 | May 8, 2013Here are the tools I use regularly to help with my SEO consulting services. Read More >> |
 | May 8, 2013What online tools do you use almost every day in your work? Read More >> |
 | April 24, 2013In this High Rankings Advisor article, guest author Ross Lasley explains what you need to know and convey to any paid search manager that you may hire. Read More >> |
 | March 26, 2013I've known Dianna Huff since at least 2007, but she's been helping B2B companies get their websites in good order since 1998. From the best way to market your content via mobile devices to how to write content that appeals to a B2B target audience, Dianna has got it nailed down. Read More >> |
 | February 27, 2013This article chronicles what I learned through shopping for wedding dresses with my daughter: Businesses that operate in an old-fashioned manner trying to control the information they provide their customers will likely not be around much longer. Read More >> |
 | February 27, 2013Do you believe that female speakers are under-represented at SEO conferences? And if so, why do you think that is? Read More >> |
 | February 13, 2013JobShadow Interview with Jill Read More >> |
 | December 19, 2012By now you've heard the news that a few of the major SEO tool companies will no longer be providing ranking reports as part of the website data they supply. While you are probably still in shock and scrambling to figure out what to do about it, if you're serious about your online marketing, it's actually the best thing that could happen to you.
Read More >> |
 | November 14, 2012There's a lot of talk lately of Google having finally killed SEO through their Panda and Penguin algorithms, which continue to ensnare more and more websites with every new update. So is SEO really (finally) dead?
Read More >> |
 | October 17, 2012An HRA reader asks Jill how she might use social media to promote her art. Read More >> |
 | October 3, 2012Do You Run Ranking Reports? Read More >> |
 | September 5, 2012This week, rather than a High Rankings Question of the Week, I've got a rant of the week instead. Read More >> |
 | April 18, 2012Read on to see what I've learned (so far) trying to market my new website. Read More >> |
 | April 4, 2012What does Google expect honest search marketers to do when we can no longer accurately report the natural keyword segmentation of traffic? Read More >> |
 | March 21, 2012How smart is your email list? Read this guest article by Matthew Coers to make it smarter! Read More >> |
 | March 7, 2012It's pretty amazing and very cool that a simple gesture can have such a profound effect on someone's career – and, I daresay – life. Read More >> |
 | March 7, 2012Have you done any good deeds for others that ended up helping your business? Read More >> |
 | February 8, 2012How Viable Is the Freelance SEO Market? Read More >> |
 | January 25, 2012What does a good online marketer do when stuck for topic ideas these days? Go to Twitter, what else! I asked my followers to hit me with their burning SEO questions and they didn't disappoint. Read More >> |
 | December 14, 2011Is it true that, in general, .edu domains get ranked higher than .com? Read More >> |
 | November 30, 2011If you could only ask 10 general (non-industry-specific) questions of your new SEO customers, what would they be and why would their answers help you help them? Read More >> |
 | November 30, 2011What questions do you ask a new SEO client, and why? Read More >> |
 | November 2, 2011You know you're supposed to get on Twitter to somehow promote your website. So you start randomly tweeting out links to a product or service page on your website. But who is going to care? Read More >> |
 | November 2, 2011Should Blog Reviews Use NoFollow Links? Read More >> |
 | October 19, 2011How do you measure the success of your SEO work? Read More >> |
 | October 19, 2011Similar to weight loss being a poor main goal for your health and fitness regime, where your pages rank for specific keyword phrases is also a poor main goal. Read More >> |
 | October 5, 2011Learn why many websites that were making their owners tons of money in the past through traditional SEO, no longer work as well "post Panda." Read More >> |
 | September 21, 2011Once my site is ready, I'll be approaching owners within the niche. So I really don't want people to find me for the first few months. My thought was that I would not add my new keyword-rich titles, headings, links, etc., until after a month or so, to keep people from finding me too soon... Read More >> |
 | September 21, 2011I was wondering if you had any advice about which option is better SEO wise…buying a domain for a microsite or adding the information to your website as additional content?
Read More >> |
 | September 21, 2011Is there any harm in going in adding a Google Analytics account ID and getting rid of the Omniture info in the code?
Read More >> |
 | September 21, 2011Can I use a splash page to direct two different target markets to the appropriate sections of my website? Read More >> |
 | September 7, 2011When building links or doing other search marketing tasks, it necessary to lie? Isn't that sort of thing exactly what gives marketers in general (not just search marketers) a bad reputation?
