Mark Faggiano

Website consultant who loves helping others build online companies. Sold @beelya & @filelater. Working on my next cash machine: @taxjar. Crazy about golf & sports. Connect with me on Google+

3 Links Still Worth Paying For

by

I’ve said it before, the best way to get inbound links is to produce a lot of quality content. The better the content, the more people will want to link to it. It’s tough work, but it is the most effective method.

That doesn’t mean you should completely ignore all other methods. There are some other tactics worth your time and money. One that I always get asked about is directories. People want to know if they have lost their luster.

My philosophy is this: there are still a select few directories that are worth it. For example, a link from the Open Directory Project is still a must.  (In fact, that is one of a couple links from free directories that are valuable.) But I am not a huge believer in the services that promise to submit your site to 10,000 directories.

If you can afford to spend little bit of money (around $1,000), spend it on these links rather than mass submission services:

  1. Yahoo Directory: $300/year – for years this has been at the top of the premuim list. Now that Microsft has teamed up with Yahoo, there are rumors out there that the future of this directory is in jeopardy. So keep that in mind. Here’s a link to actually start the submission process.
  2. Business.com: $300/year
  3. Best of the Web: $299 one-time charge – I’ve seen SEO experts debate the value of this one, but I believe it is still worth it. Again, I’m only suggesting these sites for companies who don;t have to necessarily worry about dropping $299 for a link.

Remember, when it comes to inbound links QUALITY wins in a landslide over QUANTITY. So if you can spend a few bucks to get some added link juice while you continue to create great content, spend it on those few sites.

Paid Search Campaigns: Focus on What Matters

by

Fortunately for us, we frequently get contacted by potential clients to perform our free search evaluation service.  Recently, we’ve seen a uptick in the amount of requests for reviews of paid search campaigns, as opposed to a review of a website’s organic search results. That’s inspired us to write a short series of tips about the most common paid search mistakes companies make.

Our most recent article focuses on a very common occurrence we see with companies that manage their own paid search campaigns – focusing on being ranked #1 more than the fundamentals that make up a successful campaign.

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read the article. But for those of you really crunched for time, here’s the Cliff Notes version: out of the allotted time you have to run your campaign (and I believe you should be running your company, not your campaign), stop spending it on increasing your bids so that your ad is ranked #1 all the time.  While being at the top of paid results is great and probably gets you more looks, it doesn’t guarantee you more business. Getting higher click-thru and conversion rates is where you need to focus your time. That means you need to constantly tweak you ad text, calls to action, and landing pages until you feel like you’ve reached optimal levels of conversion. And when you reached that rate, keep tweaking and improve it some more!

Bottom line: stop worrying about the fact that your competition might be ranked #1 and you are ranked #2. Let them drive up their price per acquisition while you increase your margins.

Stop Doubting Video & Embrace It

by

I’m always amazed at business owners who doubt leveraging the awesome the power of video for their website. Although I experience it less these days, I still talk to enough doubting business owners to make me believe the world is not yet as convinced as it should be. Video is the future, if not the present, people!

In fact, I’m sort of embarrassed this blog is in text, not video, but bear with me. I’ll get there eventually.

When someone gets to your website, you have only a few precious seconds to convince them that A) your service is worth buying and B) more importantly, they should buy from you. If your website is loaded with novels of text that someone has to read in order to understand what your business is all about, forget it. No one will read it. You need to shorten your pitch by doing things like showing people via video the value of your product or service.

Today I came across  another great example of  a business leveraging the power of video. Surprisingly, it was done by a bank! Banks aren’t usually known for using social media effectively.

Here’s why this video is so great:

1.  Within 2-3 minutes, you know exactly how the product works AND that it’s ridiculously simple.

2.  USAA took something that might make some people apprehensive (mobile deposits) and used actual customers to ease any potential fears or hesitations about complexity or security. This is brilliant. What’s more powerful than seeing real people make those deposits in only a few seconds?

3. Existing USAA customers will undoubtedly see this app as a value-add while people that aren’t customers might reconsider.

    You can’t watch that video and not think that the service is very cool and a complete no-brainer.  Want proof? According to USAA’s Twitter account, $1.5 million has already been deposited using this new app in just three days.

    If your website is not using video to help sell your products or services, start thinking about it right away. And if you need help coming up with a video content plan, let us know.

    If you have other good examples of videos being used on websites you use, include a link in the comment section.

    Google’s Next Gen Search–What SEOs Are Talking About

    by

    There’s been some really interesting stuff happening in search over the last 24 hours. Here’s a quick recap:

    First, Facebook’s acquisition of Friendfeed and subsequent immediate launch of live search has led to lots of speculation that, together, the two might make a formidable team that will challenge Google in real-time search.

    Second, what Google is calling their Caffeine Update was unveiled. This is the news SEOs are talking about today. According to Google’s search wizard Matt Cutts, Google Caffeine is not going to be obvious when you test it out.

    “This update is primarily under the hood: we’re rewriting the foundation of some of our infrastructure,” said Cutts on his blog. “But some of the search results do change, so we wanted to open up a preview so that power searchers and web developers could give us feedback.”

    You can test Google’s new search index yourself by going to http://www2.sandbox.google.com and doing some searches. You can even leave feedback for Google by clicking the “Dissatisfied” link at the bottom of the results page. Just be sure to include “Caffeine” in your message.

    Here’s the key point to remember about Google’s update: no one knows what’s new. Google has said they’ve made changes and has given you a way to try and find those changes, but has not said what exactly is different. Let the speculation begin!

    Anytime Google even hints about tweaking their algorithm or the way search results are displayed, SEOs everywhere take notice. Caffeine will, undoubtedly, have SEOs trying to find the difference (subtle or otherwise) between current search results and what they see on caffeine. I’m sure over the next few weeks the blogosphere will be buzzing with theories and findings about what’s different.

    I’ve tried caffeine a few times, but only for searches we manage for clients. Other than seemingly faster results, I didn’t see any obvious differences.

    Search is BIG Business. It’s cool to see that competition seems to be alive and that Google is trying to get better.