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Welcome to the ineedhits Search Engine Marketing blog, where we share the latest search engine and online marketing news, releases, industry trends and great DIY tips and advice.

We encourage you to get involved in our blog community - so share your opinions and experiences by leaving comments on our posts.

If you're looking for help with promoting your website - check out our range of affordable search engine marketing services.

Tuesday, November 28

Case Study: Blendtec - The Power of Viral Marketing

The rise of user generated content sites such as YouTube and the proliferation of broadband have created new opportunities for marketers. They can now deliver messages through rich media such as video, and have the ability to spread their message around the world in just days. If they can create something people want to share, the results can be greater than their wildest dreams.

Case in point: Blendtec. They have managed to create a series of videos titled 'Will it Blend?' that have been a hit all over the web.

"I've never seen anything that's taken off quite like this in my life," said Blendtec marketing manager George Wright, who developed the idea for the series. The videos feature Blendtec CEO Tom Dickson liquefying a range of items that are divided into the 'Try this at home" and 'don't try this at home' sections. The 'don't try this at home' section features some unusual items that portray the power of the blender from 50 marbles and a handful of golf balls - to a thanksgiving dinner.

The first videos went on the company's website on Nov 2, and after only 1 day the site had received 23,000 hits. After being released on YouTube the videos exploded, with their version of a 'golf ball smoothie' receiving over 1.7 million views. "Ten days ago, I didn't even know what YouTube was," said Dickson with a chuckle. "I'm learning real fast."

For around $50 (the cost of the items the blender has destroyed) the company has managed to reach an international audience of millions. "We have built a top-of-mind brand recognition awareness of this company in a matter of days," Wright said.

The videos saw traffic to the company's website skyrocket, with their Alexa rank jumping a huge 108,000 spots in the last 3 months. They have projected revenues of around 30 million this year, but with the success of the 'Will it Blend?' series, sales are already beginning to climb. The company plans to continue the search flurry by releasing a new video every week. Only time will tell if this will be a success, but for now I'm sure they would be pleased with their efforts.

The Give and Take of SEO: Do's and Don'ts

If you are currently using, or about to outsource to an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) company, here are a few ideas you should consider. What is the "give and take" of working with a search engine marketing company, in order to get the best results for your business?

Marketing Direction
Your SEO Company should be privy to all your current marketing campaigns, target markets and key objectives, in order to align your SEO efforts with your business goals. Let them know where you're wanting to go, and then let them do the rest. Don't forget, to let them know any changes that you are making to your marketing direction along the way! In the same vein, don't update or plan to update your site, without letting you SEO Company know. It's a give and take of keeping each other up-to-date!

Expectations
You may have any number of goals for your search marketing campaign; traffic, rankings, conversion or simply branding. However, don't expect that your SEO Company will be able to deliver all of these things without some input on your behalf! Increased traffic doesn't mean automatic sales - that's where you come in! As a business, you may need to invest in website changes or landing pages to capitalize on your increased traffic or rankings.

Search Marketing companies are specialists in what they do, and within these parameters you can expect them to perform, but they do not run your business and the onus is on you to have a site that will convert traffic or clicks to cash!

Think You Know Best
It is common for people to assume that they know best when it comes to their marketing interests. After all it may be very hard to hand over what is such a vital part of the business to an outsider! Search marketing is highly specialized, and this is a case of someone else knowing best. As long as you have properly communicated your brand and marketing goals to your SEO Company, you have to let go of the reins and refrain from trying to make amendments to their work. You should expect information on what your SEO campaign involves, and how it's running, but it may actually be a hinder for you to try to help!

Take Time
Don't expect results yesterday! While some results can be instant, generally SEO is a long term strategy. You need to have realistic expectations of the timeframes involved in reaching your goals. Don't fall into the trap of regarding your SEO experience as a disaster based on the delay in results. These things take time, and if you have concerns, voice them to your search marketing company, but don't be too hasty in pulling the plug, you may be just around the corner from success.

Finally...
Your SEO Company is fundamentally there to save you time and resources, and you should expect nothing less of them! SEO agencies are specialists in achieving search engine inclusion and optimizing your web pages for the keyword phrases that are so vital to your search marketing success. They should know what your branding strategy is; what your targets and core business objectives are. With this knowledge, they will be able to align your SEO with other marketing campaigns you are conducting.

