Internet Marketing Tips

Marketing Tips from Around the Web

NEW (Oct. 17, 2012): We've added 330+ 380+ hand-picked marketing, AdWords/PPC, and SEO tips from around the Web, that offer the latest marketing strategies, tactics, and techniques to help you improve your marketing ROI and make more money online.

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Free Marketing Tips

Here are some free marketing tips I've written over the years. You have my permission to republish them on your website, on the condition you include my bio after the article.

Affiliate Marketing Tips

Affiliate Managers: Your Top Five Biggest Affiliate Program Mistakes

Affiliate managers should avoid these mistakes if they want to build a successful affiliate program.

Marketing Strategies

Internet Piracy: Embrace Or Die

Internet piracy is rife. So why do we fight it? Why not accept it, embrace it, and adapt our business models to compete against it instead?

The 80-20 Rule Increased My Income by 207% in 18 Months

How I used the 80-20 Rule to increase my internet business income by 207% in just over 18 months.

Two Promotions That Target Customers by Name

Here are two marketing campaigns that uses a person's name to generate buzz.

Money Making Tips

Six Figure Income Tools

I've earned a six figure income for many years. Here are 20 software products and services I use to make a six figure income online annually.

SEO Tips

SEO: Dash vs Underscore in URLs

Are you wondering whether you should use a dash versus an underscore in URLs? This article will provide a definitive answer.

Three Ways to Get Listed in Google

In this article I show you three ways to get listed in Google, including one method that is virtually guaranteed to work.

How Keyword Density, Frequency, Prominence and Proximity Affects Search Engine Rankings

Keyword density, frequency, prominence and proximity explained.

27 Quick Tips to Top Search Engine Rankings

27 quick search engine optimization tips that will improve your search engine rankings.

How to Find Link Exchange Partner Sites to Improve Your Link Popularity

Find link exchange partners to improve your link popularity and search engine rankings.

Seven Illegal Search Engine Optimization Techniques

In this article I discuss seven illegal, or almost illegal, search engine optimization and related techniques.

How to Find Out What Keywords Your Customers Are Searching With

How to capture your most targeted visitors by discovering what keywords they search with.

Ten Controversial Search Engine Optimization Techniques

Ten controversial SEO techniques that should be used with caution, or even avoided altogether.

Software Reviews

Thesis Theme Review

Over 35,000 people use Thesis Theme for WordPress. Is it worth buying? Find out with my Thesis Theme review.

Success Stories

7 Business Success Stories

Seven amazing stories of ordinary people achieving extraordinary success with their internet business to inspire you.

10 Business Decisions That Changed My Life

Here's a look back at ten business decisions that changed my life, since I built my first website in 1998.

Breaking the Glass Ceiling

Do you have a glass ceiling that prevents you from achieving major success? Here is the true story of how I broke through my mine.

Revealed: Top Two Google Ranking Factors

In this article I reveal what I believe are the two most important ranking factors used by Google.

Webmaster Tips

404 Not Found Error Emails

Broken HTML and image links result in 404 not found error notices. Here is how to get real-time 404 email notices when things break.

SEnuke XCr

Crowd-sourced, internet marketing, SEO, link building & marketing automation software.

Definitive Guide to Google AdWords

A must-read, if you want to learn how to buy Google AdWords traffic profitably.

SBI! (Site Build It!)

40,000+ people are making money online with Ken Evoy's step-by-step SBI! system and software.

SES Chicago 2012 Conference Wrap Up – TopRank Takes #SESCHI By Storm

Phew! What a whirlwind week at SES Chicago.  While my TopRank Online Marketing teammates were taking SES Chicago by storm, I was holding down the homefront manning the blog, monitoring Twitter feeds, and helping in any way that I could.
We were fortunate to have an army of TopRank  staff speaking, attending, live blogging, and interacting for the entire conference including:
Lee Odden: CEO
Jolina Pettice:  Director of Client Accounts
Thom Craver: Senior Technical SEO Manager
Alexis Hall: Account Manager
Evan Prokop: Associate Account Manager
Miranda Miller: Content Marketing Manager
In this wrap up I’ve provided you with a 360 view of the conference which includes links to our live blogs, tweets, a video with keynote presenter Avinash Kaushik, and photos from the conference.  Enjoy!

SES Chicago 2012 Conference Wrap Up – TopRank Takes #SESCHI By Storm

A Strategic View of Search Engine Optimization – Where Does SEO Fit in Your Content Strategy?

