The Vizion Search Engine Optimization Blog
- 2009Jun10Rushmore Drive Search Engine to Close
Just over a year ago, I wrote about Rushmore Drive a search engine that was launched in an attempt to deliver relevant search results to the black community. It apparently uses a “a dynamic layer of Black-targeted search results and user-generated content.”
Well, now one year and two months later there are reports that Rushmore Drive is closing, shutting its doors.
- 2009May27How to Follow Trends In Your Niche on Twitter
Everyone it seems is hanging out on Twitter and sharing their links and tweeting about not only the latest news and gossip, but they’re also talking about everything from aplusk to #unfollowdiddy.
It seems as though every few minutes there’s another “trending topic” on Twitter. So, how do you keep up with it all? How do you track your brand, your niche topic, your keywords, or even your own company name on Twitter?
There are several different resources available to follow and watch the trends on Twitter. Of course, there’s Twitter Search, but for many popular keyword phrases you just cannot get enough data to make it worthwhile. Some popular phrases, especially if they’re trending topics on Twitter, get mentioned several times a minute, leaving you to think that they’re hot topics right now but what about last week? Or even yesterday? As of this writing, Twitter only shows the top 10 trending topics. A lot more data exists out there, and luckily it’s pretty easy to get ahold of. One of my favorites right now is Twist, which will show you a lot more than the top [...]
- 2009May26How to Choose Alternative Link Text for Search Engine Optimization Purposes
If you’re having some trouble ranking well in the search engines for certain keyword phrases, it might be that you need to look at the anchor text links that are pointing to your website. Those anchors might be old and the “chain” might be rusty. You might need to update them, and even vary them a bit.
When it comes to organic search engine rankings in Google, one of the many factors that they consider is the “link text” or “anchor text” that is pointing to a web page. Anchor text is the “link label or link title is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink.” Google has, for many years now, looked at what other people say about you, or, more specifically, what other web sites say about your web page. So, when you’re trying to “rank well” in the search engines for a particular keyword or keyword phrase, something you can do is to try to get links to your website with certain “anchor text”.Over the years, we have seen an increase in people trying to buy links with specific anchor text in order to influence the search [...]
- 2009Apr30What the Swine Flu Has To Do With Search Engine Optimization
By now, you have probably heard that the Swine Flu is going around. In fact, just last night the Fort Worth Texas Independent School District decided to close all 140 schools in their school district for over a week. And today, my 8 year old’s elementary school principal said that one of the kids in the high school has the swine flu, which may mean that it’s in our area (Texas).
- 2009Apr24How to Remove Google Personalization from Search Results
I am not sure if you have noticed, but when you are searching Google for something, Google has begun to personalize the search results. So, when you search for something like search engine optimization, you will most likely get personalized search results like this:
If you take a closer look, you will notice that there’s a phrase there on the top right of the search results that indicates that the search results you’re looking at are “Customized based on recent search activity”. What? Yes, Google is learning more about us, and they are actually changing the search results based on several different factors: one of them being the fact that they watch what you’re searching for and then display different search results. So, oftentimes I will search for something at home, go to the office, and find totally different search results.
You don’t even have to be logged into a Google Account in order to receive the personalized search results. That means that they are looking at information such as your IP address and your location (my IP address at home shows that I’m about 250 miles where I’m actually located…so Google thinks [...]
- 2009Apr23Affiliate Marketing Relationships: Communication is Key!
Communication is an important element to any relationship, be it personal or professional, and one that must be adhered to in affiliate marketing management. How you choose to communicate with your affiliates will determine the level of desire and commitment they will have in advertising your products as well as the knowledge they will have of your products.
- 2009Apr20Vizion Interactive Now a Google AdWords Qualified Company
We are proud to officially announce that Vizion Interactive has recently become a Googleâ„¢ AdWords Qualified Company.
Vizion Interactive previously held the certification of Googleâ„¢ AdWords Qualified Individual. We have recently taken efforts to further the PPC (Pay Per Click) education and pay-per-click knowledge-base of our staff to better meet the needs of our clients– and to excel in the evolving world of search engine marketing.I recently spoke with Glenn Boswell, one of our PPC experts:
Besides being a full-service interactive marketing agency and a leader in Search Engine Optimization, I am really excited at where we are heading with our pay-per-click marketing service offering. From concept to inception, or the management of an existing PPC program, we have the tools and knowledge-base to drive successful gains for our clients through online channels such as Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing. We can perform in all PPC elements such as custom landing page development, ad copy creation, bid management, timing, and keyword discovery.
What does it mean to be a Google AdWords Qualified Company?
Companies that meet Google’s requirements (such as minimum spending requirements and employing at least two Qualified Individuals) can achieve Google’s [...]- 2009Apr16WebPro News – Video Interview with Mark Jackson at PubCon South
Mark Jackson, President/CEO of Vizion Interactive, was recently interviewed by WebProNews while attending the PubCon conference in Austin, Texas. Mark was speaking on two panels at the event, and WebProNews wanted to dig deeper into Mark’s presentation as well as discuss further some of his columns on Search Engine Watch.
In the interview Mark talks about how to effectively build a keyword list to best optimize your Search Engine Optimization efforts. Even big brands have begun to embrace this idea and Mark states that brainstorming plays a valuable role when choosing what keywords on would want to optimize for.
- 2009Apr9How to Recruit Affiliates to Your Affiliate Program
When recruiting affiliates who will become motivated and driven to sell your product, it is important that you “turn the table”, so to speak. Place yourself inside of the mind of a prospective affiliate. Ask yourself, if I were an affiliate, what would I want to see in an affiliate program that would make me feel that this is a successful partnership? No, it is not always completely about dollars and conversions. This is because a knowledgeable affiliate looks at how easy it will be to sell your product via a lead conversion, how committed the company is to their affiliate program, and how easily a lead will convert.The first point to consider in the recruitment of a quality affiliate is your site’s usability and conversion potential. With this, how easy is it for a lead to navigate through a sales process on your site? Is your call to action clear? If your site is a jumbled mess of dead links, blurry call to actions, a never-ending purchase cycle, and confusing information architecture, your prospective affiliate will realize that no matter if they generate an enormous amount of leads, few will likely [...]
- 2009Apr6Google Adds One Line Sitelinks to Search Results
I’m not sure if you have noticed, but Google has added expanded upon their Sitelinks feature to the search results. Several websites are reporting that this really happened over the weekend, but I actually noticed it last week. Here is what one line site links look like:
I’m crediting Barry Schwartz of SE Roundtable with coming up with the phrase “one way sitelinks”. What are they? If you look at the screen capture I show above, you will notice that there are four links right above the green URL in the search results. These are actually the first four Sitelinks that point to additional pages on a website. The one way Sitelinks are actually only the links that show up in the search results at Google. They appear to be taken from the normal Site links that a website has.
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