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	<title>Milestone Internet Marketing</title>
	
	<link>http://blog.milestoneinternet.com</link>
	<description>Milestone is a full-service internet marketing company for the hospitality and hotel industry, providing cutting-edge strategies for successful online promotions, marketing and website design.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:24:43 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Search Behavior: What are people really looking for through search?</title>
		<link>http://feeds.milestoneinternet.com/~r/MilestoneInternetMarketing/~3/YUAFaRW_6W4/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/website-promotion/search-engines-web-promotion/user-search-behavior/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:49:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Milestone</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Search Engines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[search behavior]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/?p=2670</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Keyword research is should be based on what customer wants, not what are good keywords. Because keywords are medium to increase traffic on website.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 class="h3">Search Behavior on  the Internet</h3>
<p>When we analyze keyword research, we’re not only looking at  words, phrases, or questions. We need to really analyze what the client is  searching for. This goes beyond the obvious product or service. Not until we  truly understand user’s needs, will we know how to fill them.<br />
When people search on  the internet, they are typically looking for the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Confidence</li>
<li>Reassurance</li>
<li>Verification</li>
<li>Easy to access</li>
<li>Consistent</li>
</ul>
<p>All of the above points are  inter-related and linked to each other.   When users come to your site, you have to inspire confidence/reassurance  in them to want to purchase the product/service that you are promoting.  The way to do this is to grant users easy  access to your site, be consistent with your messaging and information, and  allow for simple verification.  For example,  make sure to have your local business information consistent on all listings  and channels. If there are inconsistencies within your listings and website,  this will definitely lack of trust and hurt your conversion over all. </p>
<p>In conclusion, review your site  and put yourself in the users’ shoes. Ensure that your site inspires confidence  and reassurance.  Ensure that your site  is easy to access and consistent.  Look  beyond the search query and really focus on the needs of the consumer. </p>
<p>————————————————————————– <br />
<em>Contributed by: Zulema Romero, <a href="http://www.milestoneinternet.com/" target="_blank">Milestone     Internet Marketing</a></em></p>
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		<title>Search Engine Strategies 2010 – New York, NY: Advanced Paid Search Tactics</title>
		<link>http://feeds.milestoneinternet.com/~r/MilestoneInternetMarketing/~3/Eo3U1oWsJwY/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/website-promotion/pay-per-click/search-engine-strategies-2010-new-york-ny-advanced-paid-search-tactics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:03:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>teresa</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Pay Per Click]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paid-search-tips]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/?p=2499</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This solo session covers paid search campaign expansion techniques, advanced ad testing, advanced auction theory, the proper use of relevant analytics reports, ideas for bid rules and campaign automation, techniques for acting on seemingly inconclusive data, and more.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="size-full wp-image-2522 alignnone" title="SESNY_Logo_030910" src="http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/SESNY_Logo_030910.JPG" alt="SESNY_Logo_030910" width="454" height="77" /></p>
<p><strong>Session Name: </strong><a title="Advanced Paid Search Tactic" href="http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/agenda-day3.php" target="_blank">Advanced Paid Search Tactics</a><br />
Your campaigns are performing OK. How to take them to the next level? Advanced PPC tactics can actually be more fun than basic ones, because you get to activate both left and right brain power, tapping into your own unique aptitudes as well as your customers&#8217; deepest desires. This solo session covers campaign expansion techniques, advanced ad testing, advanced auction theory, the proper use of relevant analytics reports, ideas for bid rules and campaign automation, techniques for acting on seemingly inconclusive data, and more.</p>
<p><strong>Date: </strong>Thursday, March 25, 2010</p>
<p><strong>Time:</strong> 12:45-2:00pm</p>
<p><strong>Location: </strong><br />
SES Strategies 2010 New York<br />
Hilton New York<br />
1335 Ave Americas<br />
New York, NY 10019</p>
<p><strong>Moderator:</strong><br />
<a title="Erica Schmidt - Moderator" href="http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/erica-schmidt.php" target="_blank">Erica Schmidt</a>, SES Advisory Board &amp; Global Search Director, iProspect</p>
<p><strong>Speakers:</strong><br />
<a title="Rob Wilk - Speaker" href="http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/rob-wilk.php" target="_blank">Rob Wilk</a>, National Director of Search Optimization &amp; Strategy, Yahoo!<br />
<a title="Thomas Bindl - Speaker" href="http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/thomas-bindl.php" target="_blank">Thomas Bindl</a>, SES Advisory Board &amp; Founder &amp; CEO, Refined Labs GmbH<br />
<a title="Andrew Goodman - Speaker" href="http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/andrew-goodman.php" target="_blank">Andrew Goodman</a>, SES Advisory Board &amp; Principal, Page Zero Media<br />
<a title="Sage Lewis - Speaker" href="http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/sage-lewis.php" target="_blank">Sage Lewis</a>, President, SageRock.com<br />
<a title="Benu Aggarwal - Milestone Founder &amp; President - Speaker" href="http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/benu-aggarwal.php" target="_blank">Benu Aggarwal</a>, Founder &amp; President, Milestone Internet Marketing</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Bulldog Reporter Session: Social Media PR for Travel Destinations</title>