Lee Odden on Nov 19th, 2012     Online Marketing, Optimize Book, SEO

Companies large and small, in industries from retail to manufacturing, publish content online with an expectation that a certain audience of people will find, read and act on that content.  While most Search Engine Optimization efforts are rightly focused on marketing goals like acquiring more customers and increasing revenue, making purchases is not the only reason consumers use search or ask for referrals through social networks.
There’s a lot of tactical advice online about search, social media and content marketing for companies that want to better connect with customers but that advice doesn’t always consider the differences between types of companies or even content within companies. For the best return on marketing investment, it’s important to understand that there are notable differences in tactics for effective optimization depending on who the audience is, how they prefer to discover, consume and act on information.  The very nature of B2C vs. B2B or small company vs. large company content, audience and outcomes can be different, so the approach to optimizing content for search and social media must be tailored accordingly.

A Strategic View of Search Engine Optimization – Where Does SEO Fit in Your Content Strategy?

Online Marketing News: Run Effective A/B Tests, YouTube Pulls the Plug, Hijacking Google, Windows 8 Dead?

Ashley Zeckman on Nov 16th, 2012     Online Marketing, Online Marketing News

Social Stereotypes: You Are What You Share

This recent infographic from WIX  focuses on social media, and the types of things that people share, or read.  Findings include:

• 71% of tweets are ignored
• 23% of tweets get a reply
• 5% of Pinterest users are under the age of 18
• 97% of executives surveyed used LinkedIn in 2010

23 Tips on How to A/B Test Like A Badass
With all of the tools now available it has become very easy and effective to run an A/B test.  However, many marketers are still scratching their heads trying to determine how to take their testing to the next level.  Via Search Engine Watch.

7 Effortless Ways to Find New Ideas for Your Blog
Coming up with new and exciting topics for blog content is no easy undertaking.  This article shares 7 easy ways to come up with new blog content regularly.  Read on to find out more.  Via Social Media Examiner.

Online Marketing News: Run Effective A/B Tests, YouTube Pulls the Plug, Hijacking Google, Windows 8 Dead?

Guest Blogging: Stop Thinking Link Building, Start Thinking Relationship Building – #SESCHI

Evan Prokop on Nov 15th, 2012     Online Marketing

Another update live from SES Chicago.  Erin Everhart and Katherine Watier  gave a highly entertaining and informative presentation about link building through guest blogging.
Guest Blogging Works, But You Have to do it Right
It’s a scenario that’s far too typical in the SEO world.  An awesome new tactic is discovered, word gets out, and it gets done to death, resulting in it not working anymore (sorry, but it’s true).
Link building through guest blogging has definitely suffered this fate.  Starting out as an incredibly effective means of generating high quality white hat links, over-use and poor implementation have resulted in bloggers cringing at inboxes full of poorly written, self-serving pitch requests, and ultimately ignoring the vast majority of would be guest posts.

Guest Blogging: Stop Thinking Link Building, Start Thinking Relationship Building – #SESCHI

5 Strategies to Increase Conversion in a Social World from #SESCHI

Alexis Hall on Nov 15th, 2012     Online Marketing, Search Engine Strategies

95% of decisions are considered preconscious.  In fact, the majority of decisions we, as humans, make are automatic or based on “gut feel”, rather than conscious decision making.
So then why are so many businesses building websites for consumers who view and act based on their rational brain? This is the question Tim Ash (@tim_ash) posits during his SES Chicago session “Beyond the Click: Conversion in the Social World.”
The human brain, shaped by thousands of years of evolution, is highly influential on our online decision making. So marketers must look for opportunities to make the conversion process as intuitive, consistent and automatic as possible.
Taking the evolutionary approach, here are five strategies for increasing conversions in a social world, from Tim Ash.

5 Strategies to Increase Conversion in a Social World from #SESCHI

SES Chicago: Building the B2B Social Media Machine – 6 Steps for Success

Evan Prokop on Nov 15th, 2012     B2B, Online Marketing, Search Engine Strategies, Social Media

It’s day 2 of SES Chicago, and the online marketing education is flowing full force.  I saw an excellent presentation about building a killer B2B social media strategy with Adriel Sanchez (@Adriel_S) of SAP.  With the sea of platforms, tactics, and schools of thought around B2B social media, it can be difficult to put together an actionable strategy that gets real results.
Follow the steps below to get your B2B social media strategy working for your business.

1. Forget Social Media, Think Content Marketing

Social media works best as a component of an overall content strategy.  The key is to think like a publisher, not a marketer.  This means avoiding the common pitfalls of being overly self-promotional or too sales oriented.

