May 24,
2006
In This Issue:
1. SEW Live in Seattle (recap)
2. In the News - SEO in 2006, MSN-ODP, Blog Usability
3. More News Headlines
4. Wrapping It Up
_________________
SEW Live in Seattle (recap)
The SEW Live workshop in Seattle last Friday was
pretty good, especially since it was my first
time attending a Search Engine Watch event and
I didn't quite know what to expect. The first
half of the workshop was devoted to PPC advertising
(Google AdWords and the like) while the second
half was devoted to a little bit of everything
else related to online marketing -- from copywriting
to blogging to local search and much more.
I was most interested in MSN's AdCenter presentation
-- it's their version of Google AdWords, only
different. AdCenter is the first PPC system to
allow "dayparting" -- timing your ads
and your bids to certain parts of the day. The
reason I was interested in hearing their spiel
is that AdCenter doesn't work on Mac browsers
yet (d'oh!), so I've never had a chance to play
with it. The MSN guy I spoke with says Mac compatibility
is about six weeks away. Google's presentation
on AdWords also promised the ability to target
ads and bids based on time-of-day in the very
near future.
The second half of the day was also good, with
some good presentations and Q&A sessions.
Ultimately, what it confirmed for me is that the
approach we have at OWT to help our clients' marketing
efforts -- and the stuff I'm writing here in Net
Gains every week -- is the right way to do things.
Nice to know we haven't missed the target with
our approach.
_________________
In The News
SEO in 2006, Part 4: Modern Linking
Strategies
Finally, the last part of our SEO in 2006 series
is available on OWtweb.com. I had wanted to get
all of these written and posted within 4-5 weeks,
but it ended up taking almost two full months.
In any case, this last article addresses how the
linking landscape has changed today, and things
you should and shouldn't be doing in terms of
building up links to your site.
SEO in 2006, Part 4: Modern
Linking Strategies
MSN and ODP Titles
I have talked in this newsletter before about
how various search engines will, on occasion,
ignore the TITLE element on your web page and
instead, in the SERPs, show the page name as it
appears in the Open Directory Project. Google
and MSN both do it, while Yahoo will show the
page name from its own directory. For most web
site owners, this is a practice that absolutely
stinks. Now, thankfully, MSN has announced it
will support a new meta tag that lets you tell
MSN not to use the page name and description from
the Open Directory Project. I'd highly suggest
you implement this on your own site if it's listed
in the ODP. Instructions below....
SEW Blog: MSN
Allows Webmasters To Opt Out Of ODP Titles
Improving Your Business Blog
Aaron Wall does a good interview with Kim Krause
Berg about improving your blog's usability. It
actually extends beyond usability to cover lots
of ideas on making your corporate blog as good
as it can be.
Search Engine Guide: Blog
Usability Interview with Kim Krause Berg
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More News Headlines
Here are a few news headlines worth your time
to read. These are just some of the headlines
we've posted to OWTweb.com in recent days.
Google
retains lead in U.S. search market
May 22, 2006 - News.com
Best
and worst ways to grow an email list
May 22, 2006 - ClickZ.com
How to grow your house e-mail list -- without
spending a lot of time, money, or resources.
Think
organic, act paid
May 19, 2006 - ClickZ.com
Want your PPC search campaigns to kick competitors
out of the running? Five tips to making your ads
more relevant than the organic results in every
engine.
More headlines: http://www.owtweb.com/news/
_________________
Wrapping it Up
That's all for this week. Hope online business
is treating you well!
Thanks for reading,
Matt McGee
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