		<link>http://feeds.milestoneinternet.com/~r/MilestoneInternetMarketing/~3/uf75hOf_TyY/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/speaking-our-minds/bulldog-reporter-session-social-media-pr-for-travel-destinations/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:02:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>teresa</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking Our Minds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online promotion tips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media Optimization]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/?p=2618</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Learn how to fulfill Social Media's amazing potential for increasing travel loyalty and engagement, positive press coverage, website traffic, and sales for your business.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2620" style="margin: 12px;" title="BulldogReporter_Logo_031110" src="http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/BulldogReporter_Logo_031110.JPG" alt="BulldogReporter_Logo_031110" width="416" height="100" /><br />
<strong>Session:</strong> Creating a Powerful Social Media Marketing Plan for Destinations</p>
<p>Social media has become one of the most dominant forces in marketing  travel destinations—and it’s growing more important every day.  But in  order to fulfill its amazing potential for increasing traveler loyalty  and engagement, positive press coverage, website traffic, and sales,  your social campaign must be methodically planned. Discover how to set  realistic goals and how these goals will determine where to focus your  precious resources and how much to spend on each of the major (and  minor) social networks.  In addition, you’ll learn how to integrate  social media efforts into your traditional public relations, and you’ll  discover the most reliable ways to measure the effects of your social  media PR.</p>
<p><strong>Date: </strong>Wednesday, March 17, 2010</p>
<p><strong>Time: </strong>10AM &#8211; 11AM PST</p>
<p><strong>Topics Covered:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li> What can social media accomplish . . . and what can it not accomplish</li>
<li>How social media affects travel decisions and purchases and how you must tap into those trends</li>
<li>How to use what’s being said in social media to pick the right tools for your social media program</li>
<li>The value of a page-one Google ranking—what it does for your traffic—and how to earn a page-one ranking</li>
<li>How to track mentions of your destination in social media conversations—and how to do it before you start your campaign planning</li>
<li>How to determine which bloggers to target and which to ignore</li>
<li>Essential elements of an integrated social media/PR/marketing plan</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Panelists:</strong><a title="Internet Marketing Expert for the Hospitality Industry" href="http://www.milestoneinternet.com/html/hospitality-industry-marketing-speakers-benu.asp" target="_blank"></a></p>
<ul>
<li><a title="Internet Marketing Expert for the Hospitality Industry" href="http://www.milestoneinternet.com/html/hospitality-industry-marketing-speakers-benu.asp" target="_blank">Benu Aggarwal</a>, President, Milestone Internet Marketing</li>
<li>Amy Kemp, Communications Director, Vail Resorts</li>
<li>Diana Plazas, Marketing Director, Doubletree Hotels</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>To Register, <a title="Creating a Powerful, New Social Media Marketing Plan for Destinations" href="https://www.bulldogreporter.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&amp;type=forms&amp;mod=Smart+Forms&amp;sfid=51E7C5B287DD41DB999786FBBA7B4D87&amp;tier=1 " target="_blank">click here</a>.</strong></p>
<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MilestoneInternetMarketing/~4/uf75hOf_TyY" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>Social Media Strategies 2010 –  Effectively Use Social Media Tools to Boost Customer Engagement &amp; Loyalty</title>
		<link>http://feeds.milestoneinternet.com/~r/MilestoneInternetMarketing/~3/8L2ySasEGeA/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/web-2/social-networking/social-media-strategies-2010-effectively_use_social_media_tools/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:01:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>teresa</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social_media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social_networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/?p=2530</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Listen to Milestone's CEO speak about how to effectively use social media tools to boost customer engagement, loyalty, and online revenue for your hotel.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2533" title="SocialMediaStrategies_Logo_030910" src="http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/SocialMediaStrategies_Logo_030910.jpg" alt="SocialMediaStrategies_Logo_030910" width="199" height="100" /><img class="size-large wp-image-2531 alignnone" title="eyefortravel-logo_print" src="http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/eyefortravel-logo_print-1024x428.png" alt="eyefortravel-logo_print" width="133" height="55" /></p>
<p><strong>Session: </strong><a title="Eye for Travel Social Media Strategies 2010 Agenda" href="http://events.eyefortravel.com/social-media/agenda.asp" target="_blank">Effectively Use Social Media Tools to Boost Customer Engagement &amp; Loyalty</a></p>
<p><strong>Date: </strong>Wednesday, March 24, 2010</p>
<p><strong>Time: </strong>4.15 &#8211; 5.30 pm</p>
<p><strong>Location:</strong><br />
Eye For Travel Social Media Strategies<br />
Hyatt Fisherman&#8217;s Wharf Hotel<br />
555 North Point Street<br />
San Francisco, CA 94133</p>
<p><strong>Topics Covered:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>One-on-one push management of customers is a thing of the past. Social CRM is here and now but what does it mean to your business?</li>
<li>How can social media be used as a customer retention tool?</li>
<li>How can you use social media tools to foster positive relationships with your most valued customers and add meaningful benefits to their travel experiences, both online and offline?</li>
<li>Can you measure the time and cost savings in other departments by providing real time info to your customers via twitter and social networks?</li>
<li>Evaluate the way social software is altering the CRM landscape</li>
<li>Customer profiling data &#8211; what information can be gathered via social media communications to target your customers more effectively?</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Speakers:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a title="Internet Marketing Expert" href="http://www.milestoneinternet.com/html/hospitality-industry-marketing-speakers-anil.asp" target="_blank">Anil Aggarwal</a>, Chariman &amp; CEO, Milestone Internet Marketing Inc.</li>
<li>Linda Palermo, Chief Revenue Officer, Joie de Vivre</li>
<li>Will Aldrich, VP of Product, TripIt</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Registration:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Standard Pass: $1595</li>
<li>Milestone Guest Pass: $895</li>
</ul>
