Tag: Google

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Google+ and Sparks

If you have not tried out Google+ yet contact me with your GMail or Google account ID and I will send you an invitation if you cannot sign up. I am not totally sure that Google+ will replace Facebook or Twitter but so far I am having fun playing around with it. One of the interesting things about Google+ is the Sparks section.

This section is kind of like the old AOL keyword section or Technorati’s blog sections. Twitter has something similar to Sparks too.  Sparks are Google derived best items grouped by categories. I haven’t found out how you get your own content into the Sparks section as it appears totally Google controlled for now, but if you make it there the traffic could be huge.

With Sparks being easy to read and interesting newsy current articles all on one theme, you can go into information over load if you are not careful. You can even create your own Sparks categories by entering in a short keyword phrase. How and why Google chooses to return certain sites, blogs, or articles is unknown, but may potentially hold the key to not only big traffic but good organic placement.

My feeling so far about Google+ is mixed. I like the interface, but no one I really want to connect with is really there right now, not even family members or co-workers. I see the potential, but it may simply be too hard to get people to move out of Facebook and into Google+. There are just no really big incentives to move right now.

What has your impression of Google+ been so far if you have been using it? Do you like it? Do you think you will stick with it or drift back to Twitter and Facebook?

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Alternative Browsers: Have You Tried One?

All the sudden IE9 simply would not allow me to login to my Google AdWords MCC control panel. I am sure it was a change in an update to a security setting done by an automatic update. For a full week I pulled my hair out. I tried to troubleshoot the problem, dropped my cookies, deleted my cache, tried to import cookies from a computer that allowed me on, tweaked registry settings; all to no avail. I was simply locked out with a grey screen.

Sounds like maybe no big deal, right? However if you spend hours and sometimes all day on Google AdWords, as I do for clients, this was a REALLY big deal. In fact, so big I decided that maybe it was time to simply move to a new browser and scrap IE9. I had Firefox installed and also Google Chrome. My assistant swears by Chrome but that is because IE9 works quirkily on his Windows 7 64 bit computer.

I really tried to like Firefox, really! I migrated everything there for two full weeks and worked exclusively with that browser. What I found was that I could get on AdWords just fine but there were two things that I really hated.

  1. On downloading files – which I do a lot of from writers sending me things via YouSendIt.com, the save file as interface is goofy and not streamlined. There simply was no way to streamline the interface.
  2. I hated the bookmark tool. IE9 does have Firefox beat when it comes to bookmarks, organization, and showing them while browsing.

I really tried to like Google Chrome too! I lasted about two days with this browser. Sure it was speedy, but the big drawback was bookmarks. As I live by my bookmarks having to check writers on our client blogs, I have an extensive listing of bookmarks and logins that are used daily and more than daily. I don’t want to hunt around and I want things to be in the order I determine.

Guess what? I am back on IE9 now for everything except Google AdWords, and there I use Firefox. I just simply like the elegance of the browser chrome (frame surrounding the screen), I really like how bookmarks are done and managed, and I really like the very simple streamlined interface for saving files with one “save as” drop down.

Now in your case, you may swear by Firefox, or you may love Google Chrome, but if you have never tried either one I recommend that you do. You won’t personally know which is best for your own needs until you really give them a go. In fact did you know that Chrome is now 20% of the browsing market as of just this past week? Internet Explorer has shrunk to 59% of the market and Firefox has dropped to 28% according to StatCounter. (Read the article.) Take them both for a test drive and see what you think. You may be like me and say ahh, there is no place like IE9!

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Google: Get Over PageRank – Move On!

June 30th, on the Google Webmaster blog talked about how webmasters and site owners should move on beyond measuring site success by the Google Toolbar PageRank. The post explains that Toolbar reported PageRank in NOT the same as their patented algorithm PageRank which determines organic placement.

Susan tells webmasters:

“If you look at Google’s Technology Overview, you’ll notice that it calls out relevance as one of the top ingredients in our search results. So why hasn’t as much ink been spilled over relevance as has been over PageRank? I believe it’s because PageRank comes in a number, and relevance doesn’t. Both relevance and PageRank include a lot of complex factors—context, searcher intent, popularity, reliability—but it’s easy to graph your PageRank over time and present it to your CEO in five minutes; not so with relevance. I believe the succinctness of PageRank is why it’s become such a go-to metric for webmasters over the years; but just because something is easy to track doesn’t mean it accurately represents what’s going on on your website.” Read the full article.

