Hot At Sphinn: Summer Book Recommendations, Remarketing Campaign Tips & More

Jul 18, 2011 at 1:45pm ET by Matt McGee

With summer now in full gear, we asked readers of our sister site, Sphinn, to help create a summer reading list last week.

That was the topic of our “Discussion of the Week,” which asked for Recommended SEO/PPC/Social Media/Internet Marketing Books. There were a variety of suggested books covering SEO, web analytics, Google AdWords and more — but we’re going to refrain from picking out a favorite comment this week because we don’t want to look like we’re showing favoritism toward any one book. If you’re looking for some reading recommendations — or have some of your own — check out the discussion today.

That book discussion was also the most popular story last week among Twitter users, with a record 236 tweets. Meanwhile, a story offering tips on getting demographic data from remarketing campaign was the next most popular article on Twitter.

Here’s a look at all of last week’s Sphinn activity.

Content Based Outreach for Link Building – In-depth link prospecting and acquisition processes from Justin Briggs of Distilled.We Live In The Age Of Conversation Overload – Tom Foremski posits that it's not information overload but conversation overload that will drag us into the abyss.8 Lessons from Pickup Artists for Link Builders – I've always likened link building to sales (or picking up artristry) so this post spoke to me. Some actionable tips too, so it's definitely worth a read.Using Subdomains to Defeat the Google Panda Algorithm? – Google has maintained that there were no exceptions to Panda & they couldn't provide personalized advice on it, but it turns out that if you can publically position their "algorithm" as an abuse of power by a monopoly  you will soon find 1:1 support coming to you.7 Email Case Studies: Publishers Who Forget About the Fold – The preview pane is the juicy snippet that people see when they click on your email, before the “fold”. Depending on how their email client is set up, they might see the top inch or two of your email, or if you’re lucky, they have the preview pane set up on the left or right, enabling them to a good chunk of the beginning of your email. Most email clients don’t have that last feature as an option (and your users may or may not be informed enough to change it), so don’t go for the gold on that one.How To Use Google AdWords To Reach The People Who Didn’t Click On Your Ad – Cool post about re-marketing and (eventually) converting those people who've seen your ads a few times but haven't yet clicked.Why Google+ will fail: social networks grow like trees, not on them – Henry Copeland, CEO of Blogads, explains why he feels Google jumped the shark with Google+.  Social networks grow from the ground up, like trees, and are not simply built, like venues in amusement parks.A Beginner's Guide to Google Analytics 5 – Version 5 of Analytics has just rolled out to many users, and there have been some fairly significant user interface changes. We’ve compiled everything you need to know to get started with Analytics in general, and specifically with Version 5.From Here On Out, Do What You Love – A personal success story in the search marketing industry.The Responsibilities of SEO Have Been Upgraded – Randfish shows how SEO job duties and required skills have changed over the years.How To Make Awesome Landing Pages for Local PPC – How to easily customize your PPC landing pages for a local audience.What Will Google Plus Google Places Equal? – Andrew Shotland offers up some great theoretical perspective on what Google + will mean for local search and small business marketing in general.Robert Scoble Apologizes to the SEO Industry – Sometimes he just gets it wrong.Microsoft Webmaster Tools to support Yahoo! Site Explorer Community – Yahoo! plans to shut down Yahoo! Site Explorer later this year. Microsoft’s Webmaster Tools will be the source for Bing and Yahoo! webmaster site and analytics data moving forward.User Testing in the Wild: Joe’s First Computer Encounter – A unique and interesting internet usability test performed by Joe, a 60-year-old hospital cafeteria employee who has never used a computer!

This is the latest in a weekly look at the stories that were “hot” on Sphinn in the past week. We’ll post these recaps every week.

Related Topics: Features: General | Sphinn

About The Author: Matt McGee is Search Engine Land's Executive News Editor, responsible for overseeing our daily news coverage. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. His web career continues to include a small number of SEO and social media consulting clients, as well as regular speaking engagements at marketing events around the U.S. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee. See more articles by Matt McGee

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Hot At Sphinn: Value Of SEO Ranking Reports, Bounce Rate In AdWords & More

Jul 11, 2011 at 2:24pm ET by Matt McGee

The discussion was heavy last week on our sister site, Sphinn, with three stories in particular leading to a lot of conversation.