<p>To register and get discounted pass pricing, email: <a href="mailto:sales@milestoneinternet.com?subject=Eye For Travel Discount Pass&#038;body=Name:%0D%0ACompany:%0D%0AJob Title:%0D%0APhone Number:%0D%0AE-Mail:%0D%0ACompany Address:%0D%0AInvoice me: Yes/No%0D%0ACall for my CC Details: Yes/No">sales@milestoneinternet.com</a></p>
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		<item>
		<title>Ask The Link Builders</title>
		<link>http://feeds.milestoneinternet.com/~r/MilestoneInternetMarketing/~3/jHDB7VXRliU/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/website-promotion/link-building-101/linkbuilding-tips-seo/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:46:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Milestone</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Link Building 101]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[link building]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[seo]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/?p=2291</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A session at SMX Convention, Santa Clara Convention Center in March 2010 details good link building strategies and  tips, techniques, and resources for same. The panel of experts answered diverse questions related to best practices, tools and sources for link building.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 class="h3">SMX 2010 Session &#8211; Linkbuilding Q&amp;A</h3>
<p><strong class="qa">Que:</strong> Is Article marketing a waste of time?<br />
<strong class="qa">Ans: </strong>Articles can be a good source  of links as well as leads. More than syndication the consensus was to socialize  the content by twitter, Digg, del.ico.us etc. Tip to search for blogs to post /  submit your article &#8211; Search using keywords like &quot;guest post&quot;, &quot;submit your  article&quot;. On delcicous.com tag article and sort by tags or popularity.</p>
<p><strong class="qa">Que:</strong> How do you justify the budget for  link initiatives when you cannot track benefits?<br />
<strong class="qa">Ans:</strong> We can track visits from links established via Analytics. Also, can  #tag or use javascripts (Google started to index some #). Other tracking  options &#8211; webmaster tools, Yahoo Site link explorer, for blogs.google.com can  use link: tool to find links.</p>
<p><strong class="qa">Que:</strong> URL Shorteners &amp; branded short  urls &#8211; can any benefits be passed on from these?<br />
<strong class="qa">Ans:</strong> SEO benefits of using url shortners is no different than using full  urls. Recommended services for url shorteners was bit.ly (they have investors  &amp; also same investors as twitter so they are here to stay awhile even  though their domain is based out of Libya; fact that they have exclusives for  twitter.com makes them the best). In contrast ow.ly is a definite no-no. Danny  suggested acquiring branded url shortened versions with services so nobody else  can grab them or shorten your urls maliciously. So get customs names for your  website / brand.</p>
<p><strong class="qa">Que:</strong> Twitter links are &quot;no follow&quot; &#8211; so  any point of twitter links?<br />
<strong class="qa">Ans:</strong> Twitter no follows urls might not have much SEO effect but it is an  excellent medium to distribute your blog/article/url to a wide audience who may  then link back to you. Also, you can put a twitter widget on your website and pass  twitter juices outside twitter. Think of twitter as akin to your email service  &#8211; a distribution channel, which gets you wider audience. </p>
<p><strong class="qa">Que:</strong> How does Google weigh internal links  versus external links?<br />
<strong class="qa">Ans:</strong> Even a poor quality external link from a low PR page is worth more  than an internal link. But it is good practice to have keyword rich anchor text  links on your page. The most important thing is to ensure that if you have  dead-ends on your website like word documents or pdfs then definitely link back  from such pages to home.</p>
<p><strong class="qa">Que:</strong> What are the key qualities to look for  in a great linkbuilder?<br />
<strong class="qa">Ans:</strong> Experience, social (bloggers who are respected in their space &amp;  drive traffic) and the discretion /transparency -Linkbuilders should also be  strategic &amp; technical to an extent so they know where to gain critical  citations, how to embed codes &amp; widgets, diversify anchor text etc.</p>
<p><strong class="qa">Que:</strong> As Wikipedia links are no follow, are  they of any SEO value?<br />
<strong class="qa">Ans:</strong> Not as SEO value lender in terms of link juices but immense value for  researchers and can generate back links to your website outside of Wikipedia.  It brings direct traffic to your website and then this traffic may link back.  It is true that no follow links are no SEO value as far as Google is concerned.  Even though Google shows some no follow links in backlink analysis it does not  mean they help ranking. Also please note : even PR 1 &amp; 2 links also lend  some little value for SEO.</p>
<p><strong class="qa">Quick  tip from Danny on Linkbuilding sources:</strong> search for a keyword in Google &amp; the top results in SERPs are the best  sources to link from.</p>
<p><strong class="qa">Que:</strong> Is it a good practice to be on  websites who link to your competitors?<br />
<strong class="qa">Ans:</strong> To be at par with your competitors you need to be linking back from  the websites they are on (but ensure these are relevant to your site /  vertical). A good tactic is also to go and look for parallel links which is  from sites not directly inking to your competitor or who do not link to your  competitors to stay one step ahead.</p>
<p><strong class="qa">Que:</strong> Linksculpting &#8211; does it work?<br />
<strong class="qa">Ans:</strong> To hide outgoing links using no follows, iframes, javascripts &#8211;  according to Google all these   linksculpting practices are useless &amp; they will find your outgoing  links.</p>
<p><strong class="qa">Que:</strong> Is using Digg to build links  beneficial &amp; if yes how does one get to first page of dig?<br />
<strong class="qa">Ans:</strong> This one generated difference of opinions amongst the panelists &#8211; most  concurred it does not pay to get irrelevant links off digg just because you  have a trending topic which is not related to your space. But Fishkin felt if  you host link baiting content on your site (in subdomain or subfolder)  pertaining to topics which diggers link to then it will lift the overall  website in terms of link juices. To get to front pages of digg- identify  players who are big on digg in your space, establish a rapport, release content  with their suggestions/approval and then they link back to it &amp; this helps  generate more links on dig.</p>
<p><strong class="qa">Quick  tip:</strong><strong class="qa"> </strong> Matt Cutts endorsed linkbaiting (unofficially)</p>
<p><strong class="qa">Que:</strong>  Paid Link Services &#8211; risk versus gains?<br />
