Online Marketing Blog

Due to the Australia distraction we skipped last week’s update of the search marketing blogs list. We’re still holding a few blogs in queue to accumulate more content for those that might be wondering. Thanks to Amie Krone for helping out this week!

• SLI Systems - Dr. Shaun Ryan comments on the search industry from a site search vendor’s perspective.

• Michael Visser - The Australian blogger.

• Metaverse Business Blog - A blog about Second Life marketing.

• Web Analytic Matt - Simple solutions for a complex world from Matt Hopkins.

• The Online Marketing Guy - In-house SEM advice from a co-chair at SEMPO.

When reviewing search marketing blogs each week for inclusion in our big list, one of the most consistent problems we see is that blog owners don’t make it easy to subscribe. Either there is no icon for the RSS feed or it’s hidden way below the fold.

Something as easy as adding a prominient RSS button near the top of the blog template with the word “Subscribe” near it can increase the number of return visitors substantially. We’ve done this ourselves and we’re now just under 6,000 subscribers.

Marketing online is a mixed bag. While search marketing is high impact and high value, it’s not the only game in town.

In this week’s poll, I’ve assembled a variety, but not comprehensive, list of web site marketing channels that are alternatives to standard search engine marketing. Some are true, stand alone channels. Some offer the benefit of direct traffic as well as a positive effect for natural search engine rankings.

Last week I posted a well received rundown of five reasons you should attend the upcoming Search Engine Strategies conference in New York, April 10-13. A few additional items regarding TopRank’s involvement were not included and I’ve been getting a little chiding from our “gratuitous self promotion” department about that.

First, Online Marketing Blog has been named an official media sponsor for Search Engine Strategies conferences as well as the ClickZ events. This might not be news for the likes of WebProNews, BtoB, TARGET Marketing, Search Marketing Standard, Entrepreneur.com or Jupiter Research who are the other media sponsors, but it’s certainly big news for TopRank because it’s the first time a blog has been included as a media sponsor.

The past 2 weeks have been nuts so I’m a bit behind on a few announcements that I’ve been meaning to draw attention to. For example, Andy Beal’s announcement of the second Marketing Pilgrim SEM Scholarship for Spring 2007.

Scholarship prizes worth more than $10,000 will be awarded. This is a great opportunity for budding or even experienced search marketers to show their stuff and win services, consulting and prizes that could serve as a huge boost in their search marketing career. I know TopRank will be watching very closely as we are hiring for 3 positions now and possibly 2 more in Q3.

Yesterday I received an email from our new blog host. It reads:

This message is in regards to your (hosting company name) account “toprank”, which
resides on the server xxxx.hostingcompany.com.

Due to problems it was causing on the server, we were forced to disable the
following script located in your account:

/usr/www/users/toprank/tools/rss-buttons

For future reference, please take a look at our script usage policies:URL 1
URL 2

Please write to urgent@hostingcompany.com for information about having the script
reenabled.

If you have any questions about this script, please contact our friendly
support specialists at support@hostingcompany.com or xxx-xxx-xxxx (option 2).

As much time and effort that marketers put into improving visibility within search results, not all search engine ranking pages (SERPs) are good. Increasing numbers of companies are experiencing the sharp edge of the sword from disgruntled employees or customers taking advantage of the amazingly simplistic process of publishing content to the web.

You may recall such situations as “Dell Hell” or Googlebombing “miserable failure” for examples.

Because these references occur within the search results, many companies percieve search engine reputation management as a SEO problem. But displacing negative search results only treats the symptoms of the problem. It’s not a cure.

Spam is one of those features that comes with a blog and stopping it isn’t quite as easy as it should be. Here are a few ideas to help you out.

1. Install Akismet - This has to be one of the best plugins. The downside is they’d like you pay if you get a ton of spam. After all, it is the nice thing to do. For the average user though, it’s free.
2. Install Spam Karma - Excellent plugin that can stop a flood of spam comments. It works great and it’s completely free.

The eighth SES New York conference is coming up pretty quickly and as one of the last “Danny” programmed events, it should be a great one. I’ve been blogging SES shows for several years now and have advanced both knowledge and industry contacts tremendously by doing so. Barry, Chris and Ben have also done a bang up job in the past with triple and sometimes quadruple coverage of the event.

Whether you are an old hand SEO and online marketer or a noob, large conferences like Search Engine Strategies offer a number of excellent benefits. Here are my top five:

Search Engine Room here in Sydney has officially wrapped up and it’s back to business for us. Well, sort of. The time difference between Australia and back home makes things a little tricky but thanks to Email and a great team, the show goes on. We’ll have 4 days to check out Sydney, which is both awesome and a crime since we’ve come so far and there’s so much to see. Maybe next time it can be a longer stay.

Photo Courtesy Michael Visser

We’re starting day two of Search Engine Room and I’m really looking forward to it. Day one went very well with some really interesting presentations on a variety of topics ranging from vertical search to link building. I did a presentation on SEO and PR and it seemed to go pretty well. Quite a few people asked me after the session if we had an office in Australia. Hmmm.

We had a great lunch with Gavin Appel from Hitwise who shared all his secrets with us. Actually, it was great to hear the story of how Hitwise has grown and developed over the years. They are a global brand and have done very well for themselves.

Ha, it’s actually Tuesday morning here in Sydney. Am prepping for the first day of Search Engine Room and wanted to share a few links:

Just before leaving Minnesota for Australia, I received a copy of Cat Seda’s new book, “How to Win Sales and Influence Spiders” which focuses on leveraging SEO and online PR. I hope to have a review next week.

eComXpo starts Tuesday and runs through Thursday. This is a great virtual tradeshow that allows you to visit exhibitors and view presentations without the expense of traveling. With all the search marketing conferences and seminars popping up, this kind of platform might become even more popular than it is now for both attendees and speakers.