Read More >> |
 | September 7, 2011Are dishonesty, stretching the truth, or white lies necessary to be a good marketer? Read More >> |
 | August 24, 2011What's the first thing you think of when writing with keywords? Probably one of the first is that keywords and phrases are descriptive of the products and/or services you're writing about. But what happens in those circumstances where you can't (or don't really want to) use your chosen keyphrases descriptively? Read More >> |
 | July 27, 2011What are your quick words of wisdom for a business owner just starting out with SEO for their site? Read More >> |
 | June 15, 2011Not a week goes by where a reader or a client doesn't ask me a question based on some bad SEO advice they heard or read somewhere. In this article, I try to figure out where it's coming from and why it gets spread. Read More >> |
 | June 1, 2011One of our connections came across a horrible website that copied our homepage and used it for their "About Us" page. What can we do about it?
Read More >> |
 | June 1, 2011Do you recommend bidding on competitors' brand keywords in your paid search campaigns? Read More >> |
 | May 18, 201110 Ways I've Used Twitter This Month Read More >> |
 | April 20, 2011Is there a way to tell Google which states the site is relevant for? Read More >> |
 | April 20, 2011I have a client who was called by [one of those online Yellow Pages–type companies] that would build him a website for $39 a month, which he wants to look into. What could I tell him that would convince him to go with me? Read More >> |
 | April 6, 2011In an effort to keep you from spending your precious time on supposed SEO tactics that will have absolutely no effect on your rankings, search engine visitors, conversions or sales, I present you with 16 SEO tactics that you can remove from your personal knowledge base and/or SEO toolbox as being in any way related to SEO.
Read More >> |
 | April 6, 2011How Much Info Do You Give Up Front To A Client? Read More >> |
 | March 23, 2011If your company wants people to actually understand what you do when they come to your website, how does playing with the spinning balls further this goal? Read More >> |
 | March 23, 2011Do you get work done during vacations? OR do you even try? OR do you even take vacations? Read More >> |
 | February 16, 2011Hi, my name is Jill, and I’m a %#@$ stirrer! Read More >> |
 | February 16, 2011Is it too late to save SEO and its reputation from those who have made SEO = spam? Read More >> |
 | January 19, 2011Jill writes about why Google wants their organic search results to "suck just enough." Read More >> |
 | January 5, 2011Have You Been Affected by the Economy or Competition? Read More >>
|
 | December 15, 2010Where Have All The Advertisers Gone? Is AdWords dying? Read More >>
|
 | November 3, 2010What do you think of the new SERP display for local listings in Google? Read More >>
|
 | October 20, 2010What can someone charge for selling a link on their site? Read More >> |
 | October 6, 2010Our CEO is looking for a specific goal in site traffic generated by organic search, based on our implementing SEO recommendations.
Read More >> |
 | October 6, 2010What's your measure of a successful SEO implementation? Read More >> |
 | September 22, 2010Jill Whalen writes an open letter to Google lamenting the amount of spam still found in their search results. Read More >> |
 | September 8, 2010...If you don't keep your SEO abreast of website changes. ...If you think your SEO can work independently and not need (a lot of) your help. ...If you know enough SEO to be dangerous. Read More >> |
 | September 8, 2010What's the biggest reason you've seen for SEO failure with clients? Read More >>
|
 | August 25, 2010When you review the keywords from which people clicked to your site, are they only peripherally related to what you offer? If so, your website is likely suffering from BlindWebsititis!
Read More >> |
 | August 25, 2010ROI Is Greater Than Traffic Read More >> |
 | July 28, 2010I'm considering starting my own SEO company and working with local businesses and I was wondering if you could offer any advice.
Read More >> |
 | July 14, 2010If you're a small-business owner, you know you need a website in order to compete online. But I sometimes wonder how many owners know they don't just need a website, but one that's been developed with SEO baked in from the start. Read More >> |
 | July 14, 2010If you're a website designer, do you work with SEOs? If you're an SEO, do you work with developers? Read More >> |
 | June 30, 2010For the past few weeks I've been tasked with reviewing a few different sites that have seen a loss in traffic – their owners hoped to find out why... I can usually make some educated guesses based on what I dig up in Google Analytics.
Read More >> |
 | June 30, 2010Have you seen sites obviously penalized by Google and, if so, what was the cause? Read More >>
|
 | June 30, 2010Forum member "KemoSabe" wanted to mask a keyword-rich domain with a more memorable one for humans. Read More >> |
 | June 16, 2010Forum member "flarbas" posted that they were frustrated because their boss suggested crazy changes to the company website.
