Philadelphia Social Media Marketing, Web Design, Internet Marketing and SEO » SEM

SCORE eBusinessNow Conference… A Big Success

Seth Goldstein — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 12:34:14 +0000

Yesterday, Goldstein Media creative director Seth Goldstein was fortunate enough to speak on a panel about SEO and Paid Search at the SCORE eBusinessNow conference. Along with moderator Neal Wiser, of Neal Wiser Consulting, Glenn Gabe, of G Squared Interactive, and Lance Bachman of 1SEO, the discussion focused on how small businesses can get the most of optimizing their content for the search engines.

The eBusinessNow conference is put on by the SCORE Association, which is an organization that helps counsel America’s small business owners on how to get the most out of their business. It was a free event and more than 300 small business owners were in attendance.

To learn more about the eBusinessNow conference and when it will be coming to your town check out their Website.

Link Report for September 30th through October 29th

The Link Report — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:23:33 +0000

This is the Link Report for September 30th through October 29th:

Please feel free to post your thoughts in the comment section below

To see all of our links please visit our Delicious page at

Mobile And Social Platforms Want To Be The King Of Local Search – The study shows that the web generally, but in particular mobile and social network search, are increasingly factors fueling growth in the overall search market. This grew to 21.9 billion total US searches in June 2009, a year-on-year increase of 31%.

10 Small Business Social Media Marketing Tips – Begin by outlining clear goals for your social media marketing efforts and figuring out how you’ll measure success. Once you’ve outlined your goals, let’s look at 10 great ways you can begin to leverage social media for your marketing efforts.

Why Branding Matters to Small Businesses – Search Engine Guide Blog – The power of branding and why branding is key to success.

How to Earn Respect in Social Media – Search Engine Watch (SEW) – Just because you sell a product or a service that is the top selling or highest rated in the industry doesn't mean people will listen to you when you arrive. Announcing your arrival doesn't gain you immediate respect. You won't suddenly have a band of followers once you strike up a conversation or answer a question or two on a topic.

Facebook’s ‘Reconnect’ Strategy is Brilliant – Recently, in addition to giving you suggestions to which friends you might add to your profile, Facebook also started enticing users to reconnect and engage less active users. The campaign has partly backfired, as some of the recommendations were dead people and ex-lovers, but I still think it’s brilliant, and a good sign that Facebook has a clear strategy laid out for the future.

Similar Images Search Graduates from Google Labs – Back in April, Google launched a new search feature in Labs that allowed users to find similar images.
Initially rolled out for select images only, the capability is now being rolled out for what seems to be the majority of images in Google image search. This is particularly useful when search terms include homonyms, we think; and we applaud Google for removing a major pain point in our searches for pics of Tesla the band as opposed to Tesla the scientist or Tesla the automotive brand.

BuddyPress.org – BuddyPress is a suite of WordPress plugins and themes, each adding a distinct new feature. BuddyPress contains all the features you’d expect from WordPress but aims to let members socially interact.

Link Report for September 20th through September 22nd

The Link Report — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:00:10 +0000

This is the Link Report for September 20th through September 22nd:

Please feel free to post your thoughts in the comment section below

To see all of our links please visit our Delicious page at Delicious.com/goldsteinmedia

Google Chrome Injects Itself Into Internet Explorer With Chrome Frame – Google just announced the launch of Chrome Frame, a new open-source project that will allow Chrome's rendering engine to run within Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6,7, and 8. This plugin, which is available now, will give developers the option to ask users if they would prefer to switch to the Chrome rendering and JavaScript engine. Users simply continue to use Internet Explorer and the switch will be completely seamless, with no noticeable changes to the user interface.

Mobile SEO Best Practices | mobiThinking – Our basic mobile SEO advice is to assume nothing, go right back to basics and think through the following principles:

Mobile Search 101, Part 2 – Search Engine Watch (SEW) – One of the challenges for developing and marketing on mobile devices is dealing with different browsers and how they render the Web. This has always been an issue for developers. Another challenge is the different screen sizes, orientations, and rendering speeds.