However, once you have shared this information, let them do their job! They are there so you no longer have to spend time worrying about your search marketing campaign!

Microsoft bCentral Small Business Directory - Shuts Up Shop

Microsoft's bCentral directory has long been regarded as one of the essential listings for small business websites (with Yahoo! and DMOZ). According to a recent article by Matt McGee, it would appear that Microsoft has taken its last directory listing and closed its doors on the bCentral small business directory.

While the Sign Up & Get Your Small Business Listed Today! link to is still visible on the Add Site page, once you click the link, you are redirected to a service transition area with the following message:

"As of November 15, 2006 Microsoft will no longer accept new sign-ups for select Microsoft Online Small Business Services.

These services, previously marketed under the bCentral™ brand, include Appointment Manager, Banner Network Ads, Commerce Manager, Customer Manager, FastCounter Pro, List Builder, Sales Leads, SharePoint®, Submit it!, Traffic Builder, and Web Hosting Packages.

If you are a current customer you can continue to sign in and use your services. For additional information see our Customer FAQ.

If you don't have a Web site and are looking to
take your business online, learn about the new services from Microsoft® Office Live."

While it appears that Microsoft is transitioning its services across to the new "Microsoft Office Live" label, it seems that the bCentral Directory could be a casualty of this re-branding exercise. Currently there are no references to directory listings in the new Microsoft Office Live product range.

bCentral - R.I.P

Thanks to Matt McGee for the heads up on this Microsoft news.

Monday, November 27

Most Popular Christmas Gift in 2006: Gift Cards. Are You Prepared?

According to research conducted by credit card firm American Express, 2006 looks likely to be the first year in which gift cards take the top spot as the most popular holiday season gift, nudging ahead of clothing for the first time.

According to a survey of just over a thousand shoppers conducted by American Express:

66 per cent plan to give gift cards (up from 57 per cent in 2005);
68 per cent plan to buy clothing as gifts (steady compared to 2005);
64 per cent plan to buy toys or games;
63 per cent plan to give music, CDs or DVDs;
46 per cent will opt for cash gifts;
43 per cent will buy perfume, cologne or cosmetics;
43 per cent willpurchase books or magazines.

Due to the survey's inherent margin of error of plus/minus over 3 per cent, gift cards are likely to supplant clothing as the most popular final choice of gifts. According to the National Retail Federation, gift cards are expected to account for $24.8 billion in sales this holiday season (up from $18.5 billion in 2005). On average, shoppers are expected to spend more than $116 on gift cards this year.

While gift cards have been popular for many years, they are increasingly accepted as a thoughtful gift and have become presentable gifts in their own right with many gift cards featuring more and more creative designs and their own imaginative gift wrapping or gift boxes.

So is the trend towards gift cards visible online? While Google Trends doesn't display any metrics for the current holiday season, the spikes in search traffic for the term "gift card" in the past years are unmistakable.

How are you promoting your gift cards?

Considering the huge popularity of gift cards, are you doing enough to promote this gift idea to your shoppers? Gift cards often tend to be treated as an "also ran" option on retail websites. If you are doing this, you might be making it unnecessarily hard for your customers to find their gift of choice! Here are a few last minute ideas to promote your gift card options:

Highlight your gift cards in a prominent position on your homepage and department pages;
Provide a link to the gift cards on all product search results pages;
Include gift cards in your recommendation engine;
Highlight gift cards on your shopping cart page;
Promote gift cards in any targeted email promotions;
Send out last minute emails promoting gift cards as an easy gift option;
Make sure you tell you customers about any special features of your gift cards, eg. customizable design or special gift wrapping options ;
Enable customers to buy email-based gift cards for those people who left their holiday shopping to the very, very, very last minute;
If you have a company blog, blog about your gift cards!

And if you currently don't offer gift cards at all, it's certainly time to make sure you have them ready for next year's holiday season!