<strong class="qa">Ans:</strong> This is a grey area. Google does not like and  penalizes link sellers as well as link buyers. You can decide the gains  outweigh the risks and go with this but you may come under the scrutiny of Google (not  immediately or in a year or so) and in fact Google’sScrutiny  is rumored to become more and more stringent in the very near future.</p>
<p><strong class="qa">Que:</strong> What are the best link building strategies  that have worked for you?<br />
<strong class="qa">Ans:</strong> The panelists each had a personal  favorite on how to get the best links:</p>
<ul>
<li>Rand Fishkin &#8211;  Content syndication &#8211; write great content, license it out and then get links  back as website who use this content will need to embed content &amp; give due  credit so it’s a good source of valid links, opt in &amp; is also a scalable  model.</li>
<li>Roger Montti &#8211;  some high value sites actually ask for your suggestions on recources eg. Local  .edu, newspapers etc.</li>
<li>Garrett French &#8211;  doing group interviews of industry experts or thought leaders or bloggers with  huge following &#8211; the interviewee always links back to published interview &amp;  this also leads to their followers linking back to your article</li>
<li>Mike Gullaksen &#8211;  likes creating a tool or widget which fulfills a community need eg a calculator  for a mortgage website and this gets backlinks naturally.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong class="qa">Conclusion:</strong> The basic take home  message was manual linkbuilding to relevant websites is still king. There  exists a grey area between white &amp; black hat SEO practices when it comes to  Link building. To find that balance between risk &amp; gain while paying for  links is key. Socializing to gain links is the newest way to go.  Linkbuilding  technology is ever evolving  and companies need to adapt to this but old school still rules &#8211; good quality  relevant links from trusted sites are the best.</p>
<p><em><strong class="qa">Moderator:</strong></em> <a href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/bio.php?id=127" target="_blank">Danny Sullivan</a>,  Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land <br />
<strong class="qa">Speakers:</strong><br />
<a href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/bio.php?id=32" target="_blank">Rand Fishkin</a>, CEO  &amp; Co-Founder, SEOmoz (substituting for <a href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/bio.php?id=176" target="_blank">Rae Hoffman</a>, Owner,  Sugarrae Internet Consulting)<br />
<a href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/bio.php?id=190" target="_blank">Roger Montti</a>,  Founder &amp; Owner, MartiniBuster.com<br />
<a href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/bio.php?id=914" target="_blank">Garrett French</a>,  Co-Founder, Ontolo<br />
<a href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/bio.php?id=930" target="_blank">Mike  Gullaksen</a>, Vice President of Search Strategies, Covario</p>
<p>————————————————————————– <br />
<em>Contributed by: Aditi Karandikar, <a href="http://www.milestoneinternet.com/" target="_blank">Milestone     Internet Marketing</a></em></p>
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		<title>Real Time Search and Major Search Engines</title>
		<link>http://feeds.milestoneinternet.com/~r/MilestoneInternetMarketing/~3/Mz2noSbINrM/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/website-promotion/search-engines-web-promotion/real-time-search-and-major-search-engines/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:46:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Milestone</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Search Engines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[search engine marketing (SEM)]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/?p=2585</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Real time search getting greater prominence as people seeking more real time results over traditional search. With more and more people getting hooked on twitter and facebook, search engines are partnering up with social sites like twitter to provide search relevance at a much quicker pace.  ]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 class="h3">The importance of Real time Search</h3>
<p>Real time search has been causing real time spam as  well. Let’s see what the big players in the search are doing to make real time  search useful.<br />
Body &#8211; Danny Sullivan moderates the session and speakers on  the panel are Sean Suchter, Ivan Davtchev, and Dylan Casey.</p>
<p><img src="http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/real-time-search-big-players.jpg" alt="SMX West 2010, Danny Sullivan, Ivan Davtchev Sean Suchter, and Dylan Casey" title="SMX West 2010, Danny Sullivan, Ivan Davtchev Sean Suchter, and Dylan Casey" width="450" height="121" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2589" /></p>
<p>First up is Sean  Suchter from Bing Social Search who states some of the obvious challenges  namely keeping up with speed, making sense of massive content and relevance of  search. Most often the results from twitter are timely but not accurate and  often opinionated, reactive and not to the context/relevance. </p>
<p>Most of the incidents  get real time response from platforms like twitter over traditional news  sources. So to rise above the noise, there is a lot to do as search gets more  social.<br />
Such as quality,  trust, popularity and timeliness. Some of the new things to consider are:</p>
<ul>
<li>people retweeting       what you said, sharing good links            </li>
<li>Trust worthy       people sharing your links and tweets. The search engines are determining       how important you are.</li>
<li>Number of people       retweeting what you said</li>
</ul>
<p>Real-time relevance  needs data mining to filter and rank based on history. Spamming communities can  be highly visible and they are keeping a strict watch on this to provide most  relevant information</p>
<p><strong> Next up Ivan Davtchev: </strong><br />
What is Real time  search? It’s about showing the most relevant up to date content for a topic.  Yahoo recently established partnership with twitter. <br />
Some of the challenges  stated in Real time search were:</p>
<ul>
<li>Real time indexing- has to be done       fast</li>
<li>Query analysis- determining which       query real time search has to show up for</li>
<li>Raking of fresh       content: How to find proper anchor text.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>How do you know a  query is really hot?</strong><br />
They figure it out  based on emerging events and news stories (natural disasters, sports political  news). He talks about Google trend being a good indicator of how a popular a  query is. It works well for head queries but not as much for tail query. So  standard approach is not ideal. </p>
<p>Some of the algorithms metric are internal. Yahoo Time  Sense for example is an internal tool which plays a key role. </p>
