| LED Digest 2654: Measuring SEO Results |
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The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom http://www.AudetteMedia.com : the LED's Publisher Boutique Internet Marketing: SEO, SEM, Social Media http://www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. May 29, 2008 Issue no. 2654 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Event Management ==-- ~ Mark Medlicott "...have you had a good look at the Google Calendar now on offer." ~ David Lazar "Calendar applications [on Delicious]..." --== SEO Standards ==-- ~ Eric Ward "There are some of us who sell almost exactly what we sold in 1994..." ~ Barry S Mills "I'd love to know if anyone has any better tools for measuring the results of SEO." ~ John Smart "Or dial 411. Where is the money in that?" ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Mark Medlicott Subject: Events > One of our clients is in need of software > that will manage events on a calendar. I am > looking for a suggestions from this great > group of subscribers! - Joel Lesser, LED 2653 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/2068/190/ Hi Joel Regarding a calendar that does all the things you are looking at, have you had a good look at the Google Calendar now on offer. The catch to setting it up is that you need to have a Gmail account, but that's only for the main administrator. From your description, I am unsure how suitable the calendar will be, but here in New Zealand I have set up a couple of clients using this method. In one case they run a safari and hunting business and members of the team live 100s of miles apart, but all now co-ordinate through the same calendar. The good thing we have found is that along with automated email alerts, we can also have text messages sent to their cellphones, which in the case of the head guide who is a technophobe when it comes to computers and emails, this has worked really well. It is a free service (I'm not going down the debate of how much info Google keeps) and can also be synchronised with Outlook and many other applications. In both my clients cases I have embedded it on a private page on their website, so as long as they have Internet access they can see what's meant to be happening from anywhere. There are probably some really good paid solutions that are available these days, but I know that the Google Calendar is a way ahead of solutions I looked at a couple of years ago. Regards Mark Medlicott Medlicott Design http://www.medlicottdesign.orconhosting.net.nz/ -------- new post - same topic -------- From: David Lazar Subject: Events Calendar applications... http://del.icio.us/lazworld/Calendar David Lazar Lazworld.com Inc. ============ Sponsor Message =========== Writerfind.com, established in 1998, specializes in connecting professional freelance writers with clients. The site caters to: * freelance business communicators who have a 'way with words' along with industry experience * freelance journalists who have substantial experience writing articles for magazines and journals There is a charge for freelancers to be listed, but no charge for clients to search the database and post jobs. Writerfind.com - http://www.writerfind.com ============ Sponsor Message =========== -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Eric Ward Subject: SEO standards > If you followed this phenomena as I did > from 2005, you'll see a dramatic change in > what was being "sold" back then to where > this SEO phenomena stands today. Yes. There > are still some SEO vendors caught up in the > 2005's. - Al Toman, LED 2653 Not by everyone, Al :) There are some of us who sell almost exactly what we sold in 1994 (yes, 94), having changed only what needed to be changed, not with the SEs in mind, and who reap the benefits of NOT chasing search rank to begin with. Good search rank is then the residue of useful content meeting up with a content publicist / link developer who knows what the hell actually matters for each client, and who can explain why, justify and back it up. Eric Ward -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Barry Mills Subject: SEO standards Amidst a lot of frankly rather tiresome waffle, Al Toman does make one valid point in his "show me the money" rant. Which is that SEO firms/people on the whole are not very good at quantifying or presenting the benefits of what they do. I'm happy to show anyone the money. When I pitch SEO, I always try and do it on an ROI basis. We've had clients where we've quadrupled their turnover in a month (from a lowish base - adding maybe $30k a month). We've had many who've had an ROI into the thousands of percent. I don't think we've ever had an SEO client who didn't see a positive return at some level. Anyone doing business online who hasn't considered SEO is missing out big time, and if they are spending money on other kinds of marketing and advertising, they're almost certainly being wasteful. SEO works. SEO is the single most cost effective form of marketing for the majority of online businesses. SEO rocks. But SEO reporting sucks. The world does not need standards for SEO implementation, for many reasons already highlighted in this discussion they wouldn't make sense. But we could certainly use some standards for SEO measurement. The big problem facing clients is that there's no objective way to compare one SEO firm or strategy with another. With advertising in different newspapers it's easy, you can try both. With most types of online promotion you can (and should) split test till the cows come home, so after a while you KNOW you're doing it well. But you can't try 2 different versions of SEO. So imho we could really do with an objective and widely adopted standard of measurement that says how well a site is doing on SEO, how it compares to its competitors, and whether it's getting better or worse. Saying you've got a client x top 10 rankings is not the answer, because it takes no account of the relative importance of the terms, the trends, the benchmarks against competition etc. Traffic doesn't do it, because traffic doesn't tell you how much you didn't get that maybe you should have, and anyway you probably don't know your competitors traffic. I'd love to know if anyone has any better tools for measuring the results of SEO. Barry S Mills, Chairman Netstep http://www.netstep.co.uk -------- new post - same topic -------- From: John Smart Subject: SEO standards Showing the money is an interesting idea - it strikes me that if your name is 1st in Google, then anyone looking for you by name will find you (you were 2nd when I looked, but I know how that goes). So, people who already know you, and know what you do can find you in Google. Or dial 411. Where is the money in that? If you Google 'internet design' I come 1st all the time - except for those days when I am 500th. I cannot show you the money from that - it has led to no sales - a lot of traffic, which is causing us to refocus our site, but no money. If I came first under 'John Smart' what good would that do? I want people to find me if they are looking for a programmer. If they already know me, chances are they want a favor! That does not help my bottom line any! The main reason that internet Design comes first in the search engines is the domain name. I have done some pretty cool SEO stuff to help, but I cannot take all the credit, alas - it is the domain name. And Al, searching for your name and studio 9 web design gives a ton of results - none of the immediate ones linked to you - if I knew you, but did not know where to find you, that is where I would have started searching. John Smart InternetDesign.com A Human Touch in a Digital world. (c) Copyright 1995-2008 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "He who would do great things should not attempt them all alone." - Southwest Indian Proverb |