Yahoo! Does Deal with 176 Newspapers Across US

Yahoo has just entered into a partnership deal with seven newspaper groups that control 176 daily papers across the US. The deal will see the newspaper groups sharing content, advertising and technology with Yahoo! in an effort to jump on board the technological wave.

The initial roll out of the deal will see the newspaper companies posting their employment classifieds on HotJobs, Yahoo!'s job site. They will also start using the backend technology of HotJobs to drive their own online employment websites.

The real goal of this partnership goes well beyond getting more exposure for their employment classifieds. As more and more people are looking to search engines to source news and editorial content, the newspaper groups are more interested in getting their content featured in Yahoo!'s news search to expand (recover...) their readership.

This is valuable to the newspapers for two reasons:

They can regain some critical readership they have lost in recent times due to digital news sources.
The enhanced reach of their news makes a far more appealing proposition for prospective advertisers whom are rapidly shifting traditional media spend in favor of online and search marketing.

The deal is also a positive for Yahoo! as they have countered Google's recent deal with 50 odd newspapers in the last few weeks. This new partnership which involves sharing of technology will also help Yahoo! claim a stake in the local search market when it integrates its local search technology into the newspapers' websites.

The likes of Yahoo! and Google were once the foes of traditional newspapers, now they're the lifeline to their future prosperity... times are a changing.

Mooter Signs Ad Syndication Deal With Chinese Search Engines Baidu and Sohu

With Google, Yahoo and Microsoft being the center of attention in regards to paid search advertisements, it is easy to forget about the second and third tier providers and networks.

Mooter Media is a case in point: This Australian based provider of targeting solutions for Internet advertising manages the Mooter Media Network, which includes over one hundred Chinese online publishers and serves paid listings to over one billion page views per month in China.

Mooter has just announced that it has signed an agreement with Baidu, China's leading search engine, and Sohu, a leading Chinese portal and search engine, to supply paid listings to the Mooter Media Network in China. Baidu and Sohu join Alibaba, NetEase and Sina, which already provide paid listings ads to the Mooter Media Network.

Mooter is currently only earning around AU$50,000 in monthly revenue from its paid listings in China, but its goal is to expand its distribution network aggressively and then improve its ad monetization through better targeting and optimization and the introduction of advertising formats that are not yet widely used in China.

It will be interesting to follow the Mooter Media Network progress in China - China has proven to be a very tricky market to enter for large and internationally experienced corporations. It would be nice to see this relatively small company succeed and carve out a nice slice of the booming Chinese online advertising market.

You can find out more about Mooter Media at http://www.mootermedia.com and view the press release regarding the ad provision contract on the website of the Australian Stock Exchange.

Friday, November 24

Weight Loss The Google Way

You probably have heard about one of Google's very cool corporate policies - the fact that Google's engineers are encouraged to spend 20% of their work time on projects of their choice, regardless of their immediate financial returns or fit with Google's company strategy.
It looks like that this 20% policy has spawned a tool you'd definitely not expect from the search engine Google - a weight loss monitoring program.

The tool, called "Google 15" because new Google employees are said to gain 15 pounds due to the great free catering available in the Googleplex, is a simple tool that calculates a moving average of your daily weigh-ins. The idea behind it is that weight loss doesn't tend to be consistent or linear, and dieters tend to get demotivated when they see their weight moving down, then up again when they are on a diet.

The Google 15 tool allows users to chart their weight's moving average against their goal weight, and encourages people to continue weighing themselves daily instead of giving up if they see their weight going up on one day. I recall reading somewhere that the act of weighing is in itself a very good predictor of weight control, so stepping on the scales daily should definitely be encouraged!

The Google 15 was written using one of Google's public APIs, so it's easy for anyone to install and use. Check out the Google 15 page for information on how to install the Google 15 and for a nice set of FAQs spanning the technical and medical aspects. As the module's author, Fitz, points out, please consult your medical practitioner for advice on a suitable weight loss program for you. And don't be too hard on yourself when you step on those scales today - it is the day after Thanksgiving, after all!

Tuesday, November 21

High Hopes for the Holidays!

It has become somewhat PC to refer to Christmas as anything but, instead we talk about The Season or Xmas, Happy Holidays or merely holidays! Turns out that search engines reflect a distinct lack of political correctness, as "Christmas" rules search trends towards the end of each year.