<p><img src="http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/yahoo-time-sense-internal-tool.jpg" alt="Yahoo Time Sense- internal tool" title="Yahoo Time Sense- internal tool" width="297" height="263" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2590" /></p>
<p><strong>How is this different &amp; better?</strong><br />
They have Language  modeling- it means collection of all known words and query log.<br />
Why language modeling?  It allows you to ask questions and tells whether the search is prominent and if  the data of past search matches to it…then it marks it as relevant to real time  search. </p>
<p><strong>Real time practices to avoid:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Do not create content with multiple       bussing terms</li>
<li>Do not abuse shortening services for       spam links</li>
<li>Do not go over board with twitter       #hash tags</li>
</ul>
<p>Yahoo is removing real  time spam. So watch out!</p>
<p>Not the least, up next  was <strong>Dylan Casey:</strong><br />
What is real-time, why  real time is important? All social media tools and channels have made everyone  a publisher. As publishing barrier gets less competitive, the need for speed  and relevancy goes up. People have begun to use content differently. </p>
<p>Why the explosion of  information and why now?</p>
<ul>
<li>need for more information, quick       information and real time information and relevant information</li>
<li>Influencing factor of email Vs       instant messaging, generating user experience through instant results have       become the trend.</li>
</ul>
<p>Tool to find out what  people are talking about- <a href="http://www.Google.com/trends" target="_blank">www.Google.com/trends</a> </p>
<p>They introduced real  time search in dec 2009. They will be adding new providers such as facebook,  myspace and google buzz. In order leverage the technology they use for ranking documents  Google has come up with something new.   They look at the number of followers. They look at author quality.</p>
<p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Some of the key take aways here are:  Marketers need to be more prudent in what they want to market. Beware of  spamming as most search engines are filtering them out. Lastly write often,  find something you are passionate about, pay attention to the mechanics of SEO  but don’t overdo it. </p>
<p>————————————————————————– <br />
<em>Contributed by: Bhuvana Krishnan, <a href="http://www.milestoneinternet.com/" target="_blank">Milestone Internet Marketing</a></em></p>
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		<title>Real Time Search: Beyond the Majors</title>
		<link>http://feeds.milestoneinternet.com/~r/MilestoneInternetMarketing/~3/37HZfxsGl3k/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/website-promotion/search-engines-web-promotion/real-time-search-and-major-search-engines-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:46:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Milestone</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Search Engines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[search engine marketing (SEM)]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/?p=2593</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As we all know, we have started seeing all the major search engines such as Google and Bing providing real time search results for users. This includes Yahoo’s recent partnership with twitter in providing the same.   ]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3 class="h3">Players in Real Time Search</h3>
<p>The panel was moderated by Danny Sullivan and the  speakers in the panel were those who specialize in providing real time search  results.  <br />
<strong>Gerry  Campbell:</strong> CEO, Collecta<br />
<strong>Rishab  Aiyer Ghosh</strong>: CoFounder &amp; VP,  Topsy<br />
<strong>Ken Moss:</strong>  CEO &amp;  co-founder, CrowdEye<br />
<strong>Tobias  Peggs:</strong> GM, OneRiot</p>
<p><img src="http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/players-real-time-search.jpg" alt="Danny Sullivan, Tobias Peggs, Gerry Campbell, Rishab Aiyer Ghosh, Ken Moss" title="Danny Sullivan, Tobias Peggs, Gerry Campbell, Rishab Aiyer Ghosh, Ken Moss - Real Time Search - Players" width="304" height="101" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2599" /></p>
<p>First up was Tobias  Peggs, GM of OneRiot. He throws light on user behavior that looks for  information, which are fresh and relevant. OneRiot Differentiates itself from  how twitter works. Platforms like twitter is highly used but with a lot of  information being surfaced at a given time. The traditional search engines  struggles to provide relevant information and fresh results from various  sources. The fashion in which oneriot works is, it crawls all the links which  people share on various social platform such as digg, twitter,blogs etc and  gives importance to socially relevant filtered content which people will find  more informative. </p>
<p><img src="http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/real-time-search-oneriot.jpg" alt="OneRiot’s real time content links" title="OneRiot’s real time content links" width="450" height="345" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2600" /></p>
<p>Also he talks about  monetizing real-time search on the web with ad space selling. Oneriot is used  as a platform for promoting real time search results with real time ads by  providing good ads that match to the search from the real time web</p>
<p>Next up was Ken Moss  from CrowdEye. He says Twitter is a big deal but chaotic. He emphasizes on the  need for good real time search results. His version of traditional search is<br />
Comprehensive &#8211; But a  Firehose<br />
Fresh &#8211; but in seconds!<br />
Relevant &#8211; needs new  Capabilities<br />
Nice user interface &#8211; Unique </p>
<p>Crowdeye uses  sophisticated technology to index information on twitter,retweet to help users  find what is important to them in real time along with statistical data on the  popularity of search which occurred for a given topic at various intervals.</p>
<p>The new perspective  that crowdeye brings on to the table are:</p>
<ul>
<li>By what people where talking in terms of real story</li>
<li>Help find the most relevant tweets</li>
<li>Topics from most popular links, helps explore results</li>
<li>Finally help putting nicely in a great UI (User Interface)</li>
</ul>
<p><img src="http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/crowd-eye.jpg" alt="Example for real-time image search with stats" title="Example for real-time image search with stats" width="450" height="182" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2598" /></p>
<p>Additional they also  offer</p>
<ul type="disc">
<li>Filtered results and Helps sort       story by time and relevance</li>
<li>Can categorize based on positive and       negative sentiments</li>
<li>Creating customized home page</li>
</ul>
