Click here to read Rick’s article “SEO and PPC are Among the Most Measurable Channels” from Direct Marketing News.

Or click here to view a PDF of the DM News article – DM News article.

YouTube just announced that they are going to open up all English videos to auto-captions.  So, here’s what you should know:

• Any video with clear speech will benefit from auto-captioning.
• Avoid background noise, as it will make it harder for machine-generated translation to pick up and accurately caption the content.
• If you are the owner, you can improve the auto-captions by downloading and manually editing them.
• Captions can be translated into 50 languages even though auto-caption is only available in English at this time.

So how does this impact your SEO efforts?  Now is the time to bring together your scriptwriter and your SEO writer for a little meet and greet.  Text is king in the world of SEO and content is much easier to index than video.  Your auto-captions are your text.  So make that text work for you by building in those ever powerful keywords.

You can get more information on the tech specs for videos and captions on the YouTube site at:

http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=100077

• Know the difference between SEM and SEO.  SEO, search engine optimization, is the process of increasing traffic through organic search results.  SEO is extremely valuable and offers significant long term results for your business.  SEM is the form of internet marketing that increases traffic through paid ad placement.  Also known as PPC, these paid ads are seen on the right hand rail and at the top of your search engine results.  Each time someone clicks on your PPC ad, you will pay a fee to the search engine.
• Know the value of PPC.  PPC advertising does net positive results from consumers.  According to a 2009 Engine Ready study, the conversion rate from PPC advertising is 2.03%, compared to 1.26% from organic advertising.  Additionally, consumers visiting your site through PPC links will spend an average of $117, as compared to the $106 spent by organic search consumers.
• Know how to pick your keywords.  Picking keywords isn’t as easy as just choosing your name, your competitor’s name and words related to your product line.  Do your research.  Talk to your customers; find out what people search on to find your site before you select your keywords.  Less refined keywords will increase your cost.  A little research will help you to get the most bang for your buck.
• Use the tools available to help you.  When choosing keywords, don’t overlook the value of tools like Google’s Suggestion, Google Trends, SEM Rush, EBay Pulse and others.  These various tools provide information on popular keywords for your business, historical data on keywords, keywords on the rise and other information than can help you to select the best combination of keywords for your PPC campaign.
• Make them want to click.  As with any ad campaign, your PPC campaign must have compelling copy.  Keep it clean, to the point and error free.  Don’t forget to include discounts, promotions or other offers to draw a searcher’s attention.
• Don’t be afraid to say no.  It can be hard to “turn away” potential business.  But with PPC the key to maximizing your budget is to only pay for those clicks that are likely to turn into sales.  Don’t be shy about only including prospective customers and excluding those who don’t meet your customer profile.
• Don’t forget the landing page.  There is nothing more frustrating for a shopper than to click on a PPC link only to end up on a page that has nothing to do with the product they wanted.  Minimize customer frustration and improve conversion rates with quality landing pages.  For the best results, it is vital that your keywords, ad copy and landing pages all work together.
• Strive for a top quality, quality score.  The quality score is used by search engines to determine the order of paid links on a search page.  This means that search engines are watching to see how much value you provide to your potential customers.  If your keywords closely correspond to your products, if your click through rate is good and you have good quality landing pages, your quality score will rise.  It is important for search engines to provide their customers with quality results.  Provide their customers with quality and the search engines will reward you with higher placement.
• Follow up research is essential.  As with any ad campaign, you must do your research to determine its success.  PPC is no different.  However, with PPC you can track as you go.  Use Google Analytics and Yahoo! Web Analytics to track your results and see how your keywords are working out.  This will help you to know when to make changes and refine your keyword selection.

• Title Tags.  It is extremely important for your keyword to appear in the title tag.  The average surfer won’t click on a link unless it is relevant to their search.  A top 10 ranking for an irrelevant topic will not get any clicks.  Get your keyword in the headline of your post and get your headline in the title tag.  To do this, you may need to edit the header.php to include WordPress template tags in the HTML title tag.  You may need to use an IF statement to determine the type of page displayed and which tags to use.
• H1 Tag.  The H1 tag lets search engines know what the page is about.  There should only be one H1 tag on each page.  More than one will confuse the search engine and drop your SEO score.  The best way to optimize your H1 tag usage is to have the title of your post inside the H1 tag.  For pages with more than one post, put the title of your post in the H2 tag and your logo in the H1 tag.
• Inbound and Outbound Links.  All blogs benefit from the sharing of links.  While it is important to link to another’s blog, and have links to your blog, don’t overlook the value of linking to your own blog.  It is perfectly acceptable to link keywords in your anchor text back to your home page.  You can also link to your older posts, link from your posts to your home page and use a sitemap to show all your posts and pages.
• Anchor Text and Keywords.  One of the most important aspects of SEO is to link your keywords with your anchor text.    More links containing your keywords increases your search engine ranking position. 