SES Chicago: Building the B2B Social Media Machine – 6 Steps for Success

7 Link Building Philosophies for a Post-Penguin World – #SESCHI

Jolina Pettice on Nov 14th, 2012     Online Marketing, Search Engine Strategies

Panda, Penguin and other Google updates are part of  search marketing. The frequency of updates has continued to garner attention over the last 6 months.
The only sure thing; it’s likely to continue as Google stays its course in refining standards for quality content.
And in a post-Panda and Penguin world, smarter more meaningful link building is not only recommended but a requirement.
Understanding this is only the tip of the iceberg. What lies below the surface is the real opportunity and from SES Chicago, here’s what you should be thinking about.
7 Link Building Philosophies to create value and remain Penguin-friendly. Shared with the audience by Jon Ball of  PageOnePower.  
1. In a World without Google
Imagine if Google didn’t exist, where would you spend link building efforts? What would you do and not do?

7 Link Building Philosophies for a Post-Penguin World – #SESCHI

Remarketing & Retargeting Done Right and Wrong – 6 Do’s and Don’ts From SES Chicago

Evan Prokop on Nov 14th, 2012     Online Marketing, Online Marketing Strategy

Live from SES Chicago, I had a fantastic opportunity to learn about the ultra-hot online marketing area of remarketing / retargeting from Christopher Hansen and Marty Weintraub.  Remarketing can be extremely powerful, but is easy to get wrong, and the consequences can be costly both in terms of budget and brand image.
Below are 3 tips to make retargeting campaigns work for you, and 3 potential mistakes.

Retargeting Done Right

#1:  Identify Your Best Content
The key to effective retargeting is finding what is already working in your marketing strategy. Retargeting can be very effective at increasing the success of your content, but the content must be effective on its own in order to see a benefit from retargeting.

Remarketing & Retargeting Done Right and Wrong – 6 Do’s and Don’ts From SES Chicago

10 Of the Best Kept Secrets to B2B Videos from #SESCHI

Alexis Hall on Nov 14th, 2012     Online Marketing

Did you know that 42% of business executives have made a purchasing decision based on an online video? In fact, 60% of execs will watch a video, before the ever read the text on the screen. Wow!
In the last session on the first day of SES, I was pretty excited to learn the secrets to B2B video success from Peter La Motte from GeniusRocket (@geniusrocket).  You see, I hear from clients all the time reasons why video isn’t a larger part of their marketing mix.

Top 3 Reasons B2Bs Give for Why They  Can’t (or Won’t) Do Video

1. Video is too much work!
2. B2B is too boring for video
3. Video doesn’t drive sales

10 Of the Best Kept Secrets to B2B Videos from #SESCHI

Exploiting the Infinite Loop: 5 Tips for Mobile Marketing Optimization from SES Chicago

Alexis Hall on Nov 13th, 2012     Online Marketing

Today’s consumer is connected every where and in every way. Additionally, we are no longer subject to the agenda of businesses when it comes to when and where we consume content, shop or view ads.  As marketers is our job to take advantage of what Geoff Tam-Scott describes as the infinite loop.
The infinite loops refer to the ongoing cycle of touch points marketers with consumer across devices such as smartphone, tablets, TV, PCs, etc.
On the first day of SES Chicago, Tam-Scott and Gagan Kanwar from Marin Software (@MarinSoftware) offer tips for marketers to optimize marketing for mobile and exploit the potential which mobile unlocks.

Exploiting the Infinite Loop: 5 Tips for Mobile Marketing Optimization from SES Chicago

14 Online Marketing Wake-Up Calls from @Avinash – SES Chicago

Jolina Pettice on Nov 13th, 2012     Online Marketing, Search Engine Strategies

Online Marketing Magic blankets the Midwest as SES Chicago kicks off this morning. Audience members packed the room and gulped coffee anxiously awaiting to know what Avinash knows.
Curious to know what makes Avinash Kaushik (Digital Marketing Evangelist, Google) roll out of bed each morning? Surprisingly, it’s not data.

3 Simple Ideas Keeping Avinash’s Finger Off Snooze

1. Influence: The ability to find people and brainwash them that they need our products or services.
2. Experience: Most websites suck according to Avinash. And he’s on a one-man mission to fix them.
3. Value: If we solve the 2 problems above and can’t make money doing it, we’re doing it wrong. And that’s no fun at all.
How do you reach the intersection of influence, experience and value and find Online Marketing Magic?  Start with 14 online marketing Wake-Up Calls spanning from Analytics to Social to Mobile.