<p>Next up is Rishab  Aiyer Gosh from Topsy. He states the model of web search is changing. It&#8217;s no  longer a network of documents but a network of people. Such as writing a  website or contributing to a blog. Live web is a network of people. To help  rank this content- Topsy comes into place. </p>
<p>They offer a time  window in web search. They also provide relevant image search and puts them in  the order of the time such as hour, day, and month for a given topic. Images  are indexed based on real time search only.</p>
<p><img src="http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/real-time-search-topsy.jpg" alt="Example for real-time image search from Topsy" title="Example for real-time image search from Topsy" width="450" height="179" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2601" /></p>
<p>Lastly, Gerry Campbel  spoke about Collecta. The team delivers a generational leap in speed, scale and  relevance. All of these from information, navigation and transactional  standpoint. Value of information has become very crucial. Collecta filters  information based on stories, comments, updates, photos and videos for a given  search query. </p>
<p><img src="http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/collecta-real-time-search.jpg" alt="Collecta real time search" title="Collecta real time search" width="401" height="309" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2597" /></p>
<p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> It was interesting to see some of the  upcoming providers of real time search and information they offer. </p>
<p>————————————————————————– <br />
<em>Contributed by: Bhuvana Krishnan, <a href="http://www.milestoneinternet.com/" target="_blank">Milestone   Internet Marketing</a></em></p>
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		<title>Search Meet Display; Display Meet Search</title>
		<link>http://feeds.milestoneinternet.com/~r/MilestoneInternetMarketing/~3/dymIcmYzR0A/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/website-promotion/pay-per-click/search-meet-display/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:46:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Milestone</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Pay Per Click]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet-target-marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paid-search-best-practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paid-search-marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ppc-best-practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ppc-marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[why-do-ppc]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/?p=2609</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Which strategy provides the ROI – organic or PPC? The answer: neither. To obtain the best ROI, you must do both. Having an integrative online marketing strategy can provide you increased ROI but also increased market share and increased brand awareness. Just doing one or the other is an opportunity lost.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>How do search and PPC complement each other?  Research shows that out 1600 respondents, PPC ad copies had the following  impact:</p>
<ul>
<li>31% of users click on PPC ads and take the action the ad copy tells       them to do</li>
<li>27% of users do not click on PPC ads. Rather they do a search on the       product or company related to the ad copy</li>
</ul>
<p>Search is a secondary response  measurement of a PPC campaign’s success. Do not do a PPC campaign without a  strong search campaign since users will use both in their purchasing cycle.  Moreover, experts suggest using PPC search query reports to find the top terms.  Use those keywords and integrate them back into the website via content and  metatags in order to drive more organic traffic to the website. Experts say  there are points of diminishing returns in terms of driving traffic when you  are doing a search campaign or a PPC campaign exclusively. But, if you do both,  then you can increase traffic driven to your website beyond that point of  diminishing returns.</p>
<p> Furthermore, experts found that 30% of the  respondents have seen the brand multiple times before taking action. This  alludes to the importance of maintaining consistent brand awareness in the  minds of the consumer, who will eventually convert.</p>
<p>With that said, experts also suggest to use  PPC campaigns to increase market share in a new market segment. For example, if  you want to enter a new market with your current product, then use PPC to  aggressively establish a presence in that new market. When you optimize your  website with keywords and the like, the organic strategies may take a while.  During the interim, with PPC, you can bid on keywords relative to the new  market segment, and thus establish a brand presence early.</p>
<p>Lastly, if you are able to, purchase media  exchanges in which you can utilize tag users with cookies and thus enabling you  to use search, site, and social retargeting. Such strategies typically have an  80% conversion.</p>
<p>Rise in media exchanges &#8211; trading platform in  which you can trade online marketing mediums. Cannot continue to shout at the  crowds = significant about of waster because excluding different steps of the  buying cycle. Therefore, we must talk to individuals. </p>
<p><strong>Event:</strong> Search Marketing Expo &#8211; SMX West, March  2-4, 2010<br />
<strong>Session:</strong> Search Meet Display; Display Meet  Search<br />
<strong>Speakers:</strong> Dax Hamman, VP, Display Media,  iCrossing; Brian Kaminski, Executive Vice President, Managing Director,  iProspect; Justin Merickel, VP, Marketing and New Product Development,  Efficient Frontier; Jonah Spegman, Search Marketing Manager, Scripps Networks  Interactive</p>
<p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> PPC will provide you a CTR.  But what happens to those users who do not click through? That market is not  lost. A portion will search. But, do not think of search as an insurance to  catch the remaining market. Both organic and PPC strategies must be fully  optimized, makes sense to the user, and address any point the user is at in the  purchasing cycle. With these strategies complementing each other, you can  maximize your market share.</p>
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		<title>SMX West – Keyword Research: Beyond the Ordinary</title>
		<link>http://feeds.milestoneinternet.com/~r/MilestoneInternetMarketing/~3/M5_d1h946d8/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/website-promotion/pay-per-click/smx-west-keyword-research-beyond-the-ordinary/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:45:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Milestone</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Pay Per Click]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conferences]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[content_writing search engine optimization (SEO)]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[keywords]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/?p=2611</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At SMX West 2010 this year, the session “Keyword Research: Beyond the Ordinary” offered insights on latest tricks and tips to maximize your traffic through SEO / PPC keyword targeting.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>At SMX West this year, the session &quot;Keyword Research: Beyond  the Ordinary&quot; provided attendees with advanced strategies to implement while  conducting keyword research for SEO optimization or PPC campaigns. </p>
