person, and that person only. It doesn’t cause your page to rank higher for people who haven’t followed you.

Bing has taken a different tack, and social data can cause you to show up in their social sidebar, but doesn’t appear to directly impact the traditional web search results.

Summary

If you don’t have time and budget, you’re in a bit of a tough spot, but these three steps should at least let you get your toes in the SEO waters.

Anybody have other suggestions for what would be on your must-do three step list? Or a suggestion of an additional item that someone can execute in 15 minutes or less? Let me know in the comments below.

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SEM Competitive Analysis – The Power of Understanding Your Competition in Paid Search

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 09:55:52 -0400

SEM Competitive Analysis – The Power of Understanding Your Competition in Paid Search

6 Apps That Let You Text for Free

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 09:54:45 -0400

With mobile carriers charging anywhere from $20 to $30 a month for unlimited plans, smartphone users with a love of texting might feel like coughing up this kind of cash is their only option. In reality, there are several great apps available that allow users to text for free.

Many of these apps also offer additional perks like group chat and video. Here are several options that will save you money and offer you more than just your basic text.

Continue…

iPhone 5 Will Support 4G LTE Wireless Network [REPORT]

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 09:56:50 -0400

iPhone 5 Will Support 4G LTE Wireless Network [REPORT]

With Frommer's, Google Taps Gurus

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 15:32:38 -0400

With Frommer's, Google Taps Gurus

Real-time bidding's effect on analytics

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 03:40:23 -0400

Barring a massive fiscal collapse, somewhere between 2 and 3 billion transactions will be made on the New York Stock Exchange tomorrow. The people trading and bidding on these stocks, bonds, and other derivative products will fail or succeed, in large part, because of the information they have that drives their trading. Information, as they say, is power. Yet, when applied to the exchange known as online advertising, information is gathered in hindsight. Now that the real-time bidding marketplace is expanding in triple digits, which lack of proactive intelligence must be filled.

Connect with the industry. Want to meet the companies that are driving the future of digital marketing? Attend the iMedia Breakthrough Summit, Oct. 14-17. Request your invitation today.

RTB has been gaining traction over the past year. While at first it was accused by its critics as too much automation in a business where professionals still value the human touch, there were just as many excited about the prospect of RTB as there were those wary of it. Now it is reality: It’s here to stay. During the first quarter of 2012, the supply of RTB impressions expanded 120 percent over the same quarter in 2011, according to results from a new quarterly tracking report being published by independent agency trading desk Accordant Media. The report estimates that the supply of RTB impressions soared 213 percent during 2011 versus 2010. This expansion is being driven by blue-chip advertisers and agencies, which, in turn, is attracting premium publishers to participate in the marketplace.

All of this is great news if the marketplace is approached proactively and predictively. That’s where the human touch will stay in this market. We need to accept, however, that the rapid rise of RTB has moved the intent of online advertising analytics and metrics. A year ago, the sharpest companies had the best rearview-mirror results from clicks, to unique users, and even offline brand lift. That’s still useful information, but it’s not enough. Now leading-edge companies need to define the outcomes they want and predict the best way to achieve them.

Let’s break down the “why” for buy-side RTB analytics. Before cookie targeting, a media planner would buy Vibe, SI, ESPN, etc., as a proxy for their audience; let’s say the target demo was “sports enthusiast.” Since then the industry has completely flipped on its head. The media planner no longer cares about the content. He just wants to find the cookie associated with “sports enthusiasts.” He’s not thinking about brand safety concerns, and that’s his first mistake. His second mistake is not realizing that all sports brands are targeting the same “sports enthusiast” cookies. As it turns out, all auto companies are targeting the same “in-market auto” cookies, all credit card companies are targeting the same cookies, and so on and so forth. This process won’t scale, and these impressions are massively overvalued. The targeting capabilities have become so acute, and the pricing for online media is still not efficient by any measure. It is not the future of internet advertising.

By using user cookie targeting exclusively, buyers are accessing only about 20 percent of all available inventory. Keep aiming campaigns at the same 20 percent of cookie-based inventory, and you enter diminishing returns rather than efficient ROI. Again back to the analogy of a stock market exchange. If only 20 percent of the stocks had historical and projected financials, what would happen? Stock pickers would purchase those stocks until some market equilibrium, at which point ROI would be near impossible to achieve. That’s what happens if you’re only cookie targeting, and it gets even tougher and cookied inventory smaller when you add in regulation.

The problem is that there is a measure of success on Wall Street: cash returned. Clicks aren’t the standard in performance nor should they be. There is an industry-wide shift in how advertisers and agencies are measuring success. Those on the front lines of the 3MS initiative (Making Measurement Make Sense) are proposing that clicks and page views no longer make sense — or define success — for brands if their ads are never in view. Although standards are not yet set in stone, 3MS defines an impression as viewable if at least 50 percent of the ad is in view for at least one second. As new standards like viewable impressions are adopted, advertisers need new types of data to open up new and valuable targeting opportunities.

Originally posted here

A Startup You've Never Heard Of Just Beat Google On One Key Number

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 21:59:30 -0400

A Startup You've Never Heard Of Just Beat Google On One Key Number

Email Marketing for Rebels: DJ Waldow and Jason Falls on Marketing Smarts [Podcast]

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:39:29 -0400

Email Marketing for Rebels: DJ Waldow and Jason Falls on Marketing Smarts [Podcast]

Millionaire Snatches Up An Entire County's Worth Of Foreclosed Homes For $4.8 Million

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 15:56:23 -0400

Millionaire Snatches Up An Entire County's Worth Of Foreclosed Homes For $4.8 Million

Google Maps Now Features Real-Time Traffic Info For 130 Additional U.S. Cities

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 11:54:30 -0400

Google Maps Now Features Real-Time Traffic Info For 130 Additional U.S. Cities

Tesco trials 'virtual fridges' at Gatwick Airport

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 07:54:48 -0400

Tesco trials 'virtual fridges' at Gatwick Airport

The FBI Finally Abandons Paper, Goes All-Digital

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 03:57:01 -0400

The FBI Finally Abandons Paper, Goes All-Digital

searchengineland: Pew Catalogs Mobile Phone Frustrations: Spam,...

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 11:56:24 -0400

searchengineland:

Pew Catalogs Mobile Phone Frustrations: Spam, Telemarketing, Slow Download Speeds

In an April survey of just under 2,000 US adults the Pew Internet & American Life Project asked about problems and frustrations with mobile phone service and experiences. The problems explored in the survey included dropped calls, telemarketing, SMS spam and slow downloads.

thisistheverge: Visit the very first web page from more than 20...

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 11:40:15 -0400

thisistheverge:

Visit the very first web page from more than 20 years ago

That turned out ok:

“The WorldWideWeb (W3) is a wide-area hypermedia information retrieval initiative aiming to give universal access to a large universe of documents.”