14 Online Marketing Wake-Up Calls from @Avinash – SES Chicago

Content Marketing Confessions: 5 Simple Tips to Improve Marketing Performance

Ashley Zeckman on Nov 13th, 2012     Content Marketing, Online Marketing

Think back to a time when you created a piece of content marketing awesomeness.  Visually it was appealing, you were very confident about the content, and you were sure that it was going to be a hit.  Unfortunately, it fell flat.  And it left you wondering, how did this happen?
Your first instinct may be to assume the online audience just didn’t understand how good the content really was.  But here’s the gig, it’s time that we as marketers understand “why” we’re creating content and “who” it is for.  This will allow us to make better marketing decisions and project what type of content will resonate best with our audience, and meet business objectives.

Connecting Marketing & IT: 5 Tips for Creating a Shared Marketing Agenda with Your CIO

On occasion we connect with smart people and ideas we think are worth sharing as a guest post here at Online Marketing Blog. Today, I’d like to introduce you to Heidi Ambler, Director of Social Business at IBM.  Heidi has over 20 years with IBM where she leads a team responsible for their enterprise social software business.
In a digital world where technology and  consumer behaviors are changing rapidly, Heidi makes the argument for better alignment between IT and marketing as a path towards greater success and competitive advantage.
According to recent survey results, 60 percent of marketers cite a lack of alignment with the company’s IT department as the biggest obstacle to reaching today’s digitally empowered and social savvy consumers.
This alarming statistic supports additional quantitative research in the market suggesting that the world of marketing, and how consumers interact with companies, is changing. This evolution is forcing companies to make a fundamental shift towards much higher-level customer-centricity which leverages today’s digital and social technology. Twofold, the CIO role is now more important than ever. A CIO can’t stay in the back office anymore. They have to think about their role in the front office, and how together with marketing they can position their company for leadership.
The CMO’s role is expanding from an advertising-centric job description to complete ownership of the company’s brand and reputation. This includes teaming up with the CIO to provide what we (IBM) call “system engagement” to the client. The CMO must be responsible for managing a consistent customer experience and also managing the impact on the brand from social media. In today’s social/digital business world, the role of the CMO is much broader and in order to be successful its imperative to partner with your CIO. This might seem like an impossibility for some, so here are a few tips to help ease into the relationship, leading to a prosperous partnership.
1. Communication is key. This may seem elementary, but the lack of communication between marketers and traditionally “back-office” technologists can cause marketers to become stuck in their own customer engagement systems instead of integrating with their company’s technological advancements. This is especially true with social. As a marketer you may be taking advantage of Facebook and Twitter but are you linked in with your organization’s enterprise social networking tools? These tools may be the key that unlock imperative customer sentiment and analysis.
2. It’s not a competition. With the advancements in technology, whether social, mobile, big data or cloud, these two islands, the CMO and CIO, can no longer live separately. We absolutely need technologists, but we absolutely need strong representation of the voice of the customer, which comes from the marketing teams. Don’t view the roles as playing for different teams, but rather extensions of each other working towards a common goal – providing exceptional experiences and services to your customers.
3. Don’t be afraid of social technology, and I don’t mean Facebook. Sure, your CIO office can be intimidating, but there are easy-to-use, intuitive and social solutions that your CIO office is implementing that can be a vital asset to your marketing objectives. These technologies are helping to address both the CMO and CIO agendas. Typically these solutions help to manage the vast amount of available social data and helps to align teams across IT, marketing and communications to use this social data and insights to better serve employees and customers. A win-win scenario.
4. Focus on strategy vs. projects. You and your CIO office have to figure out how to collaborate on crafting strategies, not just teaming on individual projects. The real task you face is learning how to put today’s technology—analytics, big data, social media–to work to transform your relationships with consumers and reimagine your business. This initial change can start with nuts-and-bolts decisions. For instance, companies need to pull together the bits and pieces of information consumers are telling them across different social channels, but what forward thinking tech and marketing departments understand is that by working together to shore up these basics, they create a new foundation for revealing an entirely new understanding of their customers.
5. Listen. Marketers traditionally credit themselves as being good listeners, especially when it comes to customers, but in today’s overtly digital and social landscape there’s a lot of noise. It’s difficult to know just what to listen to and when. Your CIO, believe it or not, can help here. Imagine if you better understood the broader implications of technology decisions, such as using mobile marketing and social media. So instead of releasing apps haphazardly, or chasing scattered ad hoc social media campaigns in an effort to get to know your customers better, you and your CIO collaborated on mapping out a long-term, integrated approach to collecting data, analyzing it, and sharing lessons learned.
It’s clear that tech and marketing are crucial to the success of companies today. But now what’s also becoming obvious is that as the world gets ever more interconnected, as customers become more digitally and socially active, these two critical departments need to network as well or risk being left behind. The partnership between the CMO and CIO is the exception and not the rule, but it’s clear that if your organization is looking to gain an advantage over the competition, this relationship is the ticket to success. It’s time as a marketer to knock on your IT department’s door and get collaborating!
Connect with Heidi on Twitter (@heidi_ambler) and LinkedIn.