Mobile Search 101, Part 1 – Search Engine Watch (SEW) – According to a recent Gartner report, mobile advertising is poised to grow 74 percent this year to $913.5 million. It's then predicted to accelerate in 2011 and then reach $13 billion in 2013. The increased consumer use of smartphones is said to be the contributing factor for the explosion.

SEOmoz | How to Export Google Analytics Data to Excel via the API – From @wilreynolds. A way to export Google Analytics data to Excel through the API

Tweet Scenes Launches Yet Another Twitter Background Creator – Companies and brands always want to have their Twitter profiles and background images fit their profile. Tweet Scenes is hoping to make the process of creating backgrounds for Twitter users much easier. You upload your logo, photos, text and links, and give some basic background information on your company and what you’re looking for. You then pay a flat fee ($129) up front, and get your design done in three business days.

Our Microblogging Lives: Work, Home, Lunch, Sleep? – According to a study conducted by the researchers from Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, Google (Google) and Elisa the top 5 most frequent microblogging posts are “working,” “home,” “work,” “lunch,” and “sleeping.”

7 Ways to Boost Your SEO Career Profile | Search Engine Journal – In the current economic climate where the job market has become more and more competitive, sometimes sticking out from the crowd can be as easy as boosting your SEO resume by doing the things that you love.

TinyChat – Disposable Chatrooms for the Twitter Generation – Even though we live in an age of instant Qik streams, video chats on Skype, and micro-blogging on Twitter, sometimes all you need is a simple chatroom for real-time text chats. TinyChat solves this problem by creating simple, disposable chatrooms. Tinychats works exactly as advertised. It's a disposable, no-frills chatroom, with a deliberately limited feature set. There are no accounts to sign up for and whenever you open up a new room, TinyChat will simply create a new URL for you.

Greetings! – A quick primer on how to handle business events correctly

Link Report for August 30th through August 31st

The Link Report — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:00:29 +0000

This is the Link Report for August 30th through August 31st:

Please feel free to post your thoughts in the comment section below

To see all of our links please visit our Delicious page at Delicious.com/goldsteinmedia

Be Careful When Evaluating Paid Search Tests – Interpreting test results for paid search campaigns can be surprisingly difficult. One reason for this is order latency. The fact today’s clicks don’t all generate orders today, but instead sales trickle in over time means that analyzing new launches and tests can be tricky. Two ways to address this complication are described below.
Problem: Successful tests can look bad initially because of order latency

Turn Google Voice into a Growl-Friendly Windows App – Google Voice – Lifehacker – Get Google Voice as a windows popup app. Very handy!

Adobe Buys Business Catalyst / GoodBarry – Adobe will own the American part of the Australian company. Business Catalyst / GoodBarry provides tools that help web designers set up online businesses for their clients with minimal cost and effort and no programming skills required, combining website content management, e-commerce features, e-mail marketing, business analytics and basic CRM tools into one system.

Wikipedia Will Use Colors to Add Layers of Trust to its Articles – Wikipedia plans on signifying the level of their trustworthiness by adding layers of color. It’s easier to trust editors with a high number of entries and revisions than those who are new to the site, and now registered users will be able to easily discern between the two by looking at the color of the text’s background. This will most likely make Wikipedia more authoritative.

AJAX Search: Is Google Sweating Bing Or Just Feeling The Need For Speed? – Is it possible that Google sees a real threat in Bing? Possibly but they've been improving their search for a long time, well before the birth of Bing.

Google Voice Warms Up For iPhone, Cuts Off Calls After 15 Minutes – Google voice dropping calls on the iPhone after 15 odd minutes? Oops!

Why Don’t Teens Tweet? We Asked Over 10,000 of Them. – Over the last few months everyone has weighed in on the question of “Why Don’t Teens Tweet” — except, it would appear, teens. We recently ran a survey of 10,000+ US teens aged 13 – 17 to see if we could add anything new to the question. As it turns out, the question itself is flawed.
Great analysis on how people and teens tweet

Link Report for August 18th through August 19th

The Link Report — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:00:17 +0000

This is the Link Report for August 18th through August 19th:

Please feel free to post your thoughts in the comment section below

To see all of our links please visit our Delicious page at Delicious.com/goldsteinmedia

Five Features We Want to See in Google Voice – Google Voice – Lifehacker – 5 features Lifehacker want to see in Google Voice

How to Manage Your Online Life When You’re Dead – TIME – Times have changed. There's one more thing to add to your list to take care of be for you kick the bucket.

