Internet Marketing Course BLOG

8-Word Search Queries Up 34,000% in Last 5 Years!
by Andy Beal
Marketing Pilgrim
February 28, 2009

Dave’s Comments (Internet Marketing Course Blog): A great article by Andy Beal. He combines stats on percent of search engine searches containing 1, 2, 3… up to 8 key words from 2004 with same data from Hitwise, but 5 years later! The trend info is very good news for small business Web sites providing niche products, services and/or serving specific geographical locations. More and more searchers are using more and more words in their search phrases (“long-tail” searches) to pinpoint the exact product/service they’re looking for. And this trend is good news for those sites trying to be found by those specific Customers! The Internet Marketing lesson for small businesses – don’t worry about being found for 1 and 2 word search phrases – instead work 3, 4, 5-plus keyword phrases into your Web site content to help potential Customers find you. It’s easier, more natural, and it works!

“If a picture is worth a thousand words, we might want to start scanning-in images of what we’re trying to find on the search engines. As new data from Hitwise suggests, we’re gradually starting to use more & more keywords when conducting our search engine queries.

Hitwise compared January 2009’s data with last year’s, but I want to take you back farther in time–5 years in fact! Not that my memory goes back that far, but I did remember covering this data for my old blog: Search Engine Lowdown.

Here are the numbers from this year, with Feb 2004’s numbers in parentheses:”

Read the entire article online by clicking on the following link:

8-Word Search Queries Up 34,000% in Last 5 Years!

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MarketingVOX
January 22, 2009

Dave’s Comments (Internet Marketing Course Blog): This overview by MarketingVOX of how consumers find and choose local small businesses is VERY interesting, especially if you are a bricks-and-mortar small business owner! The article basically says that consumers of local small business goods and services search for those services online, preferentially contact those businesses that have a Web presence AND can be found in a commonly used search engine (Google, Yahoo, MSN). If you’re a small business, it’s time to say, “Goodbye Yellow Pages (print AND online), Hello Google!”

“Though 63% of consumers and small business owners turn to the internet first for information about local companies and 82% use search engines to do so, only 44% of small businesses have a website.

What’s more, half spend less than 10% of their marketing budget online, according to research from Webvisible and Nielsen (via MarketingCharts).

The research, undertaken to learn how internet users find local businesses from which to purchase products or services, finds an accelerating trend toward online media for local search. At the same time, it uncovers a significant disconnect between the way small business owners act as consumers vs. the way they market their businesses online. Webvisible calls this disparity “the great divide.”

Tools for Finding Local Business

The survey found search engines, by a large margin, are the most popular source for finding local information.

The list of top sources for local information:
82% use search engines (such as Google, Yahoo, or MSN).
57% use Yellow Pages directories.
53% use local newspapers.
49% use Internet Yellow Pages (such as yellowpages.com or superpages.com)
49% use TV.
38% use direct mail.
32% White Pages directories
Of those surveyed, 50% said search engines (such as Google, Yahoo, or MSN) were the first place they looked when seeking a local business, while 24% chose the Yellow Pages directories.

Overall Satisfaction with Search High

An overwhelming majority of searchers (92%) are happy with the results they get when using search engines, despite the fact that 39% report frequently not being able to locate a particular known business. Webvisible said this means that while searchers don’t always find the specific business (no online advertising/no website, etc.), they may choose to contact a similar business with a stronger online presence.”

Read the entire article online by clicking on the following link:

‘Great Divide’ Separates Small Biz, Online Consumers

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by Dave Ingalls
Internet Marketing Course Blog

We ALL know how important backlinks are to the ranking of our Web pages by the major crawler-based search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.). Backlinks, also known as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks, and inward links, are links from Web pages on other Web sites to pages on your Web site.

And I’m sure MANY of us have felt the frustration of searching Google and Yahoo with our keyword phrases and finding that one or more of our competitors rank HIGHER than we do for that phrase!

So what do you do about it? I just had what an old boss of mine called a “BGO” (Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious) on this very subject!