With spending over this Christmas season forecast to rise, what will people be searching for, what will they be buying? Well, the MasterCard Holiday Shopping Insights report offers several valuable insights into what shoppers might be inclined to do this season:

Nearly three out of four people plan to shop online during the holidays, with 26 percent saying they will shop online more this year than they did last year. On average, these consumers will plan to spend 41 percent of their total holiday expenditures online.

Consumers said they planned to spend an average of nearly $700 this season with nearly $300 of that amount to be spent online for holiday gifts.

While consumers will spend the majority of their in-store holiday budgets this year on clothing and related accessories, gift cards are moving past many traditional items on shopping lists. For example, nearly 60 percent of those surveyed anticipate buying gift cards or gift certificates, while only 42 percent plan to purchase toys, games, or sporting goods.

The Toy Industry Association hosts the Toy of the Year (T.O.T.Y) awards and its 2006 winners are idea gems for kids this Christmas. The 2006 winners lists includes the winner, the FLYâ„¢ Pentop Computer, and winners and nominations for boys and girl's toys of the year, outdoor toys, and even educational toys!

For those of us older children (at heart) the toys and gadgets only get better! Time Gadget of the Year offers up a range of excellent (albeit up-market) gizmo ideas for him or her (go vote on which you like best, and while you're at it you can send email hints to friends and family, telling them you like "this gift"!).

So, this Christmas search clever, and you can find some wonderful gifts and ideas (yay, maybe even some free stuff!) for your upcoming festivities. For those of you on the receiving end of search, aim to attract buyers and traffic with specialized keyword searches. Even better, buy yourself and your business, an early Christmas present and use Easy PPC to get those Christmas shoppers - qualified, targeted traffic - to your site today!

Internal Divisions Surface at Yahoo - Questions Raised Over Future Direction and Leadership

Airing your dirty laundry in public through leaked memos is probably amongst all companies' worst nightmares, but it tends to be very insightful for observers.

Yahoo! has had exactly that happen last week: One of Yahoo!'s senior vice presidents, Brad Garlinghouse, emailed a memo on the state of the company to senior executives which got leaked. Yahoo!'s PR department is trying to interpret the memo as a sign of Yahoo!'s open culture. But the contents of the memo, dubbed the "peanut butter manifesto" due to Garlinghouse's references of Yahoo! spreading itself too thin like peanut butter, are explosive:

Garlinghouse laments the fact that Yahoo! does not have a focused and cohesive vision and wants to do and be everything without strategic focus
He questions the hiring of outsiders to run the company, which he feels hinders the development of a clear vision.
He thinks Yahoo! is spreading itself to thin.
He accuses Yahoo! of lacking a sense of clarity, ownership and accountability.
He singles out too much redundancy, the silo effect and a lack of decisiveness as a cause of inefficiencies.
In Garlinghouse's view, Yahoo! has lost the passion to win.

How does he think the company can fix its problems?

Restore focus, accountability and clear ownership. This includes clear statements about what the core businesses are and exiting non-core businesses. Garlinghouse also wants to see a redesign of Yahoo!'s performance and incentive systems to restore true accountability.
Radical reorganization: Move away from the current business unit structure, decentralization and reduction of workforce numbers by 15-20%.

Garlinghouse closes his memo saying "My motivation for this memo is the adamant belief that, as before, we have a tremendous opportunity ahead. I don't pretend that I have the only available answers, but we need to get the discussion going; change is needed and it is needed soon. We can be a stronger and faster company - a company with a clearer vision and clearer ownership and clearer accountability." The full text of the leaked memo can be found at Techcrunch.

The memo appears to be critical of CEO Terry Semel and throws up the question of how safe Semel's job currently is - or if Brad Garlinghouse might be forced to move on if his power move doesn't come off. Also, the specter of significant job losses might provide positive signals to finance markets, but certainly won't be welcomed by current Yahoo! staff who might fear losing their jobs.

So, will this memo sink without leaving much of a trace or could this really be the event that triggers massive change at Yahoo? It will be interesting to see what happens next!