No story generated more comments than our “Discussion of the Week,” which currently has 30 comments and is still going strong. In it, we asked, Should SEOs Provide Ranking Reports To Clients? Aside from a few replies, most users said there’s still value in providing ranking reports — but with the caveat that clients should be educated on metrics that really matter. Our favorite comment came from Sphinn member Mary Bowling of Optimized!, who put it this way:

What clients really care about is getting more customers and making more money. If all you want them to judge your work by is rankings, then they are probably not going to stick around for long. It’s easy enough to give them ranking reports if they ask for them, but showing them how you are helping them to get more phone calls, walk-ins and sales is what will really make them happy.

Meanwhile, a story discussing the value of bounce rate to help save money in Google AdWords was the most popular story last week among Twitter users.

Read on for the full recap of last week’s Sphinn activity.

Discussion: Should SEOs Provide Ranking Reports To Clients? – Businesses of all sizes love to see their websites ranking high on Google and Bing. For years, SEO consultants have been providing ranking reports to clients to show the success of the SEO work. But some SEOs have stopped providing ranking reports, saying it's not a true measure of success. In our "Discussion of the Week," we want to know what your stance is on ranking reports. Should SEOs be providing this data to clients, or is that time better spent on other reports/projects? This could go in a few different directions, so feel free to take the discussion where you want. The floor is open!How to Pimp Your Google+ Profile Design – Well – one week in and the world of Social Networking is going nuts for Google+Of you've just got your account – find out how to pimp out the About page of your provile with this step by step guide and Photoshop TemplateMy Google Panda Damage Report – It wasn’t too long ago that the Google Panda algorithmic update was announced (I blogged about Panda recently), and it is probably the biggest topic in the SEO industry right now. Mostly because a lot of people got mortally wounded by it. This is how it affected me, as far as I can see.How To Implement Rel=Author – Google is starting to use rel="author" on search results. Here are specific directions on how to get rel=”author” up and running on your own site or blog.Don't Be This Person (What Not to Do On Twitter) – A look at how you can use Twitter in conjunction with your business blog  – and the common mistakes that businesses make straight out of the gate.12 Flavors of Content To Attract Your Audience – Here are 12 NEW content flavors to help you attract your audience. How can you work them into what you’re already doing?The Number One Least Asked Question in Social Media…Why? – Brian Solis does it again, offering up some  great insight on the consumer's perspective and why that's the most important thing to consider when crafting a corporate social media strategy.Creative Tips For Link Building On A Shoestring Budget – Julie Joyce shares some great tips on how to build links for sites that have even the smallest of budgets.Google As a Social Search Engine: Aardvark Answers & Circle Posts in Google Search Results? – Now it appears that Aardvark-type social answers may become answers that appear in Google Search results, as seen in a Google patent application from May. It’s also possible that, given Google’s latest foray into social networking, that a question and answer service based upon Aardvark might play a larger role in Google’s social networking applications. Ask a question in Google+ and get the answer on the SERPs?You Can’t Buy More Conversions – Arguing that "overmanagement" of PPC accounts can hurt your ROI.Using Google Analytics to Monitor Your Brand – This post and video will take you through different methods that you can use to monitor interaction with your brand through Google Analytics.The Challenges & Benefits Of Attributing Incremental Value – Using sports examples to talk about different PPC attribution models.Top 15 Free Things Every E-Commerce Website Should Do After Launching – Here is a list of the top 15 things every e-commerce owner/marketer should do after launching their new site. I am not including anything like keyword research, competitive analysis, on-site SEO, creating unique/keyword rich content, or anything else that is generally done before a site is launched.An SEO Wishlist for Content Management Systems – What good to a search-engine-optimization professional is a site full of unique content with no way to optimize it? Not much, unless that professional enjoys nagging web developers to make minor edits. A strong content management system enables marketing teams and SEO professionals to work more independently of developers, reducing friction and increasing efficiency for both teams.

This is the latest in a weekly look at the stories that were “hot” on Sphinn in the past week. We’ll post these recaps every week.

