With the recent demise of the Overture keyword tool from Yahoo, many people who weren’t directly involved in the search engine optimization or internet marketing industry full time have been left with few free, effective options for accurate keyword research. While there are multiple keyword research services available, the ones that are worthwhile all require a monthly fee. This usually is only viable for companies that handle search engine optimization and internet marketing for a number of clients because they need to access this type of data so frequently.

As much as I hate to say it, Google has stepped up to the plate by adding quantative search data to their AdWords keyword tool, which previously only displayed relative search data. Check it out!

Not too long ago, blogging was the hottest thing on the Internet. Lately social networking has been the one getting all of the attention, but can you use it to help grow your business? In many cases, you can but not in the same way that you utilize other marketing channels because it just doesn’t work the same way. Simply creating a profile, adding contacts and sending them promotional messages is not going to generate many sales if any. More often than not, you will alienate your contacts. On the other hand, social networking can make an impact when you utilize it to reach specific people on an individual basis through mutual contacts, and when you utilize it as a networking tool. If you use it to develop and nurture relationships rather than simply using it as another form of mass communication, you can earn trust, and subsequently, results.

Ready to get started? For most business owners, LinkedIn is probably going to be the most effective, and there are several others, such as Plaxo, Go Big Network and Ryze.

Building a brand can often mean the difference between the success or failure of a business. Many business owners do a pretty good job when it comes to building their brand through traditional channels because they hire a professional graphic designer or marketing company to develop an effective corporate identity and ensure that all of their printed materials, signage and advertising utilize it in a consistent manner. On the other hand, most business owners are not nearly as effective when it comes to building their brand online because it is a completely different environment than they’re familiar with.

Company name/domain name

If you are still in the process of starting your company, you’ve got a bit of an advantage. Because you’re not tied to an existing company name, you can develop one while you search for a short and memorable domain name. Short and memorable is always better than having keyword phrases in your domain, but if you can have both, by all means do so, but avoid keyword stuffed or hyphenated domains. You should do everything in your power to purchase both the .com and the .net version of the domain you want. While you’re at it, go ahead and register your domain for at least five years, preferably ten years. It will cost a bit more but doing so can help to improve your organic search ranking because the length of time a domain is registered for is one of the many factors in Google’s algorithm.

Organic search optimization

Include your company’s name and tag line in the title tag and header tags on an about us page, which should be a separate page from your home page. Additionally, the file name should be the same as your company name.

  Example: http://www.yourdomain.com/your-company-name.htm

This ensures that your website appears in the organic search results without diluting the effectiveness of the search engine optimization of your home page.

PPC (Pay-Per-Click)

Utilize Google and Yahoo’s PPC (Pay-Per-Click) programs with your company’s name as the keyword phrase. Chances are that your own website will show up in the organic ranking as well, but every impression counts. Plus, you won’t need to invest very much on this because unless you generate tremendous attention few people will actually search for your company name, and most of those that do will click on your organic listing anyway.

Display advertising

Utilize display advertising, such as banners or rich media ads (Flash, Quicktime, etc.) on targeted websites. You can search for appropriate websites through a company like Federated Media, which connects advertisers with publishers. Display advertising gives you the opportunity to put your company name, logo and message in front of a large number of people relatively quickly with a modest investment. The click-through rate of display advertising is generally low, often below one percent, but the key here is the visibility. Each and every impression you get to make with potential consumers adds up.

Blogging

Blog on a regular basis to create dialogue with your visitors and encourage them to return. The more often visitors return to your site, the more impressions you’ll be able to make with them giving you a greater chance to convert them into clients. You can even use free open-source software such as Wordpress, which is extremely powerful and highly customizable. Installing your own blog is far more effective than simply setting up a free account like those offered by Wordpress, BlogSpot or any number of other blog hosting services because it allows you to continually add fresh content to your own website which is something the search engines love!

The short answer is no. You can achieve tremendous website traffic quickly, or you can achieve tremendous website traffic easily, but everything has a cost. When you utilize techniques that may save time, you’ll likely have to invest greater manpower. When you utilize techniques that may save you a lot of work, you’ll likely have to invest greater financial resources. The choice is your, but there is always a price to pay.

• One option that can work very well in some industries, provided that you have the budget and the manpower to manage it is PPC (Pay-Per-Click) marketing. By signing up with a search engine to display contextual ads based on search terms entered by their visitors you can reach a very targeted prospect and you only pay when they actually click on your ad. You also need to be aware that some of your competitors may click on your ads; some just out of curiosity, some out of malice, though the percentage of this happening is usually very low. To prevent this, you can ban certain IPs.
• If you’ve built an opt-in email list, you can utilize it to drive traffic to your website by publishing and sending an email newsletter. This can be an easy way to promote a particular product, service or event, from time to time, however, using it to promote your business in general typically take a moderate amount of work to develop the necessary content on a  regular basis. If you have the manpower, it is definitely worth considering.
• Display advertising (banners, rich media, etc.) can be a powerful tool not only to increase traffic, but also to fortify your branding efforts. If you plan to utilize this medium, be sure to focus on quality over quantity. Advertising on websites that are geared to your ideal prospects will be far more successful than advertising on websites based strictly on the volume of visitors they have.
• Redirected traffic is usually very cheap, and there is a reason for that. It is almost completely worthless. Not only is the traffic extremely untargeted but more often than not, you don’t receive anywhere near the number of visitors that they claim to send you. Avoid this medium like the plague.

