Posts from ‘Online Marketing’
My Thoughts on Think Visibility 2010
So far I have managed to attend all three Think Visibility events and this year was without doubt one of the best. I don’t get to go to many conferences but of the ones I do go to this is probably the one I enjoy the most. This year featured some really great speakers and I was particularly excited to see that Tom Critchlow would be making an appearance.
There have already been some great roundups of the event so I won’t try to emulate those posts. In this post I wanted to share with you some of the point that I found most interesting about the event.
Its a tool set i have been looking at for a while now and came across it during a presentation by Dave Naylor. A great presentation as always and i was completely captivated by the possibilities of the tool set. It could be summed up as an analytics tool kit for search engine marketer but it is so much more than this. It goes well beyond anything else that is out there. Whats even more exciting is that they have just joined forces with Majestic SEO, who of course have some great tools of their own.
Ok so like most decent tools in the market place Raven SEO Tools is a paid service, with prices starting from $79 a month for a pro package. Agency packages are also available and include a 6 user license. The agency account will set you back $199 a month with an additional $14 required for each extra user. Before committing to the service you can sign up for a 30 day trail which gives you full access. This is very much recommended.
The Tool Set
The Raven SEO Tool set is split into five main section and includes research, links, content manager, analytics, reports and admin. I will go on to explain each section in a minute but i wanted to quickly highlight the great Firefox plugin that they have made available. This plugin lets you access various parts of the tool set quick and easily. Anyway so on to the tools themselves.
It’s something i have been waiting for for a while now and this morning i noticed that Stumble Upon has finally added an SEO category to their site. It doesn’t sound like a major development but i got a bit tired of my submissions being given the thumbs down by users in the ‘internet’ category. Before this recent update it was one of the only relevant categories for many of my stories.
It will be nice to see what effect it will have on my submissions and as a big fan of Stumble its an extremely welcomed addition.
image: clubfemina
It’s been a bit of a crazy week so I apologies for the lack of updates but anyway I wanted to share with you guys some of the things that I have been reading and tell you how Twitter has helped me expand my knowledge.
When talking about Twitter many people bang on about it being a great networking tool and until recently I took that concept for granted. Only now when I look back on it I can see how many great new blogs I have discovered and met new and interesting people. The ability to discuss concepts and ideas enthrawls me and being able to see the range of styles out there has helped me to develop and question my techniques. I think this is a fundamental in life and Twitter helps integrate both our on and offline lives. I also just like some of the random crap that people post. Twitter spam!!
Anyway these are a couple of the sites I have been reading recently.
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A user’s journey is typically one of the most important factors to consider when trying to optimise a website. As SEO’s we want to know how people will arrive at our site and at what phase in the buying cycle they will do so. This means that getting our keyword research right is critical to the success of a campaign. We don’t want to waste time on terms that don’t convert or terms that bring irrelevant traffic. In essence when looking at a users journey we need to consider the different types of queries that people use.
source: mario.francesevic
Top Level Or Navigational Search
This is where users search for a brand, company or domain name. This is an extremely common search type especially if you are a large corporation or well known brand. Users at this level are either looking for more information or know exactly what they want. For example a phone number.
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So it’s a new year and with new years come great challenges but should we expect from the coming year in SEO.
source: jasonshellen
- 1. Changing Search Patterns
By this i mean the way in which people search and the terms and modifiers people are using. With the current economic downturn which is expected to run well into 2009 people are going to be on the look out for more and more bargains. This means people will be searching usings modifiers such as discount and cheap. - 2. Link Building Becomes Harder
This has been the case for some time now with search engines downgrading directory links and links located in various locations on a page. Search engines will also become much more sophisticated and be able to spot paid links more easily. The emphasis is likely to still be on authority and natural links. - 3. More Dependence On Universal Search
I think this will play a particularly heavy roll with bricks and moatar firms and the Google Business centre will become essentially to small and medium businesses. Firms will have to look at regional targeting much more.Google base has also had some really nice updates recently and has started to include some new services in there. So for example you can list SEO services in there now and property rentals. This i would imagine should display a lot more in the natural search results.
- 4. Search Engine Rankings
This has been happening for some time now but more emphasis is likely to be put on conversions and content. It was recently suggested that Google is using bounce rates in determining search engine rankings. This means that site owners need to focus their efforts on usability and conversions. It makes sense for search engines to do this. People after all are looking to perform some sort of function when they do decide to click on to a site.
These are just a few thoughts i had and i am sure there will be many other factors that will play there part. As i always i look forward to the challenge and working through them with you guys.
About Mark Mayne
Manchester based SEO consultant who specialises in online marketing and PPC. Mark currently works for PushON ltd, one of the north west's top online marketing companies and has helped numerous companies boost their online profiles.