Like.com: New Visual Fashion Search

Like.com is a new search engine that has the power to visually match a range of fashion accessories. Using their 'Likeness Technology' Like.com can find similar items to those worn by today's celebrities.

Launched by Riya, Like.com employs the same technology that allowed the company to pioneer the first facial search. According to CEO Munjal Shah, testers didn't find the facial search very useful, but visual similarity shopping for items such as shoes and jewelry was a hit.

This prompted the development and release of the alpha version of Like.com. Where Like.com outshines other image search engines, is in its ability to take queries as both text and images. Traditional image search takes queries as text and compares this to the meta data found with other images. Often, this data is limited, which makes finding related images a challenge. To overcome this problem, Like.com uses a 'visual signature' which is a mathematical representation of an image based on a range of variables. If these variables are the same as another item in the database, Like.com deems these items to be similar.

The power of this search is quite amazing. Say for example I was looking for a new watch. I type in the search query "Mens Watches", and the results now display a range of styles and brands to choose from. After performing a Likeness Search on my favorite style, I am shown a range of watches that look similar to what I am after. Using a slider, I can focus my search on aspects of the watch from Color, Shape and Pattern. To narrow it down even further, I can now select any image and draw a square over my favorite part of the watch. The search will now focus on this area, displaying watches that are almost identical.

At the moment, Like.com only displays results for shoes, handbags, watches and jewelry, but this range will be expanded in the future. The company will also be releasing an image uploader, allowing users to upload their own images and perform a Likeness Search on them. So give Like.com a go - and let us know what you think of this new technology.

Google Sitemaps Endorsed by Yahoo and Microsoft

It must have been hard for Yahoo! and Microsoft to admit that Google Sitemaps are a brilliant idea - but they've done it. The two large search engines have joined Google in recognizing the Google Sitemaps file standard.

What is Google Sitemaps?

Google Sitemaps is a tool for webmasters to inform search engines of existing pages, their priority within the website and the frequency with which they are crawled.

As Google itself states in its Webmaster Help Center, sitemaps "... may be particularly helpful if your site has dynamic content, pages that aren't easily discovered by following links, or if your site is new and has few links to it. Sitemaps helps speed up the discovery of your pages, which is an important first step in crawling and indexing your pages, but there are many other factors that influence the crawling/indexing processes."

Google also points that Google Sitemaps are only one additional way of providing information to Google and only supplement, but do not replace Google's normal methods of spidering the web. As Google Sitemaps is also still in beta, there are definitely no guarantees about if and when sitemap content will be picked up by Google.

Nevertheless, the Sitemaps service has proven to be very helpful for both webmasters and Google since its introduction, and Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft have acknowledged this fact by launching a joint website, www.sitemaps.org, that includes detailed information about how to create, validate and submit a sitemap. Yahoo already allows submissions of the new sitemap, while Microsoft is still testing the protocol internally.

Sitemaps - Now Even More Important for SEO

Because sitemaps offer an easy way of informing search engines about new or hard to find content on your site, you should definitely consider adding a sitemap file to your site, especially if you add new pages or update content frequently, if your site is dynamic or if your standard site navigation is not crawler-friendly. You can find more information about sitemaps on the following websites:

Information about the sitemaps protocol and FAQ: www.sitemaps.org

Google's Webmaster Tools - what is a sitemaps file and why you should have one: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=40318

Information on how to submit a sitemaps file to Yahoo!: http://www.ysearchblog.com/archives/000380.html

Monday, November 20

7 Easy Tips for Getting Local Backlinks

Search engines love websites with lots of relevant inbound links. With the proliferation of local search, geographically focused inbound links are a great way to help your ranking. The great thing about local links is that they don't have to cost the earth, or as you'll see below, are often free.

1. Local Directories
Directories are always a good place to start your link building. As more and more people are becoming web savvy, there seems to be more community/regional directories to choose from. Many provide free listings for relevant local businesses, so seek out your local directories and start submitting.

2. Local Government and Commercial Associations
Most regional areas will have government bodies and trade associations with websites. As it's believed that ".gov" and ".org" based links often carry more weight than normal links, find your local authority sites and try to get listed on their websites/link directories.