Related Topics: Features: General | Sphinn

About The Author: Matt McGee is Search Engine Land's Executive News Editor, responsible for overseeing our daily news coverage. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. His web career continues to include a small number of SEO and social media consulting clients, as well as regular speaking engagements at marketing events around the U.S. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee. See more articles by Matt McGee

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Hot At Sphinn: Google’s Chances For Social Success, SEO ‘Junk’ On The Web & More

Jul 5, 2011 at 2:34pm ET by Matt McGee

There was quite a variety of content making the rounds last week on our sister site, Sphinn, and this week’s recap reflects that.

Hot on the heels of the launch of Google+, our “Discussion of the Week” asked a simple question: Can Google Succeed at Social Networking? The general feeling among the commenters was not to completely discount Google’s chances to succeed in social, but Sphinn member bluephoenixnyc summed up the challenge in our favorite comment of the week:

A great comment making the waves around Twitter was this: Google is fundamentally a utility. Nobody wants to hang out at the electricity company.So the question is will Google be able to build the type of bar/lounge situation for its utility company aesthetic that would entice users? The problem with Buzz and Wave fundamentally was that both were a bit too convoluted for even the early adopters; if you can’t hook the early adopters, then the product doesn’t stand a chance.

What’s your opinion? Feel free to add your thoughts today.

Meanwhile, also popular last week was an article in which one online marketer declares his intention to “stoop adding junk” to the web — and by “junk” he means low-quality websites, low-quality links, etc. That story was the most retreated Sphinn article on Twitter last week.

Here’s a look at all of last week’s activity.

Discussion: Can Google Succeed at Social Networking? – Google has been playing catch up in the social networking space for a while now. Google+ is its latest attempt to offer a compelling social product that complements Google search, Gmail and the many other products/services it offers. Although only a few people currently have access to Google+, let's talk about the bigger picture. In our "Discussion of the Week," we want to know: Can Google succeed at social networking? Is it in their DNA? What results will be needed for people to consider Google+ a success? The floor is open – feel free to take this where you want, lots of different angles we can go.The Benefits Of C Class IP Hosting – As usual, the new age SEO mystics like to say that anything that seems “exploitive” is useless and a waste of money. For this reason a common myth has circulated within the SEO industry that C class hosting is useless. Strangely, the people who say this mostly don’t even know what C class hosting is used for.Highlighting content creators in search results – Following through on rel=author, certain results will now display an author’s picture and name next to their content on Google Search results.A Tale of 2 Google Places Algorithms – Organic vs Places Ranking Factors Revealed – Great piece from Linda Buquet that opens a series of articles looking at the different local ranking factors between the old 7-pack style results and the blended results that debuted last October.30 Things to Do If You Want Your Company Blog to Fail – Everyone struggles to maintain a great blog, but what if you've decided it's your goal to create a phenomenally awful company blog? Well, here are 30 things you can do to fast-track your trip to the bottom!Why I Intend to Stop Adding Junk to the Web – A reformed affiliate offers some smart insight into the world of spammy SEO, churn and burn websites, and why most affiliates shouldn't quit their day job in pursuit of the 4 Hour Workweek.Google+: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly – When I first logged into Google+ I was a bit underwhelmed, but the more I used and explored the site, the more I liked it.  While it has already been deemed Google’s Facebook competitor, it is quite  different.   I want to share my opinion on the pros and cons of the site to help shine a little light on what exactly Google+ is, and what it does (and doesn’t) do well.whatCategorise Your Inbound Link Profile With Open Site Explorer Data – No 101-level content here. Richard Baxter shares a pretty high-level process for categorizing and analyzing the links in a website's inbound link profile. Bonus: He includes a downloadable Excel spreadsheet to help you get started.Your Web Metrics: Super Lame or Super Awesome? – Are you reporting crappy web metrics? Avinash explains which ones are lame and provides you with the information you need to report on metrics that truly matter.Personas 101: What Are They and Why Should I Care? – Solid introduction to personas from Linda Bustos: "A persona is not a demographic profile, a market segment or a summation of survey data. Rather, a persona is a combination of data modeled from ethnographic and behavioral user research, as well as narrative."

This is the latest in a weekly look at the stories that were “hot” on Sphinn in the past week. We’ll post these recaps every week.

Related Topics: Features: General | Sphinn

About The Author: Matt McGee is Search Engine Land's Executive News Editor, responsible for overseeing our daily news coverage. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. His web career continues to include a small number of SEO and social media consulting clients, as well as regular speaking engagements at marketing events around the U.S. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee. See more articles by Matt McGee

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This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.