Read More >> |
 | June 2, 2010In last week's newsletter you mentioned appending email signature links with campaign tracking codes. Can you please detail how to do this?
Read More >> |
 | June 2, 2010Why does one of our websites come up #5 on Google under the keywords "our keyword phrase Los Angeles" when the keywords "Los Angeles" are nowhere to be found on our pages? Read More >> |
 | May 5, 2010Help Choose: Subdomain or Directory? Read More >> |
| February 24, 2010I've had the opportunity to work with a variety of businesses through the years – from tiny one-person small businesses to huge international companies. While there are many similarities in working with different sized companies, there are also important differences. Read More >> |
| February 24, 2010If you had an extra 20 hours a week, what would you do with them? Read More >> |
| February 24, 2010New Affordable SEO Small-Business Package. Read More >> |
| February 10, 2010Have Big Companies Taken Over the Internet? Read More >> |
| January 20, 2010I was wondering what the differences are between SEM and SEO. Read More >> |
| January 20, 2010What (if anything) will you be doing differently with your SEO strategy this year? Read More >> |
| January 6, 2010I've been SEO'ing websites long before the 21st century began. Sometimes I feel I've been touting the same SEO processes and procedures for the past 10 years. Read More >> |
| January 6, 2010What has changed most in Search Marketing since 2000? Read More >> |
| December 16, 2009You need to address a number of SEO tactics before you get too deep into your website redesign. The reason you need to keep SEO front and center during this time is twofold: so that you do not lose your previous traffic, but also so that you can gain additional targeted search engine visitors when the new site goes live. Read More >> |
| December 16, 2009How often do you think most websites should be redesigned? Read More >> |
| September 30, 2009Have you heard about Google's new project called "SideWiki" yet? Read More >> |
| September 16, 2009Today we have another guest article from SEO copywriter and trainer Karon Thackston. Read More >> |
| September 16, 2009The Twitter Question for this week was: "What good biz or marketing books have you read recently?" Read More >> |
| September 2, 2009My plan is to move all the home decor products from the old site to the new one AND change the products of the old one back to selling the jewelry, perfume, wallets, etc. – that is, the "gifty" stuff.
What is the best way to make this change? Read More >> |
| September 2, 2009I have a corporate client that is planning to purchase a company in Switzerland and they are wondering if I can do the SEO. But then it dawned on me, checking their rankings with a U.S.-based IP address might deliver different search results…do you think? Read More >> |
| September 2, 2009I am new to SEO. I am writing my first website and would like to get a better understanding of building a great website that will attract my target market to my site. Can you suggest any good books that can help me achieve this goal? Read More >> |
| September 2, 2009The Twitter Question of the Week is: "Do you give 'ballpark' SEO quotes to companies if/when they won't tell you what the website is? It's kinda necessary, no?" Read More >> |
| September 2, 2009Have you seen "BlindSearch" yet? It's a page with Google, Bing and Yahoo search all together, but with no branding. You make a search, see three sets of results and choose the one you feel provided the best results. Read More >> |
| July 22, 2009A lot of companies get so confused when attempting to hire an SEO firm that they simply give up altogether and don't hire anyone. Part of the problem is that they simply don't know whom to trust for this service. Read More >> |
| July 8, 2009I asked my Twitter peeps, "What are you not doing on your own website that you often
recommend your clients should do?" Read More >> |
| June 24, 2009Recently, an individual asked us to solve a problem for him. A member of his family had dealt with a certain company and, he said, was harmed as a result. This individual wanted to know how he could get high rankings for his blog when someone typed in the company's brand name. Read More >> |
| June 24, 2009Forum member "taterchips" (great name!) is interested in tackling a specific niche within their profession and was looking at the most effective way to play to that niche. Their question has to do with whether they should add a new page or section to their existing website or start a new website for this particular niche. Read More >> |
| June 10, 2009We are being contacted more and more by companies asking if we will add to our websites and/or clients' websites a short paragraph of text that includes a link to one of their clients' sites – i.e., a text advertisement.
Read More >> |
| June 10, 2009Thought you might be interested in my TalentZoo column from last week entitled:
"The Time for SEO Is Before You Need It!" Read More >> |
| May 27, 2009Do you think a positioning video has value on a website, or does it interfere with the structure and architecture of the website?
