Online Marketing Blog

Desktop blogging software allows you to open up an application on your computer, connect to your blog and write from the comforts of your desktop.

Why would someone want this? More features, better user interface and the ability to easily post to one or more blogs without ever having to actually go to them.

When I started thinking about this post I thought I’d research some desktop software. It turns out that I couldn’t find as many as I thought I would.

That’s where you come in, what desktop software do you use to post to your blog? I know that some of you prefer a desktop client over a web based admin area. Myself, I haven’t really tried any, but it’s an idea that does interest me.

Congratulations, you have a blog! Or are thinking of starting one. Here are ten tips to keep in mind while blogging.

1) Post Titles
When writing a post title, it needs to be specific and interesting as this is what will be used in your title tag and what will be used to draw in readers.

Bad: Old Barns and Houses
Good: Minnesota Historic Barns and Farm Houses

Thinks to keep in mind are ‘What would people search for?’ ‘Is it specific to a certain person, place or thing?’

2) Paragraphs
Yes, use paragraphs. Keep them short and split up different thoughts. It’s much easier to read four small paragraphs rather than one large block of text. Even if they do contain the same information, this will make it easier for the visitor to read.

Wordpress is arguably one of the best blogging packages out there. From it’s full list of features to its many themes and plugins, it seems to have it all.

The past few weeks were big for Wordpress and they are starting the new year with a bang.

On November 21st they opened up Wordpress.com to the public, meaning that now anyone is free to sign up for a Wordpress blog without having to install the software. I feel the free hosting was added to compete with Blogger, however, Wordpress.com blows Blogger’s free service out of the water with better usability and more features.

On December 20th, it was announced that Wordpress is now available on Yahoo! This time targeting businesses. Yahoo offers complete setup and maintenance of a Wordpress blog as part of its Small Business hosting packages.

I know many companies that want to engage in search or online marketing for the first time and also those that want to step it up a notch are always on the lookout for better resources. You can spend a lot of time lurking in forums, reading blogs and information sites, reading books, attending conferences and networking and still not be sure of what to do next or what’s right for you. There are a few resources that I’ve found to be consistently effective and high quality that I’ll mention here. This is by no means a comprehensive list – it really represents the resources I find myself using often and/or recently:

Marketing Experiments – Web Clinics

Marketing Sherpa:

There’s a newsletter that I get from time to time from Google called the "Google Friends Newsletter". The content is fairly good, but not exactly timely for someone who has 200 search engine related RSS feeds or that runs a search marketing agency. That represents, what .005% of the population?  For everyone else, it’s good info.

It’s the day before Christmas Eve, and this post is the last thing I do business-wise, before I go to my parents and then take off for a week on an island off the coast of Puerto Vallarta. With all this snow in Minnesota and a good internet connection, I may not come back.  Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

In case you don’t receive it, here’s the Google Friends Newsletter for December 2005:

Earlier today I logged into the Google Webex site anxiously anticipating that maybe, perhaps, Google was going to produce something new in the Google AdWords New Features Webinar? The presentation started with an overview on AdSense Referrals, Custom Reports, Online Advertiser Sign-up, Section Targeting and Seasonal Formats. Jensense also has comments on the presentation.

It was a good overview if you hadn’t been through these features before. But there was nothing "new" as in, newly announced during the webinar. It was an explanation of some of the recently added features to the Google AdSense program. A more accurate title for this Webinar might have been, "Google AdWords Recent Features".

Finding good blogs can be a challege. If you’re into voting for blogs, KBCafe Blog Award Voting is going on between now and Dec 31st. There are several search engine and marketing related categories including:

Best Google Blog
Best Yahoo! Blog
Best Microsoft Blog
Best Webvertising Blog
Best SEO Blog
Best Marketing Blog

This blog, Online Marketing Blog is somehow mentioned in the Best SEO Blog category along with some very good company: 

Search Engine Marketing Weblog – More of a news blog on search engines with some SEO.
Matt Cutts – Not an SEO blog per se. It’s about putting the kibosh on SEO. He even dreams of it!
Search Engine Roundtable – More about SEO than any others in my opinion.

Here are highlights from SEMPO’s 2005 Annual State of Search Survey, or as I heard Dana Todd call it at SES Chicago, "the SEMPO Big Ass Survey".

• SEM was a $5.75 billion industry in North America in 2005, and will grow to $11.1 billion in 2010
• Brand awareness is advertisers’ top objective for SEM programs, particularly large firms
• Organic SEO is the most popular form of SEM, with 4 out of 5 advertisers using this method, with paid placement a close second at 76%
• ROI is in line with inflation: Four out of five advertisers say they could afford to pay a mild increase in the price of paid placement, while of advertisers and all agencies report moderate price hikes this year.

Spotlight on Search: Interview With Andrew Goodman

Andrew Goodman is known as the guy who “wrote the book” on Google AdWords or at least that’s one of the ways I like to think of him. He’s authored/edited Traffick.com since long before blogs became popular, speaks at numerous industry conferences and also has a successful SEM agency, Page Zero Media. In this interview, Andrew explains how he tossed in the towel on his PhD to become, gasp, an internet marketer!

Andrew, we’ve been bumping into each other at conferences for a while now and Ed Kohler is nowhere to be seen. Maybe if he reads this he’ll hit SES New York?

I hope so. I’ve been missing Ed!

Please tell us about your background. How did you get involved with search engine marketing?

On Wednesday, December 21 Google is conducting a webinar to present new features with AdSense.

Recently, a better search box has been implemented as well as the option to have AdSense reports emailed to you. 

I was hoping Jen would have more info, at least publicly, but she’s smarter than to give any more info than necessary. I’m not sure if you can still sign up, but if so it would be here.

According to Darren Rowse, of Problogger:

"They’ll be looking at the referrals program, onsite advertiser sign up and section targeting among other things."

Technically, this is an "unlisted event" on the Webex site, so I doubt I’ll have any additional info until it happens other than this from the Google Adsense New page:

Increasing monetization through new forms of advertising

Some interesting SEO interviews recently: 

Stuntdubl has an interview with Roger Montti "Martinibuster"

SEO BuzzBox has an excellent interview with Greg Boser

syndk8 has an interesting debate with Rand over black hat and white hat seo

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Finally!  I thought I would never get a chance to check out the new Yahoo’s Beta Mail system. Today when I logged in there was an offer to check it out. I’ve had a Yahoo email account since 1997. I was hoping to get a chance to try this out sooner – oh well.

Yahoo Mail Beta is a bit like Outlook in the layout. I can say my very first impression was that it looked too similar. I liked that Yahoo mail looks very different that Outlook because I have both open at the same time and it’s easier to quickly distinguish them. Now that I’ve been using it for a little bit, I’m used to it.