Inexperienced person green

With everyone jumping on the bandwagon of niche marketing, finding the topics folks are most interested in BEFORE the rest of the world knows it is key. Matt McGee over at Small Business SEM points out what many social media marketers are already learning. Green (environmentally friendly) is the new black. Matt's post shows the increased interest in the phrase "go green" over the last year with charts from Google Trends. He goes on to offer a few example of how to leverage this market for your business. I'd add to his post by pointing out that the green community is a great example of a growing niche as well. The popular eco-friendly site Tree Hugger has launched a green social bookmarking site called Hugg that's a great outlet for anyone looking to promote eco-friendly content. Many parenting blogs are now focused on "natural family living" and Homesteading blogs are springing up all over the place. When I teach about viral marketing and blogging, I often point out that … [Read more...] about Green is the New Black (We Said Go Niche, Right?)

Another article has appeared on the topic of SEO and Usability and how these two different skill sets benefit each other. The latest, Usability and SEO. Which comes First?, written for Search Engine Watch by Eric Enge, caught my eye because he wrote: "What I want to emphasize here is one key point: Usability comes first, and SEO comes second." It's funny to hear that statement coming from a professional SEO. In the late 1990's, when I offered search engine optimization services, I didn't get the call for help until the web site was launched and swimming for dear life in the pool of search engine results. In those days, there were lots of search engines yet SEO came last. It came after the design and after the people who were intended to use it..if they ever found it, that is. During the past ten years there's been a drastic improvement in the amount of companies who accept the need to work search engine marketing techniques into their web sites. User centered, persuasive design on … [Read more...] about Usability and SEO – Red Light, Green Light

Looks like Yahoo is now experimenting with their own background colors for search ads. Spotted by @tecnonetblog - Yahoo seems to be testing a green background color for their ads. Personally, I see a light blue colored background for Yahoo ads.Here are screen shots of the test.Green Background Yahoo Search Ads Test:Blue Backgrounds Yahoo Search Ads:Google is frequently testing different colors and shades of backgrounds for their search ads, so this should come as no surprise.Forum discussion at Twitter. … [Read more...] about Yahoo Tests Green, Instead Of Blue, Search Ads

Wikio is a relatively new startup that blends articles from major news web sites and blogs with commentary and tags from Wikio users. It also offers powerful search and customization options that go beyond what you find at most other “media harvesting” sites on the web. Google News offers personalization, but doesn’t let you choose your own sources or interact with other users. Topix.net allows you to comment on news stories and participate in forums, but doesn’t let you add tags or vote for your favorite stories. Digg lets you vote and comment on stories, but doesn’t offer any personalization (other than a list of the stories you’ve “dug.”) Wikio offers the features of all of these services, and more. When you first visit the Wikio home page, it looks like most other news aggregators. You’ll see a list of the top 20 recent news stories, each with a headline and excerpt, along with links to related stories at other sites. Each story … [Read more...] about News Search + Personalization + Social Media = Wikio

Thanks to the power of the internet, digital marketers today have access to unprecedented amounts of consumer data. Unfortunately, many businesses are still not making the most of it. Departments are siloed, campaigns are inefficient, and the disparity between large companies with big marketing budgets and small companies with limited budgets seems to be growing ever wider. If you are an optimist like me, whenever a problem arises, you view it as an opportunity. However, much of the data found in Magnetic and Retail TouchPoints’ recent research report, “Inbox Love” (registration required), shows that marketers are approaching problems as challenges and failing to see the potential for growth. For us to achieve our goals, we must look at our problems and reframe them as opportunities to improve. Coordinate data silos I’m not the first to point out that data represents the biggest opportunity for marketers. The closer you get to combining data silos, the closer … [Read more...] about Turn your email challenges into opportunities to get more personal