Google on Search Engine Optimization: 3 Great Resources

June 26th, 2009 posted by Xander Becket 12:14 pm | View Full Story

Sometimes the simplest advice is the best advice.

Leona and I spend a lot of time doing some really high-level SEO stuff like server configurations, targeted linkbuilding and universal search optimization.

But its good to get back to the basics every once in awhile!

Believe it or not Google actually has a few resources scattered about their web properties that do a great job of explaining SEO, for beginners and advanced  marketers alike.

Here they are:

…View Full Story

How to Find People to Follow on Twitter Using Google

June 19th, 2009 posted by Xander Becket 10:23 am | View Full Story

It’s really hard to find people on Twitter who share your interests.

Facebook and Linkedin both have a version of the “People you may know” feature, but Twitter doesn’t. A lot of people sign up, write a tweet, then say, “Now what?”

You can find an initial group of tweeters related to your business through this specialized Google search (developed by yours truly :-):

custom-search

site:twitter.com -site:m.twitter.com intitle:"on Twitter" keyword

Putting the “site:” operators in there narrows your search to only pages from twitter.com while excluding pages from the Twitter mobile site. And the “intitle:” string filters profile pages from individual tweets. This happens because Twitter puts “on Twitter” at the end of the title of every profile page:

aplusk

Copy and paste site:twitter.com -site:m.twitter.com intitle:"on Twitter" keyword into your Google search bar, replace “keyword” with your own and bam! You get a list of profiles specifically related to your topic.
…View Full Story

3 Really Long Articles Worth Your Time

June 12th, 2009 posted by Xander Becket 11:09 am | View Full Story

Nobody has time to read anymore. Or so they’d have you believe.

Really people just don’t want to waste time reading boring things. I’ll read a long book, article or story if I know it’ll be worth it.

So here it is: YOU NEED TO READ THESE THREE STORIES.

If you read only three things online all year, make it these. They’re full of humor, drama, death, history, calamities and triumphs.

Each is written in a distinct style and by reading them your writing will probably improve (even if you just write emails).

Each one has changed my outlook in some way. Expand your horizons!

…View Full Story

5 Great Websites Every Twentysomething Should Be Using

June 5th, 2009 posted by Xander Becket 12:30 pm | View Full Story

The graduation marketing machine is in full swing, and friends and relatives of college grads are buying tons of gift certificates to places where they don’t shop (read: Bed Bath & Beyond) and stuffing cards with cash that they will blow this Friday at the bar with their friends.

I know, I was there last year.

So instead of $50 for linens or cash that turns into Patrón, send this post to your new grad. I’ve lived as a hyper-connected adult for a year and these five sites have helped me save time, money, and sanity while navigating the real world.

These are the five best online tools for young adults (and anyone else for that matter) to get their financial, personal, and business life in order.

…View Full Story

How to Sell to Everyone: The 4 Personality Types

May 29th, 2009 posted by Xander Becket 12:18 pm | View Full Story

Everybody fits into one of four major personality types.

It may seem stereotypical to pigeonhole everybody into one of four boxes, but in the buying process each type has different needs.

Your website text (and sales team) must speak to each personality type individually to be the most effective. Should you go for the competition angle or the exciting angle? It depends on the personality of your customer.

There are a bunch of different names for the four personalities, like:

  • Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholic, Phlegmatic
  • D, I, S, C
  • Assertive, Amiable, Expressive, Analytical
  • Competitive, Spontaneous, Humanistic, Methodical

We’ll break them down by those last four (with celebrity examples!) because they’re the most aptly-named.
…View Full Story

The 4 Keys to a Well-Performing Landing Page

May 22nd, 2009 posted by Josh Lasdin 12:41 pm | View Full Story

soccer-player

The other day I attended a very informative webinar given by Anna Talerico from Ion Interactive. I was so inspired by her talk that I decided to recap the webinar with a nice blog entry.

As Anna stated, there are four key aspects that make up a high-performing landing page. What is a landing page? Landing pages are used as a high point of conversions typically in conjunction with a PPC Ad Campaign, or Email Blast. These four fundamentals state that your page should be engaging, dynamic, disposable, and agile. I’ll break each of these down for you.

…View Full Story