Demystifying The Radically Different Keyword Results Provided By Overture and Wordtracker...because your online success depends on getting accurate keyword counts! Part 3
by Robin Nobles
(Continued from Part 2.)
Finally: Making sense of the numbers (here comes the shock).
Ok, now that you understand the artificial skew and the alternatives that can correct for it, let's move on to analyze the numbers given by Overture's STST and Wordtracker's keyword selection service (KSS) using the search term(s) keyword(s).
Demystifying The Radically Different Keyword Results Provided By Overture and Wordtracker...because your online success depends on getting accurate keyword counts! Part 2
Demystifying The Radically Different Keyword Results Provided By Overture and Wordtracker...because your online success depends on getting accurate keyword counts! Part 1
by Robin Nobles
The root of all success in search engine marketing begins with keywords. Period. Get them wrong and virtually everything about your online endeavor will fail. Only by targeting the right keywords can one expect to ride that exhilarating magic carpet to online prosperity.
Stating the obvious you say? ...well, if so, then why is it that virtually everyone - professional and amateur alike - is oblivious to the fact they are selecting, and frequently buying, keywords based on highly skewed numbers?
The fact is that very few online marketers understand the results supplied by the two most basic keyword selection tools. These are the very same tools being used globally to hone keyword choices into supposedly laser sharp focus in an effort to keep pace with the challenges of increasingly keen competition and ever-rising keyword pay-per-click costs.
If you monitor the SEM industry at all you may have noticed a lot of buzz the past week or so about reputation management. That is, using the web to influence your (or someone else's) reputation, either positively or negatively.
Reputation management can be a scary thing, when you start to think about it. Simply because it's so easy to manipulate search results to achieve your goal. Easy in that in many cases it is the number of links which ultimately affect your reputation.
Also known as Google Bombing, the idea is to build as many links as you can on a given keyphrase to artificially inflate your rankings to the top of the search results.
One of the most important aspects of a search engine optimization campaign is also one of the most overlooked - preparation!
As I'm always explaining to my SEO101 students, there are some important steps to take in advance of launching your campaign that will make sure it has a better chance at succeeding.
By now you have probably heard about the new MSN search look. Launched July 1 of this year, MSN appears to have reworked their ranking algorithms somewhat so that results are displayed in a different manner.
Also, they have changed the appearance of the site, more closely matching Google and Yahoo! with their colored ad boxes and similar fonts.
One would hope that this is merely the beginning of what is supposed to be an impressive search engine.
Marketing and information technology are two of the most important aspects of any business organization. Traditionally, they have been opposing departments with different agendas, budgets and staff.
Yet, between the two are the skills and resources that power a successful and profitable enterprise.
Consider the strengths and assets of both IT and marketing, and for the moment, banish budget, politics and organizational structure.
Now, consider what your marketing department could accomplish if it had the infrastructure and talents of IT.
Technologists, consider the impact you could have if you understood the vision, positioning and strategic plans of the marketing department.
Many website owners put the cart before the horse- anxious for search engine traffic and rankings, the first thing they do once their site is complete is buy a "submit to 1,000 search engines for $29" service. Unfortunately, what they receive is a tenfold increase in e-mail spam but no increase in search engine traffic.
Do-it-yourself SEO is a great way to go- if you've got the time to put in, anyone can effectively optimize a website. However, it makes sense to hire a professional when your time is better spent doing what you do best; running your business.
Where to start? Selecting an internet marketer can be a daunting task. There are a wide range of fee levels as well as different attitudes, strategies and experience levels.
Do you want to be automatically informed by email when Google's spider visits your web site?
A search engine spider is an automated software program that locates and collects data from web pages for inclusion in a search engine's database. The name of Google's spider is "Googlebot".
If you have a web site that allows you to use PHP code then your web pages can inform you when Google's spider has indexed them.