Marketing your website is more like a marathon than a sprint. The business owners that develop extremely successful websites do so by working hard at it day in and day out. Over time, this dedication is what allows them to make their way to the front of the pack while others are quitting all around them.

People are turning to the Internet before making a buying decision more often today, and they are doing a lot more than just a quick Google search for a local widget manufacturer. They are looking for recommendations or complaints about you or your company. If you’re utilizing social media, such as LinkedIn or Facebook, not only can you tap into a vast network of potential clients and employees, but you can also receive reviews from your existing clients. Since these reviews are on a website that’s not owned or maintained by you, they are typically viewed as more credible than those on your own website. Keep in mind - social media is just one more tool to network with; It won’t make you rich overnight and the same things are obnoxious in real life are obnoxious online, so avoid being the person that sends all of your contacts a message every day telling them about your latest and greatest offer or they will quickly start to ignore you. Like any other aspect of marketing, take small, incremental steps and offer value, and over time you will reap the rewards of your work.

If you’re regularly posting to your company’s blog (and you should be) then you’re probably amassing a wealth of information for your website visitors. However, with over 80 million blogs on the internet today, readers have a tremendous number of choices, so it’s critical that you provide original information that stands out. After all, if they can find the same information on hundreds of other websites, why should they bother going to yours?

When you sit down to write your next blog post, take a minute to determine if it provides any real value. Is it original? Is it useful? Is it easy for your target market to understand? If not, you need to rethink it.

There are a lot of people using the internet to generate exposure for their businesses these days. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of people using the internet incorrectly in an attempt to generate exposure for their businesses as well. With blogs, email and article directories, it’s easier than ever to blast your information out to millions upon millions of people with little effort and as a result, just about everyone is doing it. The problem is that so few people are doing it well.

You can not simply write a vague article on a common subject that has already been written hundreds of times by hundreds of other people, post it on your blog and/or various article directories or email it to your mailing list, expecting to make any sort of an impact. If you want to make an impact, you’ll need to come up with something new and useful, something that hasn’t already been beaten to death. The keys are originality and usefulness. I’ll give you a perfect example in each case:

Example 1

I recently saw an article in an article directory titled “How do build an effective email list” which went on to say that you need to build an email list, and you should do so by allowing your website visitors to sign up on your website. The article then rambled on for about 150 words or so about how this was so valuable and you need to do it and so on, until ending with a large paragraph extolling the virtues of the author and her brilliant internet marketing experience. So, here we have an author publishing an article telling readers something they already know while not providing any original or useful information, then going on to talk about how wonderful she is.

Example 2

Take a look at Aaron Wall’s SEO Book blog where you will find frequently-updated, original and useful content on search engine optimization. Seth Godin’s blog is another example of someone who is doing it right and of course, our marketing tips blog is a fine example as well, if I may humbly say so.

The people who follow example 1 either they have no value to provide to their prospects and clients, or they have so little that they’re afraid if they give anything away, they won’t have enough left to sell. Unfortunately for them, this keeps them in a scarcity mindset and they never grow. The people who follow example 2 develop a following and build trust over time, resulting in far more revenue than they could ever hope to earn by keeping all of their knowledge to themselves. So, which group are you in?

Adobe Systems and Yahoo! just launched a new service, called Ads for Adobe PDF Powered by Yahoo! This limited beta program enables online publishers to earn advertising revenue through their Adobe PDF-based content.

For example, let’s say that your website hosts downloadable PDF files, such as instructions, diagrams, forms or other documents that your users can access. Publishers accepted into the limited beta program will be able to place contextual Yahoo! Search Marketing ads next to the content of these PDF files and earn money on a cost-per-click basis, just as they do with web-based ads on their own sites.

One of the many factors that can have a significant impact on your search engine optimization campaign is the structure of your URLs. It’s common knowledge in the SEO industry that keyword phrases within a URL can help to increase the effectiveness of the other aspects of your campaign, but this is a delicate balancing act that requires a good deal of polishing. For example, if you run a fishing supply store, www.mikesfishingsupplies.com would be a better choice than www.mikessupplies.com. On the other hand, don’t over do it by stuffing your URL full of keywords because it makes it more difficult for visitors (or potential visitors) to remember. It can also trip spam filters in the search engines algorithms, resulting in lower ranking and less traffic. Like everything else, keywords in your URL are best when used in moderation.

You should also ensure that your database driven applications, such as shopping carts, blogs and content management systems create optimized URLs. By default, many of these database driven applications produce URLs filled with variables as in this example:

www.website.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1

An optimized URL would look like this:

www.wildfiremarketinggroup.com/blog/2007/04/26/8-tips-for-powerful-sales-calls-during-slow-times/

Note the simplicity of the URL and the fact that it contains the page title while not going overboard with keywords.

During the early days of business on the Internet, visitors would arrive on your home page 99 times out of 100. Today, most of your visitors skip your front door completely and go directly to the content that they’re looking for, usually through a search engine or an in-bound link. When they arrive there, do they still have everything they need to take the action you want them to take? They should be able to do anything that they can do on your home page and navigate to any other page in your web site from every single page in your web site. If not, you’ll lose a lot of potential business.