Remember those step-by-step procedures you learned in school for calculations and data processing? Those procedures your teacher told you you’d never need because other people would take care of it?  Well those other people work for Google, and those procedures—those operations that result in what is essentially automated reasoning through an algorithm—well, they are changing. And although you may still not remember how to write an algorithm, you better darn well know how to adjust to those changes or your business could face some seriously crappy results.  Read more

Do you think that the release of the new iPad is the only exciting event to take place this morning? Think again! As I reported in my blog post from yesterday, Pinterest had announced earlier in the week that it would be rolling out a re-designed profile page for users of its popular social media site. Well, today was the big day for Pinterest, just as much as it was for Apple, and the time has come for us to peel our eyes off of that bright, brand-new retina display and onto the new format of the Pinterest user profile page.

In Monday's post, I introduced the idea of cultural characteristics and looked at power distance. Certain characteristics of culture influence the way people act and experience their world and, of most interest to those in international SEO, experience the internet. Many aspects of certain cultures have changed over time, however core elements of culture tend to remain unchanged, they only adapt to the times. As such, certain tendencies of those from a specific culture can be expected, and as internet marketers, we must cater what we do to best suit the tendencies of a certain market.

I recently had a business concern with my cellular phone provider.  I took it upon myself to contact corporate headquarters.  I want to be heard.  Unfortunately, it took weeks and several actions to get the result I was working toward.  At first, I used emotion and frustration to cloud my logic.  If I sought the proper channels first, things would have progressed in an expedited fashion.  Such a dynamic is related to a client's SEO campaign.  Established channels are there to ensure the service supplier's company runs smoothly as well as attends to client matters in the most efficient manner.  Consider the following search engine optimization campaign suggestions.

When WebiMax, a Mount Laurel, N.J.-based search engine optimization firm, placed its first QR code on a banner at the 2011 Search Marketing Expo in New York, company founder Ken Wisnefski was impressed that it was scanned by 250 people. That led him to refine his QR strategy to track people who arrived at the company's website via seminars, trade shows or marketing materials. WebiMax has also embedded its e-mail within the code, so scanners can immediately contact the sales department.  Read more

The United States Postal Service recently announced the agency will consolidate or eliminate more than 35,000 jobs in the U.S. This comes as the agency has struggled over the past few years to generate a positive net-income. It is on a three-year plan to save $20 billion.  Read more

Breaking news! This past Tuesday at the South by Southwest Conference that has been taking place in Austin, Texas all week, Pinterest Co-Founder and CEO Ben Silbermann announced the release of a re-designed Pinterest profile page that will roll out this week.

If you're not in this business names like Rand Fishkin and Matt Cutts may not ring any bells.

The world of SEO is continuously morphing. Whereas optimizing a business or organization's website has long been the primary goal of search engine optimization, the tables of the game are just starting to tilt in a new direction. What is this change, and why did it happen?

In yesterday's post, I discussed open source mapping and how both Apple and Foursquare dropped Google Maps as their mapping provider. Both have gone to open source solutions with Apple using OpenStreetMap and Foursquare using MapBox. I finished yesterday's post with the questions -how is the emergence of open source mapping impacting the sector, and second, how would a mapping service by Apple further impact the sector and SEO? Let's address these.

The results of a marketing study that Facebook conducted in collaboration with Forrester Research were recently published. They reveal some very interesting and significant changes in the world of marketing, and how professionals in the field now approach the task of promoting brands and products to consumers. The final verdict is that social media has produced great changes in the landscape of marketing. It has established its place on the list of primary mediums through which businesses now carry out their SEO and other marketing campaigns.

It's easy to get encapsulated in a microcosm.  We, as search engine specialists, forget what it's like for those outside our industry; at present, many are unsure how to brand the evolution of SEO.  Also, it's easy to think about marketing practices within the boundaries of the United States; yet, there is such a service as international search engine optimization.

Online maps are essential to our lives. We all rely on them to some degree as they have grown in relevance and applicability over the years. Gone are the days when checking online maps was reserved for seeking answers to curious geography questions, though. Now, digital maps are integrated into our mobile apps as well as our in-car navigation, and we use them to give us detailed directions on the roadways and to search the the location of local businesses. Some of these applications of the maps lend themselves to internet marketing and search engine optimization more than others, most notably, local business searching, however they all factor into the mapping market and impact the direction the sector will take.

Acceptance of quick-response (QR) codes--those square bar codes that connect consumers to a website, video or special offer--is increasing at a rapid clip. Digital market research firm comScore found that roughly 20.1 million people scanned QR codes with their phones in a three-month average period ending October 2011, vs. 14 million in June 2011.  Read more

Culture is a dynamic, living thing. This may be an exaggeration of sorts, but the point is culture is an evolving entity that impacts just about every aspect of our lives. It impacts the way we experience our days, structure our time, share with friends, work at our jobs, and - how we experience the web. Cultures adapt as time passes, but core elements of cultures can and do remain unchanged. These core elements account for cultural tendencies that exist from culture to culture influencing the way people behave and, for our purposes, experience the internet.

The world of social media may seem large and confusing to many small businesses that are just starting out. However, there is absolutely no reason to shy away from including social media in your SEO marketing initiatives. The benefits of using social media marketing far outweigh any negatives and, if done properly, can ultimately prove to be profitable.

Too cool!  I gained some new Twitter followers due to my sweet tweeting.  Should I follow them back?  Well, let me see 'how popular' they are first; surely, I can't be seen walking the halls of Twitter, following those who aren't cool; I wouldn't be making a good impression. That rationale worked(?) in high school; it can work in the professional world too, right?  I don't think so.

The media frenzy surrounding the sudden rise of New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin may be cooling, but it offers important branding lessons on how small businesses can raise their profiles. Lin’s surge to fame primarily reflected through social media and traditional media coverage alike has given marketers and advertisers an opportunity to leverage a trending phenomenon. Furthermore, it provides an example of an age-old marketing tactic.  Read more

Online Marketing - Gifts from the Gods or Just Seuss Reiterations?

Good morning or afternoon (depending on SEO hemisphere).  A lot of good posts and discussion took place recently.  Let's tear into last week's can of online marketing posts.  You know you can't read just one.

It was a leaderless movement that waged war via new media. It got big people to back down and mighty corporations to change their ways. Stoked by the blogosphere and social media, the public outcry against talk-show host Rush Limbaugh may have helped spur an exodus of sponsors from his show, both nationally and locally.  Read more

This is now becoming more than a trend — viral is, in large part, the future of marketing. We’ve seen the physics of viral, most recently with “Tebowmania” and then its maturation with “Lin-sanity.”  But individuals, companies and now social causes are harnessing the exceptional power of viral for significant marketing gain.  Read more

Of course it was only a short matter of time before an analytics tool for Pinterest, the latest phenomenon in the social media world, would rise to the surface. PinReach is a service that measures the amount of a user's influence on Pinterest. This is done by gathering information about the total numbers of pins, repins, likes, liked-s, followers, following, comments, and boards.

Facebook is rolling out yet another feature to keep members engaged with the site for as long as possible.  Called "Interest Lists," Facebook touts it as a way for users to create their own personalized newspapers with special sections -- or feeds -- on topics that matter the most to them.  Read more

Geo-targeting has been utilized to deliver location-specific content to web users in many ways for several years and is now having greater potential in the political arena. Geo-targeting itself has gone through several iterations on various platforms, but the essentials remain.