The bottom line is that you totally should disregard the Google Toolbar PageRank as an indicator of health or success of your website. Instead you should focus on the following:

  1. Bounce Rate
  2. Click Through Rate
  3. Conversion Rate

A website owner can track all of these metrics using Google Analytics or other premium website statistics program. As Google now only updates the Toolbar PageRank once to twice a year and it is not an accurate representation of what is really happening on your website, now is the time to make a paradigm shift and focus on what is really happening that you can see yourself on a daily basis back on your website using statistics YOU can read.

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How to Get Your Google On!

Google is the top search engine and continues to stay that way even with increased pressure from Bing and Yahoo. So it is important that your marketing plan cater to this fact. So often I am asked what can I do to improve my search position on Google? Here’s how to “get your Google on”!

1. Redo your home page to include content and not mainly images. Search engine spiders cannot read images.

2. If you are using WordPress as the backbone for your website, contact a WordPress web designer to make these changes to your template:

  • If you have been archiving content like newsletters or blogs off-domain, get them on-domain now! If you aren’t blogging get your designer to create a page template just for your blog page. It must include the archives, categories, and tags.
  • Update your site navigation with links to point to the blog, create a new section just for your videos if you have them. If you don’t have videos get started creating simple ones and post them to YouTube.com ( a Google property) and embed them in your website. Start a regular informational content building program ON-DOMAIN.
  • Bring all old newsletters onto your site you have archived off-domain and housed at Constant Contact or other resource. Most likely a page will need to be created for each newsletter and then hard coded into the newsletter page.
  • Create a new reviews page on your website. Pull the favorable reviews from the web, link back to the original content. Build up the positive things. Link to the home page of the BBB showing your rating if you use them.

Get Google Maps going for any locations
Pricing is $240 per location for set up and then $40 each site for monthly account refreshes.
More info: http://www.mccordweb.com/internet-marketing/google-maps.php

Consolidate your efforts in Facebook. One page for all business. locations don’t be fragmented
Do Facebook Mini services for $8 per day
More info: http://www.mccordweb.com/internet-marketing/twitter.php#ghost

Get going on Twitter or remove the icon from your website
If you aren’t going to update something, don’t take a black eye remove the link from your website.
Twitter Mini $8.50 per day
More info: http://www.mccordweb.com/internet-marketing/twitter.php#ghost

Get blogging but only on-domain
Do the Topaz Level at the minimum two days a week for $50 per week. If you can afford a higher level do it!
More info: http://www.mccordweb.com/blog-writing/index.php

Get going with Google AdWords
Set up and first four weeks of account management is $699. I would recommend a landing page for each of the four ad group themes we would do. Landing pages typically take 5 hours at $80 per hour to create. You may need your blog designer to help with the contact form implementation as typically the landing page will have a small form at the bottom.

We recommend a click budget paid to Google of $500 per 30 days on top of our fees.
More info: http://www.mccordweb.com/internet-marketing/adwords-quick-start.php

Get your site confirmed and set up with the Google Webmaster control panel
Get a site map created and your site validated. Diagnostics can be done on demand to the site after set up.
Typically set up and validation is about 1.0 hours or so. We recommend monthly reporting once set up. We review placement on keywords, review your webmaster control panel, reload your sitemap. Set up is 1.5 hours and then monthly reporting is typically 1.5 to 2 hours billed at $80 per hour.

Build online reviews
I would highly recommend that you start approaching clients to build your online reviews. Get the email when setting up service, Offer to send coupons for the services you provide. In all your correspondence link to your Google Places pages for both locations and ASK for a review.

Remediate your online reputation
Make sure all employees know of any bad reviews you have received online and work to implement new procedures that solve those problems. Reviews may be scathing, but there is typically truth in them. Look at them as areas of constructive criticism.  All employees should believe that customer satisfaction is their job. It will show in your reviews, your referrals and repeat customers.

If you can’t afford everything I would do AdWords first, at the same time do Google Places, then the website changes, then the blogging, then Facebook and Twitter.

It is time to get your Google on!