Charged with Pandering & Extortion Managing online reviews and press coverage is all a part of reputation management. But what if the biggest review repository has its own PR “black eye?” Yelp is experiencing (yet again) reputation management issues. Most of our clients fall into one of two categories: Lovers or Haters of this popular …
WordPress.com for Business
When Not Hosting Your Website Makes Sense As you probably know, we love WordPress. We love self-hosted (WordPress.org) websites. Yet, there are some circumstances when using WordPress.com to host a business website makes sense. 1. No Fuss, No Muss If your business is just getting off the ground, you might have the time, patience or …
Comment Link Spam: Bad SEO
If you’ve got a blog, then you’re probably getting comment link spam. Matt Cutts released a video this week talking about this very issue. I’ll explain what it is and how to make sure you’re not using this bad SEO strategy. Lastly, and for a few laughs, I’ll share a few of our favorite spammiest …
How Do You Increase Web Traffic?
One sign of a healthy online presence is a steady increase of web traffic. If your website is relatively new or your pageview stats have stalled, then this post is for you. We’ll answer the perplexing question: “How do you increase web traffic” with evergreen (read: White Hat SEO) techniques. Consistency, Baby Search engine bots and …
Risky SEO Services To Avoid
All SEO services are not created equal. Lately we’ve had a bunch of conversations with businesses who are fed up with empty promises and questionable results. Years ago when we started our agency, we drew a line in the sand. We made a conscious (and at the time unpopular) decision to wear only a White Hat. …
New Webmaster Tools Warning
Reminder About Manipulative Techniques On the official Webmaster Tools blog Grey Hat SEO practitioners got yet another warning to stop manipulative and deceptive behavior. Before you read any further be warned that this post is a bit of a rant. If you dare read on I promise to provide useful information about the recent Webmaster …
7 Marketing Budget Tips
Guide to Setting Realistic Spending Targets Developing an online marketing strategy and sensible marketing budget is important regardless of business size. Word of mouth can only do so much. The greatest product in the world will fail if nobody knows that it exists. But how do you set a realistic marketing budget so you’re able …
SEO Copywriting Tip: Mind Mapping
A Powerful Tool That Sparks Creativity SEO copywriting is invariably on my daily to-do list. I’m either writing for our blog (229 posts published and counting) or I’m whipping something up for a client. Sometimes I get stuck – not quite writer’s block – but I get to the point where I’m struggling to write …
Google Authorship & Social Search
The What, Why & How Google Authorship was launched a few months back. It’s a way that a search engine can distinguish (and reward) individuals who contribute online content. Have you noticed pictures of people when doing a search? Those intrepid folks have linked authorship to their Google Plus profile. About a year ago my …
Website Testing: Ideas Worth Trying
Little Tweaks Can Mean Big Results Website testing doesn’t have to be complicated. Google Experiments (also known as digital analytics experiments) provides an easy framework to test various website elements in the quest of improving performance and increasing online conversions. Here are 5 website testing ideas: Click for a free 30-minute consultation » 5 Website …