Make Post-Mortem Plans for Your Online Life – Email – Lifehacker – Email, Facebook messages, Twitter DMs—they will, as inbox guru Merlin Mann suggests, keep coming even after we're dead. TIME suggests you make a plan for your online accounts-especially if you don't want your inbox contents revealed.

No Tweet trademark for Twitter – It has been decided that Twitter can't trademark the term "Tweet."

Gmail Backup | Safer is better – Do you use Gmail for everything? Then you probably should backup your emails. Gmail Backup does just that.

Google Continues To Feed The PubSubHubbub. Google Alerts Now In Real-Time. – Today, Google has announced yet another service that is PubSubHubbub-compatible: Google Alerts.

reBlog by Eyebeam R&D – A reBlog facilitates the process of filtering and republishing relevant content from many RSS feeds. reBloggers subscribe to their favorite feeds, preview the content, and select their favorite posts. These posts are automatically published through their favorite blogging software. Thanks @nealwiser for pointing this out.

Official Google Research Blog: On the predictability of Search Trends – Google predictions based on trends

Google Knows What You’ll Search For–12 Months From Now – Scary but true to some extent

SEOmoz | Best Practices for Targeting Generic & Specific Terms & Phrases –

How SEOs spend their time, how it should be adjusted and why it isn't

Seth Goldstein — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:00:46 +0000

Rand Fishkin over SEOMoz posted 4 great info graphs on Search Engine Optimization. One struck a chord:

This pie chart shows where SEOs spend most of their time. I wasn’t surprised to see the results.

A big part of any interactive venture falls into what I like to call “The Pitch.” Convincing people to part with their money is hard to do even if what they’ll spend it on will actually make them more money.

Many people who I talk to think SEO is a dark art and they don’t understand it. I always spend a good length of time explaining to them what goes into optimizing a site and why it costs what it does.

It’s really sad when people look at the price quoted and immediately shut down. It’s obvious they weren’t expecting the price tag to be so high, but SEO isn’t something that just anyone can do. Many people claim to know how to SEO a site and many will have some success at it, but when it’s your bottom line at risk do you want to risk it with a fly-by-night operation or do you want to quality.

Beware of the “Snake Oil Salesmen”

There are plenty of companies claiming to know how to get you to the top of Google. Many even say they can get you there in a short amount of time and you’ll stay there. Like in all industries there are the “snake oil salesmen.” These “experts” will tell you anything to get your money.

If one of these “SEO” gurus says that they can get you to the top of Google in a competitive keyword slot in less than 2 or 3 months (or even more) they aren’t legit. Also if they claim that SEO is a one time deal, walk away or hang up the phone, because If the keywords you’re after are in a competitive market there will always be another company in that space vying for your spot. If you’re not constantly tweaking your site and monitoring its position on the search results then you’re going to drop. Often times hard and fast.

Finding the right search engine optimization company is like finding the perfect contractor. There are tons out there but only a few gems. Do the proper leg-work and research the firm prior to doing business with them.

Read their blog(s)

Google them and see where they come up in the standings

Check Twitter and see if anything is being said about them

Ask other business owners at events who they use

Search review engines like Local Pages and RateitAll

If you follow these steps (and come up with your own as well) and you’ll be less likely to fall prey.