Read More >> |
| May 27, 2009We want to put a calendar of events on our website. Google Calendar appears to be a great product but since it is not hosted on our website the long-tail SEO value (which is one of the main reasons we want to do the calendar) is lost. Read More >> |
| May 13, 2009A couple of weeks ago, I received the following request from an email address in India:
"sir/madam.i want to start SEO(search engine optimization)business.but before
that i want to know about SEO.how to intitate this?can u please help me?" Read More >> |
| April 1, 2009Today's guest article comes to us from Dianna Huff, Principal of DH Communications, Inc. Dianna specializes in B2B marketing communications consulting and copywriting, and is an all-around nice person. Read More >> |
| March 4, 2009My question is, how should SEO services be evaluated? In other words, what measurable objectives beyond landing above the fold are appropriate? Read More >> |
| March 4, 2009I would like to ask a question too, please. Our website is geared to sell GPS equipment. Many of the products have a life of about 6 months to a year. Google indexes these very well, and we rank highly. However, some searches display discontinued products (I guess because they have been around the longest). Read More >> |
| February 4, 2009What do you think about a potential SEO client who asks you to agree not to work with any related company for 2 years after the conclusion of the business relationship? Read More >> |
| January 21, 2009Are you an in-house search marketer? If so, please take a few minutes to fill out SEMPO's Second Annual In-House Salary. Read More >> |
| January 7, 2009Forum member "Say Yebo" was putting together an SEO proposal for a potential client who wanted to know if the project would be different because they had already done some SEO stuff. Read More >> |
| December 17, 2008In 2005, when I originally wrote the article below, I thought by the time 2009 approached, things would have changed. Yet many businesses continue to have unrealistic expectations of what an SEO campaign is all about. We've had a number of calls to our office recently from companies who continue to be hung up over one specific keyword phrase, with no interest in branching out to others. Surprisingly, I changed very little of the content of this article because the message is still as valid as the day I wrote it. Read More >> |
| December 3, 2008"I'm just about to launch a new site. It should really be 3 sites but the client talked me into making it one or the deal was off. It's for private sales of cars, property and boats. It also has a business directory for each section. The sections are in subdirectories rather than domains for easy maintenance." Read More >> |
| November 19, 2008I work for a nonprofit that since 2000 has been operating an e-commerce website to provide emerging artists with a web presence. It has earned a toolbar PageRank of 5, thanks to some decent inbound links. Due to a variety of things, the parent company of the website has decided it's time to shut the site down. Read More >> |
| October 22, 2008I wanted to let you know about a free webinar that I'm doing with MarketingSherpa called "New Research Findings: Search Marketing Tips, Tactics and Trends." Read More >> |
| September 23, 2008Sales are down for many businesses due to the slow economy. Business owners and CEOs are looking for that one thing that can pull them through the hard times and keep them afloat. When times get tough, many turn to SEO, hoping that it will be the ticket to increased sales. While SEO is almost always a good idea, if you're counting on it to save a failing business, you may want to rethink things.
Read More >> |
| September 10, 2008I admit it. I'm a Google Analytics junkie. I try to stay away, but every now and then I hear it calling my name and I break down and log in. I feel the familiar rush of excitement running through my veins almost instantly. And I know anything else I may have planned to do that day won't get done because I'll be in my own world for hours. My analytics world. Just me and my stats. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh… Read More >> |
| August 27, 2008I had the pleasure of being interviewed recently by a number of online marketing folks and thought you might enjoy learning more about me and my thoughts on a plethora of search marketing issues. Read More >> |
| August 13, 2008Today's guest article comes to us from my friend and long-time HRA subscriber Jim Spencer, founder of JBS Partners – a website design and marketing firm in Winchester, MA, that serves small business and solo entrepreneurs. I met Jim in person at a SEMNE ( Search Engine Marketing New England) event. Read More >> |
| August 13, 2008Forum member "doogie88" was looking for a website where he could do a reverse DNS lookup. Read More >> |
| July 30, 2008This is your last chance to save a few hundred bucks on MarketingSherpa's B2B Lead Gen BigBook...erm Handbook ;). Read More >> |
| July 2, 2008Over the past few weeks, I've had a few run-ins with plagiarism in various forms and thought I'd take the opportunity to have a little rant about it. My hope is that by discussing it, people will become more educated about the issue and perhaps it will become a little less rampant online. Read More >> |
| July 2, 2008MarketingSherpa has recently come out with an amazing handbook for B2B marketers. While they call it a "handbook" that's really not a good description of it, as it's basically too huge to hold in your hands for very long! Read More >> |
| June 11, 2008Today's article is a bit off-topic as it talks about how the little things you do can make a big difference in obtaining and keeping your search marketing clients. Read More >> |
