I saw this question on the Ubertor Blog and thought I would take a few minutes and answer it here. The question was - “Does Google look favourably upon links from my facebook profile to my website?” The majority of these links are not indexed so they have no impact at all. The links that may matter more are the links from your Fan Pages.
Links from Facebook to My Website
Published November 18, 2008 Learn About SEO , Learn About Social Media , Video Blog 0 CommentsTags: reachd, facebook
Google Video Chat Demonstration
Published November 14, 2008 General Internet Marketing , Video Blog 2 CommentsTags: "gmail video chat" reachd, gafyd, gmail
At Reachd we use Google Apps for Your Domain for our email, documents sharing and to create a wiki for our company. We are also a virtual company, working from home, coffee shops, airport lounges, any where there is wireless internet. So we were excited to try out Google’s New Video Chat for Gmail. In the video above, I’m talking with Steve Jagger. Gmail and Google Apps provides a great way to be productive and stay connect with your team.
One real estate agent in Sooke, Tim Ayres, recently gave a presentation on how he uses Gmail to be more productive. Contact Tim and maybe you can get some of his pointers on how he uses Gmail. It is a great tool and free!
Thanks Google for the new Feature.
Adwords Q & A from our Adwords Training
Published November 12, 2008 Learn About Google Adwords 0 CommentsTags: adwords training, reachd
Last week we hosted our monthly 3 hour Adwords training. At the start of the class I asked everyone to share their Adwords, questions and frustrations. Below are some of the questions that came up along with answers.
Question: “How can I get my ad to show on other websites?”
Answer: This is what is called the “Content Network” By default when you setup a new campaign the content network is enabled. If you want to focus on the content network only, you would setup a “Placement Targeted Campaign” My recommendation is to separate the content network and the search network. Have one campaign focused on the search network (google.com and other search partners) and another campaign for the content network.
Question: “I’ve got a ton of competitors, what should I do?”
Answer: Work harder and smarter than your competition! Obviously is a broad and difficult question. Adwords competition can be difficult because more competitors will drive up the price. Here is what I would recommend. Pay careful attention to your competitor’s ads. You should not be saying the same thing in your ad or making the same offer. Same something unique and focus on your points of difference. Two keyword recommendations when it comes to a more competitive market. Pay careful attention to negative keywords. Negative keywords can eliminate some of the useless click and also improve your click through rate. Secondly, consider some keyword modifiers such as “buy” or “purchase” Add these or other modifiers to your keywords to capture some of the traffic that your competitors may not be targeting.
What are your main Adwords questions or frustrations? Drop a comment below if you have a question or join us next week for the Adwords Bootcamp.
Committed to your Success.
Rodney Bartlett - Lead Instructor
Reachd.com
Coffee Shop Consultation on Novemeber 14th
Published November 7, 2008 General Internet Marketing 0 CommentsTags: reachd, web marketing
Friday November 14th I will be camping out at a coffee shop called the Raging Bean in Yaletown.
If you have lingering Adwords, SEO, Facebook, or Twitter questions, then book sometime to stop by and see me. You can schedule your time by filling out the form on our website .
No question is off limits and the time will be totally devoted to you, your business and your online strategy.
Currently the day is wide open. I’ve only got one slot booked, so select your time from the list below and secure your spot here.
November 14th One on One Website Consultation in Downtown Vancouver.
- 9:00 am - 10:00 am - OPEN
- 10:00 am - 11:00 am - OPEN
- 11:00 am - 12:00 pm - OPEN
- 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm - OPEN
- 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm - TAKEN
- 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm - OPEN
- 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm - OPEN
- 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm - OPEN
Committed to Your Success,
Rodney Bartlett - Lead Instructor
http://www.reachd.com
Eye Tracking On Search Engine Results Page
Published November 7, 2008 General Internet Marketing 1 CommentTags: eye tracking, seo training vancouver
Above is a video that I grabbed from YouTube. I actually ran across the video as I was reading this post from Google blog. In the Google post one googler was talking about how they do experiments such as eye tracking and field studies to better understand how visitors interact with their search engine. The video is only 42 seconds and moves very fast.
3 Things that I took away from the video and post.
- We make decisions online almost subconsciously. Notice how fast the person moves and clicks around. Very little deliberate thought is given to what to click on. Another reason to pay careful attention to your title tag and meta description
- In this 42 second video there was no scrolling that took place. Only the top five results matter.
- Your website is never completed. You can always be perfecting it and improving it’s performance. If Google is continually trying to improve their page, then we can all certainly do the same.
Are you testing and tweaking? What element of your site are you currently trying to improve?