Outsourcing to save money and why not to fall for the trap

One of the biggest arguments I hear when I pitch SEO to a client is, “I can go abroad and get this for three-quarters of what you’re charging.” This really gets my blood boiling. Yes you can go to India or some other place in Asia and get it done, but you are dealing with a number of factors that are going against your project. Here are just two big ones:

The language barrier
You might not think that this is a big issue, but it really is. It’s not so much the language as the customs and the idiosyncrasies of a different culture. When you deal state-side there is always a chance for miscommunication but it’s significantly lowe

You might not be legally protected while dealing with a company abroad
Now I’m not a lawyer, but I’ve heard horror stories from people who thought they’d save a buck and get their Website designed or optimized abroad. They would sign an agreement that looked okay, but in the end for whatever reason, the foreign company didn’t follow through with what they said they’d do and there was little recourse for the American business owner. This can happen in America, but the legal structure that is in places gives you much more recourse than you would if you dealt internationally.

Now, I understand that money doesn’t grow on trees, but “you have to spend money to make money.” I know, I know it’s a cliche, but it really is true. Dealing with a company in the same country that you’re in makes communication easier and makes resolving disputes less painful. In the end isn’t it worth it to spend a little bit more but have the piece of mind that you’re going to get what you want? I think so.

If the SEOs spent less time having to justify their existence, maybe they’d be able to get their job done more effectively and the price might just go down a bit.

Post your thoughts below in the comments. I’d like to hear what you have to say about this.

The Link Report for August 8th through August 10th

The Link Report — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:42:05 +0000

This is the Link Report for August 8th through August 10th:

FriendFeed Co-Founder: Facebook Acquisition Talks Began in 2007 – The details!

SEOmoz | 4 Essential SEO Infographics – Rand Fishkin at SEOMoz.org published a great post with Info Graphics that relate to SEO

2009 Facebook and Twitter Growth by Age Group | Ignite Social Media – The following chart by Nielsen shows that audiences above 25 have experienced a whopping 84% growth in Twitter adoption over the past 6 months. Also interesting is the 20% growth happening within the 55+ age range, compared to the 16% increase in 2-24 year olds. This slight discrepancy in growth doesn’t mean that younger audiences aren’t interested in Twitter, but suggests that they have already adopted it. (Also, after seeing the age ranges listed on this chart, I now want to see what a two-year old would tweet.)

Facebook Acquires FriendFeed (Updated) – Facebook has acquired FriendFeed, weve learned. Were gathering details now.At this point details on the acquisition are still very sparse, but its clearly a good match. Over the last year or so, Facebook has borrowed quite a few of features that FriendFeed popularized, including the Like feature and an emphasis on real-time news updates.

6 Twitter Directories To Add Yourself To – Everyone is always looking for new ways to get more Twitter followers. Well, one of the best ways to do this is by getting discovered through Twitter directories. There are many out there to choose from and its very quick and easy to add yourself to them. So, here are a few to get you started. Feel free to share your favorite (whether listed or not) in the comments.

What is a Natural Link Growth Profile? | SEO Book.com – 3 Common Link Building Strategies1. spiky. if the spikes are associated with news and viral marketing then that is not a big problem, but if they are sorta bought links, low quality links, etc. then this is sorta the worst way to do it.
2. linear. not as bad as spiky…but not as good as geometric. this is where a webmaster tries to build the same number of links each month.
3. geometric. this is where link building starts off slow, but then keeps getting better each month.

Company Boasts it Sold Twitter Followers to Michael Jackson – With the increasing popularity of social media sites and the power of marketing on them, more and more people have been investing in services which can increase their rankings faster than they could do on their own.One such service is the highly-controversial paid Twitter follower service which has been offered by web promotions company uSocial.net for several months now. Now theyre claiming theyve had the attention of some of the worlds largest names, including one interesting one in particular.

Reporting SERP Spam: Know How to Report & Reclaim Your Rankings – Below is a guide about spam results, how to detect them, and finally where to report them. If you want all the links to submit a spammy site, theyre at the bottom (but if you skip all the interesting info you might not know what to look for!).

NBA star’s Twitter ID crisis rebounds on him and the site | Technically Incorrect – CNET News – The NBA, Players and Twitter. A good mix? Debatable

Twitter Co-Founder: Attacks Continue to Change in Nature and Intensity – Apparently, were not out of the woods just yet. While Twitter itself has been working reliably for most of the day, some third-party applications remain impacted by measures the company has taken to defend against DDoS attacks.