Lastly, and possibly most important, don’t forget to use your keywords in your posts.  Overuse can look like spam, but good placement of keywords within your blog posts will show valuable results.

One of the reasons that having keywords in your domain name is valuable is because search engines view domain names as a fixed feature not often manipulated for increased rankings.  Because the investment in establishing an internet presence and domain name is so great, it doesn’t make much sense to fiddle with it once it is set.  So if you can get a domain name that is keyword rich, grab it and you will be starting a positive relationship with search engines.

Others in favor of keywords in domain names site the fact that it is a great anchor text when other sites use your domain name to link back to your site.  Since most links are just the website, you will pick up a useable link with optimized text when your keyword is in the domain name.

Having a keyword in your domain name may also benefit your relationship with the average Joe searching on the web.   If the keyword searched shows up in your domain name, the average surfer is likely to identify positively with your site.  Since the whole point of SEO is to drive traffic, any time you can come up at the top of the search is a good thing. 

Since it is often nearly impossible to get a domain name with your keyword in it, what else can you do?  Choosing a domain name that is longer and includes hyphens can get you a unique URL.  However, it does make it harder to brand to the average consumer.  Selecting a domain name that is in line with your businesses identity and goals will help to increase brand recognition.  Shorter, more memorable domain names work well in both the online and bricks and mortar world.  Of course, the key to success with any SEO investment is content that is fresh and unique with good quality links. 

The bottom line is if you can get a domain name that is keyword rich you are in a good place, but for the rest of us, good solid SEO practices will make up the difference.

• 2009 SEM spending is projected to rise to $14.7 billion.
• 2013 SEM spending is expected to reach $26.1 billion.
• Online advertisers continue to embrace new marketing platforms.
• Advertisers are willing to pay for reach achieved through behavioral targeting.
• 40% of SEMPO State of the Market survey respondents are actively using social media sites for in-house marketing.
  • Facebook is the leading social media site.  Four out of five advertisers use Facebook for brand promotion.
• 75% of respondents would pay for clicks from targeted behavioral groups.
• Advertisers are willing to pay more for demographic, daypart and behavioral targeting.
  • 10% more for demographic and daypart targeting
  • 13% more for behavioral targeting
• 40% of advertisers plan to start targeting or retargeting searchers within the next year.

For more detailed information on the findings from the SEMPO 2008 State of the Market Report, visit their site at www.sempo.org.

Brick and mortar stores can benefit greatly from local search sites.  While you do not necessarily have to have a physical store, some local search sites do require it.  With fewer and fewer people turning to phone books or 411 for information, the popularity of local search sites has grown.  Don’t let your business miss out on the benefits of local search sites.

Many local search sites offer their services free to businesses.  It is a mutually beneficial relationship. As more local businesses list their contact information on a local search site, the more the site gains credibility and traffic, resulting in more leads for the local business.  It is a win-win situation.  So how do you decide if a local search site is worth your time and energy?

First and foremost, you want sites that are active in your business area.  Secondly, you want to be sure that they have a category established for your business.  If the search engine you are investigating is focused on only one industry, it may not be valuable to you.  As with any advertising venture, price is an issue. While most local search engines are free, some do charge.  A free listing site is rarely a bad idea.  If the search engine is requesting a fee, do your due diligence and investigate it thoroughly.

Traffic and SEO are two other important factors to consider.  Spend the time to get the Alexa rating for the search engine in question.  It will help you to get a feel for how busy the site is.  Obviously the busier the better and the closer their ranking will be to 1.  Checking the Google Page Rank for the site’s home page will help you to gauge the SEO benefits.  You are looking for a ranking between 5 and 10; this will show you that they have some authority.  Don’t forget to check the ranking for the page your listing will reside on.  In order for the site to lend value to your SEO efforts, Google must be able to see the link.

Local search is a valuable tool for many businesses.  Getting your company added exposure on a local search site is a great way to drive traffic to your site and your business.