3. Share Links with Other Local Businesses
Chances are you're not the only business in your area with a website. This being the case, it's time to forge link relationships with these other local businesses. While relevant businesses are the preferred link source, in the absence of these, any business with a decent website and reasonable local focus will provide some link value.

4. Local Blogs
Everyone's doing it these days, so there are probably many blogs that relate to your region or local area. It's time to create a voice and share your thoughts on their postings. I don't encourage comment spamming by any means, but posting "relevant" comments on blogs is a great way of creating a voice and getting links back to your website. Alternatively, start your own blog and if the content is interesting, others will link to you.

5. Local PR
It's time to blow your own trumpet. By getting out there in the community and picking up some PR (preferably good) through traditional mediums like newspapers, radio etc, much of the press generated will be replicated on their websites. If this occurs you will often get a link back to your own website. Note - always include your web address in press releases and ensure any recipients of sponsorship/donations provide a link to you from their websites.

6. Community Bulletin Boards
Bulletin boards are a great way for local communities to share/inform others about local events and activities. They are also a good place to get some local backlinks. As they are generally quite regionally targeted, they will provide a good locally relevant inbound link for your website. Of course, always to try to post information or comments that are relevant and of interest to others, or your links won't be there for very long.

7. Business Review Websites
There are a host of review websites out there which will often provide regional targeting to their listings (i.e. restaurant guides). So why not submit your business for review (hopefully it'll be good) and enjoy the regionally relevant link they provide.

There you go - a few simple strategies to get your local link building started. Importantly, whenever you have control over your inbound link text, remember to ensure it is local/regional keyword rich. (i.e. Illinois Painting Service). Happy link building.

Friday, November 17

Cyber Monday Is Looming - Are You Ready for the Rush?

Cyber Monday? It's the day after thanksgiving that shoppers go crazy online. For several years now, it has represented the start of the festive sales season with many e-retailers reporting it as their most lucrative day of the year.

The online shopping frenzy is a byproduct of people returning to work after the thanksgiving break and utilizing their company's internet resources to complete their holiday season shopping online.

While tradition suggests Cyber Monday usually represents the busiest sales day of the season, this year they predict it will be the busiest traffic day but sales will actually peak 1 week later - on the 4th of Dec 2006. This day has now been labeled - "eDay".

Whether you believe in Cyber Monday or eDay, there is no denying that a sales blitz is just around the corner. As this time of year is make it or break it for many retailers, now is the last chance to prepare for the busy period.

To ensure you make the most of the forthcoming sales rush, you should start the following campaigns to maximize your Cyber Monday / eDay sales:

Quickly build awareness about your product promotions, special offers and discounts by:

1. Emailing customers/prospects on your mailing lists

2. Starting/increasing paid search for instant exposure to potential customers
E.g. Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing

3. Organizing/Updating product listings on shopping sites
E.g. bizrate, Windowslive Shopping

Google Local Makes Click-to-Call a Reality

Google's on-going research into Click-to-Call has finally been given a full release in Google Maps (Google's local search offering).

Click-to-Call allows searchers to engage with businesses directly using Internet based telephony. This is ideal for advertisers that don't have a website or alternatively for organizations that prefer phone based leads rather than website visitors.

According to the Google blog:

"Here's how it works: Search for a business, like a hardware store, on Google Maps, and click the 'call' link next to its phone number. Then, enter your phone number and click 'Connect For free'. Google calls your phone number and automatically connects you to the hardware store.

There are two things that I really like about this. The business's phone number is automatically stored in your caller ID so you can easily call back in the future. And by checking the box to remember your phone number, you can make future calls from Google Maps with just two mouse clicks (and picking up your phone, of course).

We're providing the 'call' link as a free service to all businesses. These aren't ads and don't influence the ranking of businesses in the search results. We foot the bill for calls (local and long distance), but airtime fees or other mobile fees will still apply if you use a mobile phone number. Currently, the calling feature works if you live in the U.S. and are looking for a business located in the U.S."

The service is being powered by GTalk (Google Talk) and Skype, with other undisclosed VoIP providers assisting with technology provision. It is this technology framework that allows Google to provide the connection service for free for both a