| LED Digest 2675: Marketing Locally |
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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 The Internet Marketing Boutique: 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 .............................................. July 3, 2008 Issue no. 2675 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ====================== --== Associations and Organizations ==-- ~ Beth Earle "I know it takes time to put on presentations and participate in association activities." ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Internet Marketing ==-- ~ Tom Anson "What are your thoughts on directories and usability?" ~ Michael Linehan "A website is not a replacement for other marketing..." --== Measuring SEO Results ==-- ~ Beth Earle "Why send good traffic to a page that they're just going to click off of right away?" ~ Dirk Johnson "...better rankings are achieved by those who do not 'slice and dice' links..." ========= NEW ===================================== From: Beth Earle Subject: Non-SEO suggestions Hi, Adam and fellow LED'ers, One of the best non-SEO things we do to promote our company is to be involved in the associations related to our business and to our clients' businesses. We recently gave a presentation at a gear manufacturers meeting, which generated a number of good leads, several of which are on the verge of producing actual business. For many years, we had very close ties with an association in another industry that regularly created new business for us -- the association members trusted us because of the work we did for the group as a whole. That relationship only ended when the association decided to let its staff go and hand its organization over to a professional association management company. The website, of course, was part of the deal, although, even after several years, a number of association members remain clients of ours. Also, in cooperation with other Internet marketing companies in our area, we've helped put on several SEO events, which also led to new, long-term business opportunities. On the one hand, I hate suggesting this, because I know it takes time and money to put on presentations and participate in association activities. On the other hand, for us, at least, it's been a very worthwhile endeavor. Regards, Beth Earle www.pilotfishseo.com ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Tom Anson Subject: Internet marketing I'd like to thank Mark Medlicott and John Reisig for their help with my coding problem. I'm pretty sure I've got it fixed now. I had actually tried the <br /> option before (seemed pretty obvious), but it just moved the "tick" lower, not to the right position. Changing the CSS to float: none; did the trick (and resolved other issues, as well). For the record, John, there really is no "reason for the rule"; it's just how DreamWeaver had the image for the feature division set. (I guess I wasn't supposed to put it inside a table or other division; but, I alway do, because I seldom have an image just hanging out there by itself.) As for Mark's suggestions for SEO on my site, I'd like to see a little discussion on this. So, in the spirit of dialogue . . . Contrary to what my previous post would suggest, as I've built my sites, I've tried to keep basic SEO in mind. In my www.therapeutic-grade.com website's first incarnation, I used keyword-rich directory names. But really, making something ~.com/aromatherapy-products/essential-oil-blends/purify-aromatherapy- blend.html got really wierd to work with. I figured that anyone searching the web for "singles" dating sites wouldn't likely find my site anyway, simply because I named a directory "singles", so why not just keep things simple and let people who had come to my site looking for essential oils understand that, on this essential oils site, singles meant single oils, as opposed to blends. As for the question of a folder named /info/ -- as opposed to Healthcare -- I really don't see that as an issue either. The site is about essential oils and aromatherapy. All of the content on the pages relates to that, in one way or another. Yes, aromatherapy is an alternative healthcare approach, but to keep things simple on my site, Information (assuming aromatherapy/essential oils information) seems to me to make more sense. Besides, the vast majority of what people think of as healthcare has more to do with pharmaceuticals than essential oils. And again, no one is going to find my website looking for info or information; but, they're not likely to find it looking for healthcare, either. (A good number of people find my site looking for aromatherapy information or essential oils information; but I doubt that it has anthing to do with info in the URL.) I'm sure there are usability issues to think about -- Shari -- but I think I've divided my site up pretty well between products and information about essential oils. I've tried to remember the navigational problems I encountered on other sites and avoid them on this one. I've tried to avoid clutter and make the top/bottom/side navigation clear and concise, everything pointing to an index page if there is more than one page in that category. I've also included breadcrumbs and a link to my sitemap on every page. So, okay everyone: What are your thoughts on directories and usability? Is my rationale off-the-wall? Or should I just forget rationale altogether? Tom Anson, IPC | doTerra Aromatics.com www.doterra-aromatics.com ============ Begin Sponsor Message =========== -------> JULY 4TH GRAND OPENING <------- AudetteMedia, the Internet Marketing Boutique, opens to great fanfare on July 4, 2008. Picnics, parades and massive fireworks celebrations are planned all across the U.S. Check out what's causing all the fuss: http://www.AudetteMedia.com ============ End Sponsor Message ============= -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Michael Linehan Subject: Internet marketing > This is based on my conviction that most > companies need a comprehensive marketing > strategy of which the internet is one > factor but not the only factor. It requires > a synergy of many tools. - Peter D'Aprix, LED 2672 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/2087/190/ I'd like to say a big "Yeah!" to Peter. I've actually had a couple of people say things to me like, "Now I have a good website, I won't have to do all those phone calls - I hate phoning people." No. A website is not a replacement for other marketing, nor a cure a weak marketing program. Some businesses can exist only on search engine traffic or PPC traffic, but for most businesses, most of the time, I think that a website and its promotion should be regarded as *part* of an overall strategic program. Even further - many businesses use only two or three methods of marketing. For greatest business strength, and for the greatest possibility in weathering the ups and downs of any particular channel, one might consider a marketing program involving five to ten ways of marketing, including offline and on. The effect becomes synergistic. Michael Linehan, Marketing Alchemy www.marketing-alchemy.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Beth Earle Subject: SEO results > Bottom line: Is this SEO's approach the > commonly advised one or have we wasted our > money? - Sandra Combs, LED 2672 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/2087/190/ > I can't see why anyone would tell you not > to start with [links]. - Michael Martinez, LED 2674 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/2089/190/ I thought the whole waiting-to-begin-linking thing was a bit hinky, and I agree with Michael that it makes no sense not to start linking ... unless ... a website isn't really in good enough shape to receive new visitors. Why send good traffic to a page that they're just going to click off of right away? We've seen websites where we've said, "Ooookay. Why don't we work on these elements [i.e. layout, navigation, content] first, and *then* start trying to get more people to visit the site?" My gut says this wasn't necessarily the case in the not-for-profit's situation, but I've had that "first this, then links" conversation with a number of clients. Wishing LED'ers everywhere the very best, Beth Earle www.pilotfishseo.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Dirk Johnson Subject: SEO results > Also, you used the expression > "authoritative links", which implies to me > you've been reading too many SEO blogs and > tutorials. I hate the whole idea of > "authority links". It's a vague, > ambiguous, completely bogus load of horse > crap. That kind of jargon damages more SEO > campaigns than you can imagine. - Michael Martinez Exactly. The focus on "authority links" (whatever that means, since the definitions are all self-written) leads some people to ignore hundreds of links that are quite legitimate and that have value. From what we see, better rankings are achieved by those who do not "slice and dice" links in that way. Best regards, Dirk Johnson DomainDrivers LLC (c) Copyright 1995-2008 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Don’t be a know-it-all; be a show-it-all. Put your motion where your mouth is." - Scott Sorrell |