<p>Christine Churchill of KeyRelevance.com spoke first in the  session. She stressed the importance of thinking ahead of the game, and suggested  that marketers create an &quot;editorial calendar&quot; to map out their future plans to  create new pages or blog posts throughout the year. The editorial calendar will  help you plot out your intended keyword targets, based on seasonality,  projected trends, or the anticipated travel plans of your target audience.  Churchill suggested using Google Hot Trends, Google Keyword Tool, Twitter  Search, Yahoo Buzz, and Google Real Time Search to look for your target  keywords by geographic market or even by a specific date range. The calendar  will provide your PR or Marketing Department (or whichever individuals manage  your website or blog copy) a clear keyword targeting plan and allow them to  generate some great ideas for the core content ahead of time. </p>
<p>Taylor Pratt of Raven Internet Marketing Tools stressed the  importance of using your existing analytics and traffic reports while composing  your keyword research strategy. He suggested using Google Analytics to sort  your existing keywords by bounce rate, number of exits, pageviews, goal  tracking, and average time on the website. He also suggested an interesting  tactic when reviewing the analytics to cut down on what he called “Keyword  Bias”. When reviewing the analytical reports, black out the actual keyword and  only look at the data points. Sometimes marketers get too focused on the actual  keyword, and not at the pure data, and this can help you focus on what keywords  will convert the best, rather than what you expect to be the best keywords.</p>
<p><a href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/bio.php?id=881" target="_blank">Stoney  deGeyter</a> of Pole Positioning Marketing spoke next about your target  audience playing a critical part of your keyword research process. He suggested  that before starting keyword research, you clearly define who your audience is  for the website, blog, or PPC campaign. Generate a list of everything you think  your audience is interested in. What are their needs when using the internet to  find hotels? How do they speak? What words are they using to find what they  need? You can use Twitter Search or Google Real Time Search to find out words  that users are using against your brand or geographical location. After you  have generated a list of your target keyword phrases, deGeyter suggests that  you break them down into the four segments of the consumer buying cycle<strong>: preliminary research, rate shopping,  ready to buy, and seeking information. T</strong>his will help you assign the proper  keyword phrases to specific adgroups or organic landing pages.</p>
<p>Alex Cohen of ClickEquations also stressed the importance of  understanding the target audience while compiling keyword research. He  suggested that you get into the shoes of your searcher. A necessary part of SEO  is to truly understand what the <em>intent</em> of the search user is. If you can understand their thought process and ultimate  goal, you will have the largest chance of converting them into a buyer. He  suggested downloading <strong>Microsoft Ad  Intelligence Program&acute;s Excel add-on tool</strong>. This tool will help you generate  more keywords and search for more synonyms when you are compiling your keyword  lists.</p>
<p><a href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/bio.php?id=886" target="_blank">Cady Condyles </a>from The  Rimm-Kaufman Group and she offered detailed insight into keyword research for  retail goods online. She also stressed the value of using social media tools to  search for keyword trends or anticipate new keywords or user language for your  brand in the future. She ended the session on a high note, stating the current  advantage marketers have today with social media research tools giving us live  time data about our brand or our target audience’s needs.</p>
<p>In conclusion, the Keyword Research: Beyond the Ordinary  session was extremely informative on best practices when compiling your  website, blog, or PPC keyword strategy. The speakers all shared the common  ground that there are lots of sources available to us online to collect and  analyze data. The key is organizing the keywords by the user&acute;s intent /  projected outcome, and assigning the keywords to the proper landing pages and  relevant enticing content.</p>
<p><strong>Speakers:</strong><br />
<a href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/bio.php?id=20">Christine Churchill</a>,  President, KeyRelevance.com<br />
<a href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/bio.php?id=885">Alex Cohen</a>, Senior  Marketing Manager, ClickEquations<br />
<a href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/bio.php?id=886">Cady Condyles</a>,  Director of Marketing, The Rimm-Kaufman Group<br />
<a href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/bio.php?id=881">Stoney deGeyter</a>,  President, Pole Position Marketing<br />
<a href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/bio.php?id=723">Taylor Pratt</a>,  Product Marketing Manager, Raven Internet Marketing Tools</p>
<p>————————————————————————– <br />
<em>Contributed by: Natalie Evans, <a href="http://www.milestoneinternet.com/" target="_blank">Milestone   Internet Marketing</a></em></p>
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		<title>Twitter – Marketing Tactics You Should Know</title>
		<link>http://feeds.milestoneinternet.com/~r/MilestoneInternetMarketing/~3/59t7U6kUHjA/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/social-media/twitter-marketing-tactics-and-strategies/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:01:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Milestone</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/?p=2324</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The star of Twitter is still rising and there seems no end to its success. Everybody wants to jump on the Social Media train but especially smaller businesses don’t know how to start. We reveal some insights about Twitter basics that everybody should know. ]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you want to keep up  with Social Media development you have to read, learn and listen to opinions  every single day. A great opportunity to hear about new trends is attending the  Search Marketing Expo (SMX) which is taking place right now in Santa Clara. And  of course we want to share what we learned there.</p>
