by Mike Fleming We're taking a look at how the "average position" metric lies to you )or more accurately, is misunderstood by you(. In part one, we studied the reasons behind this and why distributions in Google Webmaster Tools is your sweet release for truly understanding your organic search position listings. Let me wrap this up by showing you how to examine distributions in your AdWords account, as well. This is really important because,

by Todd Bailey I haven't been in Google back-rooms . I have never met the Penguin personally. But I can make observations. It seems the pursuit of truth and honesty is one of the underlying messages taken from the ordeal. I have discussed the recent update with many web masters and business owners and seen sites hit by the update. Both for the reasons stated in all the recent press surrounding Penguin as well as sites that do not fall within the filters criteria.

by Nick Stamoulis One of the most common mistakes I see website owners and marketers make when launching their first SEO campaign is that they let search volume dictate which keywords they should target. I can completely understand the rationale behind their thinking- if more people are searching for keyword X that means more visitors for my site which means more money for my company. Unfortunately SEO is not that cut and dry.

by Stoney deGeyter Pete and Repete were walking on a bridge. Pete fell off. Who's left? Repete? Ok, Pete and Repete were walking on a bridge. Pete fell off. Who's left? Repete? How about we just move on... In marketing, when something works it gets repeated and repeated again and again. Never letting a good campaign go to waste, imitators will jump on board and drive it into the ground until it's no longer effective. We've seen this with the Got Milk? campaigns.

by Todd Bailey Have you lost sight of a well-loved service or product? People are creatures of repetition. Usually we commit when we find a service or product we enjoy using. Recently, Ryan Buddenhagen wrote a post on brand ability to bring back old services and products . The notion is not very novel. Blockbuster movies enjoy reviving old heroes and comics. Food producers sometimes reintroduce a retired food or beverage. The Eagles once did a "Hell Freezes Over" tour.

by Mike Fleming I wouldn't call the "average position" metric pointless, but it's definitely lying to you. Most people approach this metric with a natural misunderstanding. It's natural to think, "This is the average position that my organic listing or paid ad shows up at in a search for this keyword." Sorry, but no. How could a tool just flat out lie to you? Well, the tool isn't lying to you.

by Nick Stamoulis I think we can all agree that content marketing is an indispensable component of SEO and Internet marketing in general. Great content gets shared, which in turn creates inbound links to your website, which helps your site do better in the search engines, which drive more traffic to your site and so forth and so on. But too often site owners are just looking at content as a link building tactic. In reality, the content you are creating for your SEO,

by Stoney deGeyter The number one key to your business growth is crafting a message that speaks to your audience. Having the right message builds up your strengths and helps you overcome any deficiencies you might have. McDonald's doesn't make the best hamburgers in the world, but they do have a great bit of messaging that speaks to their target audience. It's that message, not the hamburgers, that makes Micky D's the number one fast food restaurant in America.

by Todd Bailey Recently, the entire Web community has been abuzz about Pinterest. Although the upstart social network is still in the open beta testing phase, it has overtaken LinkedIn as America's third largest social site, according to Experian Hitwise. At present, Pinterest is reaching millions of worldwide users per month and since January, has held the distinction of being the site to break ten million unique hits in the shortest timeframe.

by Nick Stamoulis Every six months or so, it's important for site owners to revisit their onsite SEO. While many may think that onsite SEO is a set-it-and-forget-it process, the truth is that even "static" websites aren't 100% fixed. Even if you didn't undergo a major website overhaul in the last 6 months, chances are you tweaked a page of content here and there, added a few more links, tested new call-to-actions and so forth.

by Mike Fleming For many businesses, a major benefit of outsourcing their web marketing strategy to a company like ours is the fact that they get the knowledge and skill of a whole Web marketing team for what most of the time amounts to the cost of one )maybe two( employees. Depending on the nature of the business, that can be hard to beat. But, along with it comes a challenge - communication. We fought with this hard for a while.

by Todd Bailey If you were a small startup, suddenly becoming hugely popular, would you align with a bigger brand or keep the startup momentum churning? It's somewhat akin to the decision some high school or in-college athletes face when approached by major-league teams. Do you carry on with your innocent talent or do you join the ranks of the bigger and better experienced, hoping to maintain that initial spark? The Instagram duo played impressively,

by Stoney deGeyter One of the complaints I hear most frequently from new and prospective clients is that they have no idea what their previous SEO was doing for them. As the owner of a Web marketing firm, I quickly realized that even if a client is getting results, communicating those successes to them is as important as the results themselves. One of the great things about working in an online industry is that you don't need to exclusively have local clients. In fact,

by Nick Stamoulis Ask any marketing professional and they will most likely tell you that the key to online marketing success is great content. Content is what compels people on your website to buy; it's what the search engines use to properly index and rank your website, it's what helps you connect with you target audience, build your online brand presence and authority, drives your social media marketing campaign and more. In short,

by Todd Bailey With the inevitable GOP nod going to Mitt Romney, now that former PA Senator Rick Santorum has dropped out of the race, it is mission critical for Romney to get his Social Media act together. A conflicting, and sometimes confrontational, social voice as well as the limited social reach he currently maintains are just a few of the inadequacies the campaign needs to address.

by Mike Fleming I recently answered a question on LinkedIn with an ultra-cool strategy that we've recently implemented for client PPC ads that you may be able to benefit from. Here's the question and my answer. Q: How do you test and optimize PPC ads? A: Here's sort of a "different" answer...I have my co-workers write ads to test. I give them the parameters and the ammunition )landing pages, features,

by Stoney deGeyter Engaging in proper site SEO isn't about pulling out a checklist that you can run through in a month, check them all off and say all done! A good optimization strategy consists of a variety of moving parts. Check one issue off your task list today and two more problems show up on your radar. Good SEO is kind of like an engine: There are many working parts, any of which can )and should( be improved, repaired or replaced to boost your vehicle's performance.

by Todd Bailey Years ago, the Yahoo brand was one of the most significant and recognized on the entire Web. Offering search, email, instant messaging, news and a variety of other options; Yahoo was a company that in many ways, was ahead of its time. Since debuting in early 1995, the company managed to remain relevant and profitable even after the "dot-com bubble" burst in 2000. However, in the mid-2000s,

by Mike Fleming Let's say your site contains iphone app reviews. Your goal for the 4th quarter of 2011 was to increase your website traffic and conversions by 8% compared to the third quarter. The results? +10%. Time to do the happy dance? Not so fast, my friend! Just take a look at overall web search interest in this market in the graph below... This is a common point of failure of many site owners. They analyze their data in the silo of their Web analytics tool .

by Todd Bailey Running a business is tiring. There's a lot to consider. Compression and expansion are two points. We see it in search engine optimization. Technology provides the tools for international expansion; international reach is only an investment in the necessary implementations away. But ISEO does need to address something in-America services do not - cultural differences. The idea of expansion needs no advertisement.