Here’s a neat little trick I recently pieced together (I’m sure I’m not the first to do so!) while I was updating the “Linking Strategies” information on my Internet Marketing Course Web site:

Go to GOOGLE, enter one of your keyword phrases, and note the top search results of your COMPETITORS.

Now go to YAHOO Site Explorer and enter the Web page address (URL) of your competitor’s top ranking Web page in Google for that important keyword phrase.

Click the “Explore URL” button.

Next, click on the “Inlinks” button, and choose “Except from this domain” from the drop down menu.

You will then be presented with a list of Web pages that link back to that well-ranking Web page of your competitor. It’s Yahoo’s list of backlinks, not Google’s, but if Yahoo’s found them, you can be sure that Google has as well.

Now go thru that list and look for likely candidate Web sites that might also be interested in linking to a page on your Web site.

Also, before sending your backlink request, be sure to find the link to your competitor’s Web page from the target Web site so you can craft your request in a similar fashion to what already exists.

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by Rick Burnes
Hubspot’s Inbound Internet Marketing Blog
November 18, 2008

Dave’s Comments (Internet Marketing Course Blog): What an insightful and helpful article! Rick Burnes does a masterful job of integrating the next round of Internet Marketing initiatives and showing how they can form the basis of a comprehensive online “Inbound Marketing” strategy. The comparison of Inbound Marketing tools to “Outbound Marketing” tools is spot-on. An excerpt with one of the charts from this blog entry is given below. I suggest you STOP whatever you’re doing, take 10 minutes and read the entire article (link below). You will not be disappointed!

“What Is Inbound Marketing?”

“Inbound Marketing is marketing focused on getting found by customers.

In traditional marketing (outbound marketing) companies focus on finding customers. They use techniques that are poorly targeted and that interrupt people. They use cold-calling, print advertising, T.V. advertising, junk mail, spam and trade shows.

Technology is making these techniques less effective and more expensive. Caller ID blocks cold calls, TiVo makes T.V. advertising less effective, spam filters block mass emails and tools like RSS are making print and display advertising less effective. It’s still possible to get a message out via these channels, but it costs more.

Inbound Marketers flip outbound marketing on its head.

Instead of interrupting people with television ads, they create videos that potential customers want to see. Instead of buying display ads in print publications, they create their own blog that people subscribe to and look forward to reading. Instead of cold calling, they create useful content and tools so that people call them looking for more information.

Instead of driving their message into a crowd over and over again like a sledgehammer, they attract highly qualified customers to their business like a magnet.”

Read the entire article by clicking on this link:

“Inbound marketing & the Next Phase of Marketing on the Web”

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G5 Search Marketing Blog
August 20, 2008

Dave’s Comments (Internet Marketing Course Blog): A little gem of a blog entry on where local search is headed and what company/technology (if any!) will challenge Google for overall supremacy in this fast growing search segment.

“Google is the single most popular search engine right now. And it’s not even close.

According to CNET, Google is way over the 60% mark as far as popularity for searches. That means, of course, that they’re also getting the lions share of advertising dollars on the Internet. To the tune of billions of dollars, of course.

And where does their success lie? To hear CNET tell it, the answer is painfully obvious: efficiency.

“And although countless tech pundits will chime in and discuss exactly why Google has been able to run roughshod over its competition, few will point out one basic fact that is too often overlooked: Google search is designed to get rid of you as quickly as possible.

Surely, some will attribute Google’s success to its better search results or Yahoo’s management troubles or Microsoft’s poor offering, but it goes far beyond that. Search isn’t simply about relevant results or the competition. Instead, search is all about getting you to your destination as quickly as possible.”

But as dominant as Google is, both nationally and locally, the real question is not who is dominant now. It is who will be running the show tomorrow.

Robert Scoble, a blogger of prolific proportions and one of the most read men in the tech industry, points to a battleground that’s been brewing for some time.

He says, and we see a lot of validity in his argument, that the next big thing is going to be reviews and how those are collated and monetized. And of course, Google is involved in that battle:”

Read the entire blog entry by clicking on the following link:

Next Local Online Advertising Media: Not Google?

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