<p>Right now, everybody is  talking about Twitter, Facebook as well as YouTube and Social Media Channels in  general are handled as the future of the internet. But what exactly can you do  with Twitter if you are a smaller business. Read what the experts say: </p>
<p>Moderator of the &quot;Twitter Marketing Tactics&quot; session is <strong>Danny  Sullivan</strong> from Search Engine Land and speakers on the panel are Kelly Gillease (Viator), Adam Sherk (The New  York Times) and Chris Silver Smith (KeyRelevance).</p>
<p>First up is <strong>Kelly Gillease</strong>, Marketing Director with  Viator Travel who gives some insights how to start as &quot;Twitter Virgin&quot;. Here  are some of her thoughts:</p>
<ul>
<li>Try to get the  brand name as username</li>
<li>Start  following people</li>
<li>Engage in  conversations</li>
<li>Promote  Twitter on your Website </li>
<li>Have events  like &quot;Travel Thursday&quot; where travel sites are recommended or &quot;Follow Friday&quot;  where interesting Twitter Users are recommended</li>
<li>Personalize  your Twitter Page</li>
</ul>
<p>Most people/businesses are  afraid to start tweeting so the most important thing is to loose the fear and  just start saying something. Also, don’t feel forced to tweed every day  something brand new but rather promote and utilize content you already have on  the web like blog posts, reviews, images, press releases, news and awards. Of  course also email communications like Newsletters can be posted on Twitter and  so help support the email marketing campaigns. </p>
<p>Good ways to gain  followers on Twitter are deals and promotions. Customers like little incentives  and promotions as ‘reward’ for following a company and probably even retweeting  the companies’ posts.<br />
Twitter is a great way to  put a human face to a company and connect with customers. However, every  business should follow a line. If they are a serious brand, they should stay  serious on twitter. If it’s a fun brand they should follow their image and  tweet about fun things.</p>
<p>The next speaker is <strong>Adam Sherk</strong>, Search/PR Strategist,  Define Search Strategies. <br />
The main focuses of his  presentation are news sites and he breaks down the News-Twitter users in four  groups:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>&quot;Just the  news&quot;</strong><br />
  Major brand profiles like CNN Breaking News who just post headlines and a link on  Twitter, without really connecting to people. This resembles RSS Feeds and very  often they have multiple profiles to reflect the sections in the newspaper  itself. (Sports, Breaking News, etc.)</li>
<li><strong>&quot;More  Personality&quot;</strong><br />
  News and Magazines with a little more personality like InStyle and Dailycandy  who have editorial driven Twitter accounts with just one main profile instead  of multiple ones. They answer to user comments and are interactive.</li>
<li><strong>&quot;Personas&quot;</strong><br />
  Twitter account with a branded persona, like Chicago Tribune with &quot;Colonel  Tribune&quot;. Even though these branded personas are a great way to connect on a  very personal level a company has to think carefully about using a platform  like Twitter with an avatar like this – it needs to match the company image. </li>
<li><strong>&quot;Writers and  Reporters&quot;</strong><br />
  Writers utilize their Twitter Channels to connect with people. The newspaper  itself does not have influence over the content they are posting but it gives  the paper a very personal touch. </li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Twitter Lists</strong><br />
Twitter Lists are a great  way to interact with audiences because it is an opportunity for Twitter users  to get the information they are looking for at one place. However, they are not  useful for smaller business. Followers of lists stay most times in the  hundreds, even for big businesses like the NY Times. <br />
<strong><br />
Ways to utilize the Twitter for Search Engine  Optimization </strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Think about  keywords &#8211; Keywords do matter on Twitter. Use them in Tweeds and of course in  the username if possible.</li>
<li>Watch trending  topics and tweet about them. Example: earthquake in Haiti. The keyword Haiti is  going to show up in Google’s and Bing’s real time search. </li>
</ul>
<p>The last speaker in this  session is <strong>Chris Silver Smith</strong>, Director  of Optimization Strategies, KeyRelevance. </p>
<p><strong>Twitter Account Set Up</strong><br />
His advice before opening  up a Twitter account is to sit down and work on the following three basic  issues:</p>
<ul>
<li>Develop a  marketing strategy</li>
<li>Think about  the time investment that is needed</li>
<li>What’s the  goal? </li>
</ul>
<p>Chris says that the  username should always be the brand name if somehow possible and to target  desired keywords with additional accounts. The profile description can be used  to hold keyword rich text and the location reinforces local ranking. <br />
  <strong><br />
Personalization</strong><br />
It is important to use a  simple and professional background that reflects the business. In case a  background with additional info like a phone number is used, the designers need  to be very careful. Depending on screen size and browser the background might  be cut off and look unprofessional. Also, it doesn’t make any sense to put a  URL or other Social Icons in the background because it frustrates the user if  they can’t copy/paste or click on the icons. </p>
<p><strong>Getting the most from your tweets</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Allow  Retweets: A short username and a max of 120 characters allow easy retweets.</li>
<li>Use the  Twitter search to discover what consumers want. Example: Use the search to look  for &quot;cheap hotels&quot;. If you find users that ask for cheap hotels you can send a  customized response. </li>
<li>Interact and  communicate with consumers </li>
<li>Include a Call  to Action</li>
<li>Customize your  tweets with icons like hearts and smiles but be careful not to overdo it (and  they may not work on mobile phones) </li>
<li>If you don’t  have the time to tweet regularly use automated updates from blogs and RSS feeds</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Conclusion:</strong>  The key take aways here  are that business have to put some thoughts in their Twitter strategies if they  want to be successful. The goals as well as the amount of time that can be  spent must be laid out first. The next step is to create a keyword rich user  profile and last but not least: don’t be afraid to tweet but throw yourself in  the pool of posts. </p>
<p>————————————————————————– <br />
<em>Contributed by: Birgit Bauer, <a href="http://www.milestoneinternet.com/" target="_blank">Milestone     Internet Marketing</a></em></p>
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