Online Marketing News: Social Media & Holiday Shopping, Use PodCasting For Business, Facebook Ads = Craigslist, New Gmail, Google EMD Update

Social Media and the Holiday Shopper

This recent infographic from Clever Girls Collective provides insights into social media-savvy women’s 2012 holiday shopping plans.  Findings include:

• 93.3% purchased something because a blogger recommended it
• $515 is the amount the average US household will spend on gifts this year
• 75% say sale prices influence holiday purchasing decisions

3 Ways Podcasting Can Land You Customers
Podcasting is quickly becoming a very popular means of creating online content.  In addition to it’s virility, podcasting puts a voice to the face that prospects will appreciate.  This article shares 3 great tips for using podcasting to get new customers.  Via Social Media Examiner.
Apple’s North American Mobile Web Traffic Surges Following iPhone 5 Launch
According to this article, Apple’s share of mobile web traffic rose nearly 6% between September and October.  This is no doubt due to the introduction of the iPhone5 and the 4th generation iPod Touch.  Due to the stiff competition, these numbers may fall again soon.  Via TechCrunch.
Rumor Says Facebook May Create Classified Ads — Again
There are rumors circulating that Facebook is on the verge of creating a new classifieds listings section which would essentially put them in direct competition with Craigslist.  Apparently this service would allow users to create ads to show up in their friends’ news feeds.   Via cNet.
2013 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends [Research Report]
MarketingProfs and Content Marketing Institute have published their third annual research results.  Findings show that content marketing continues to be a top priority for marketers in the upcoming year.  In fact, 9 out of 10 marketers are currently using content marketing.  Via Content Marketing Institute.

TopRank Team News

Mike Yanke – To Disavow or Not to Disavow?
As previously noted here, Google recently launched a link disavow tool – empowering sites to disavow any spammy links they saw as potentially harmful to their site.  How can you determine whether you are simply one of the millions intrigued by this tool – or one of the hundreds that should actually use this tool?  Start by reading this Q&A with Google’s Matt Cutts, published to Search Engine Land.
Thom Craver – Introducing the New Compose In Gmail
Google has simplified the process of composing new email in Gmail. Instead of filling the entire screen, it uses a little pop-up like window in the bottom-right corner of the screen.  This is so you can still pull up other emails in the background, in case you need to reference a previous conversation. The mini window is far more simplistic, hiding many of the formatting controls. I used it to compose this message. It’s pretty neat.Via Official Gmail Blog.
Rob Bayne – How A New “Influencer” App Could Be Your Most Powerful Content Marketing Weapon
This is an article on an amazing new app called ‘Little Bird’.  Little Bird is essentially a Twitter search engine for thought leaders.  You simply enter the topic you’re interested in, and Little Bird returns not only the individuals who are most followed, but the ones who have the oldest accounts, the most active accounts, who is most followed by topic insiders, who’s emerging, and who’s listening.  You can even filter the results to show only people, instead of businesses and people.  The only drawback is this tool is currently in a closed beta, and not available to the general public!  Via Business 2 Community.
Mike Odden – Google: A Single Tweak Won’t Boost Your Search Ranking
We are reminded again that there is no single magic bullet to acquiring  significant increase in ranking.  There are over 200 factors used and not all are treated equally.  However , as in all things , there are exceptions to the rule as sometimes a small tweak can result in a major boost.  Such as when a old site did not have any unique title tags. Changing the title tags in the article headline can be a huge silver bullet.  Via Search Engine Roundtable.
Shawna Kenyon – New Tool Visualizes Facebook Analytics in Real Time
A new addition to Facebook analytics called PageLever will provide users real time in page analytics. Facebook intends to update this data every 15 minutes in order to show users which posts are making the largest impact. The goal is to help owners manage their pages more effectively.  Via Mashable.
Evan Prokop – Deconstructing the Google EMD Update
It was a little known secret that websites with exact match domain names have received preferential treatment in search for a long time. Google’s recent EMD update aims to put a stop to that. Learn what it means, and why it’s good news for quality websites.  Via Search Engine Land.
Time to Weigh In:  How much do you think that social media affects your holiday shopping? What do you think of Facebook’s plan to roll out ads that would compete with Craigslist?  How do you plan on utilizing Facebook’s new PageLever tool?