ThinkTom.com and Rodney from Reachd.com
Published November 4, 2008 Learn About Online Video , Learn About Social Media , Video Blog 0 CommentsTags: video, Tom Everitt
Tom Everitt of ThinkTom.com invited me to be on his daily video show online. You can watch the video above this post. We talked a bit about Ubertor, Twitter and Linkedin. If you are using linkedin you might have noticed that Linkedin just recently added applications to their site. LinkedIn is an absolute must if you are a B 2 B business. Take some time and setup your LinkedIn profile. You can link with me here
Thanks Tom for having me on the show! I really enjoyed. One tip from my time with Tom. Okay maybe 2 tips
1. Have fun. - Tom is a great example. He has a blast promoting and shooting his videos. No they aren’t perfect (we had one out take today) but he is having a great time. If you are having fun, people will enjoy watching you and will in turn be more likely to share your stuff with others.
2. Secondly - Don’t be afraid to get started. Tom has shot 40 or 50 videos and already he’s had a news story on Broadcast TV here in Vancouver. Why? Because he had an idea, he had some ambition and he took some action on his idea.
What will you do today to make your business better?
Steve Jagger at The Vancouver Board of Trade
Published October 31, 2008 Learn About Social Media , Video Blog 0 CommentsTags: reachd, stephen jagger, Vancouver Board of Trade
Tough Talk for Tender Causes was the topic at the recent Board of Trade Event in Vancouver. The evening included question and answer and 3 brief presentations on non-profits use of social media to get the word out and to connect with donors. You can watch the Video of Steve’s 8 minute presentation below.
Upcoming Changes to Quality Score in Google Adwords
Published October 31, 2008 Learn About Google Adwords 0 CommentsTags: adwords, CTR, ppc, quality score
How many of you are advertising with Google Adwords?
If you are using adwords, you will want to keep your eye on some upcoming changes that Adwords is making to the way it calculates quality score.
Just in case you have forgotten, quality score is Adword’s special recipe which they use to score your ad. It is a part of the factor that determines where your ad ranks on Google.com and the Search network. Here is the formula that Google shares regarding ad ranking. Quality Score x CPC bid = Ad Ranking.
How will the quality score change?
Currently click through rate is a very important part of quality score. Google rewards you for having a higher click through rate. Higher click through rate (CTR) leads to better quality score, which leads to better ad ranking which in turn leads to… a higher click through rate. It is sort of crazy cycle. Now with the changes coming the Adwords team as tweaked the algorithm so that ads will compete more fairly on Google.
The second change relates to ads showing above the search results in a little yellow box, such as the one below.
Google has a quality level that must be met before ads show in the yellow box at the top of the search results. If the #1 ad for a keyword search does not meet the quality criteria then there may be no ad shown in the magical yellow box. With the upcoming changes an ad that meets the quality criteria but has a lower Ad rank could jump past the ad in position #1 and show in the yellow box. This is a huge change.
What does this mean for you if you are advertising on Adwords?
1. Continue to keep your keywords focused and tight. Don’t have an adgroup that is flooded with a huge number of varying keywords. This is one of the biggest mistakes that people make with Adwords.
2. Build a landing page that is relevant to your ad text and and keywords
3. Use different keyword matching types to better target specific customers.
4. Focus on Quality - Google will reward you for targeting specific keywords with specific ads that go to specific landing pages. The shot gun approach to Google Adwords will not work!
If you’d like to learn more about Adwords, Check out our Upcoming Adwords Training or if you have questions.. Drop a comment below.
When Did Google Last Come Visit?
Published October 28, 2008 Learn About SEO , Video Blog 1 CommentTags: google, seo, webmaster tools
Google’s cache of your website is important. It lets you know when they last came to visit a specific page on your site. Watch the Video below for three ways to check Google cache of a specific page on your site. If you check the cache and notice that Google has not been to your site in 2 weeks, there might be reason for concern. If you find yourself in that situation let me know and I can provide some tips for how to get Google to come back and check out your site.
Wall Street Journal’s Thoughts On Twitter
Published October 27, 2008 Learn About Social Media 0 CommentsTags: twitter
Twitter, according to the Wall Street Journal is moving into the mainstream. I know that for most of you that read this blog that is no news flash but a few important items from the article are worth sharing. You can read the entire article or just check out the highlights below
1. Traffic and usage. Although Twitter didn’t disclose exact numbers, traffic increase alone is enough to show that their user base is increasing substantially. Twitter received around 1,000,000 unique visitors in August of 2008. This is up from 282,000 in August of 07
2. Twitter is Useful for Small Business. The story of one real estate agent in Virgina who used Twitter to connect with a potential client online and help change their mind about a deal is mentioned in the Article. The agent mentioned that he searches Twitter daily for people interested in doing business in his area
3. Twitter is Useful for Large Business. Business like Comcast and Dell use Twitter for customer service and to announce special deals or services. Zappos, an online store posts links to all their employees who are on Twitter right on their website. In this case Twitter is used to give a large online store a human face and feel.
The only question left for you is not, “Should I be on Twitter?” but, “How should I use Twitter?” My advice… don’t over think it. Just go sign up for an account and start by answering the simple question - “What are you doing right now?”
Questions or Comments - Leave a comment below or send me a message on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/rodneyb
