aimClear Search Marketing Blog

Microsoft Word and WordPress make strange bedfellows at first gape. However our clients have increased productivity significantly by speeding up the blogging process with clever use of MS Word (Office 2003 and 2007). Anyone who has ever tried to paste formatted text from Word to WordPress and observed the awful results is probably wondering exactly what the heck this post is about.

Linking and Text Scraping is Much Easier with Word.
It’s true that you can’t select fonts, bold, italic, images, or other fancy typography tricks in Word and successfully paste content into the WP visual editor. However there is a method to compose text and create links in Word, clean the formatting, and successfully paste the copy into WP while maintaining the link-formatting integrity. Read the rest of this entry »

Tonight while logged in to StumbleUpon to go through messages, I noticed an invitation to try out the new beta version of the StumbleUpon interface. Previously the beta interface was visible to members of the SU Beta Users’ Group. This wider release is likely to be scrutinized given StumbleUpon’s propensity to drive voluminous traffic and eBay’s recent purchase of SU for 100 million US dollars.

The new interface features a cool new tab system for navigating your account.
Read the rest of this entry »

There has been chatter about it for months. Now, fellow SEM Google adWords-watchers are trafficking blog posts highlighting fascinating examples of Google PPC results which are based dynamically, in part, on previous searches. This algorithmic shift, which ostensibly makes commercial search results more relevant to the user, foreshadows upcoming generations of smart-SERPs which take users’ search behavior into account more when targeting paid ads. It’s not hard to imagine scene by scene self-configuring video ads contextually related to a user’s current session and historic inclinations.

Whereas personalized organic search affects only users who are logged in to a Google service like Gmail, the adWords algorithm modification seems to impact sponsored results whether or not the searcher is logged into a Google account.

It’s easy to test for yourself. For instance search for airfare and you’ll see generic airfare sponsored results:


Now search for Minneapolis Hotel. Note that a sponsored airfare ad shows up-NOT a hotel ad:


A new search for airfare returns ads for Minneapolis airfare.

This has far reaching implications over the long haul. Read the rest of this entry »

Our clients are awesome. The products they sell, services they offer, and charismatic vision-personalities at the marketing table amaze me. A number of of aimClear’s clients could easily commit to and become accomplished SEMs in their own right. We’re grateful they hire us to be their SEM research eyes and ears. We love the KPIs we are tasked with.

Still search marketing is not an exact science and amounts to very hard work. In the early days of a blog it can feel like you’re writing for nobody. PPC requires constant creativity and vigilance, organic SEO based on keyword research is only for those fastidious few.

Late last week a well respected UK linkbait blogger posted a “response” to linkbaiting we sent his way. I questioned whether to publish this graphic but it’s SO DARN FUN. What we love about his post is that Lyndon speaks to the real issue at hand-keeping promises made by attention grabbing headlines. At the risk of perceived self-indulgence, here you go:

Fighting for raw traffic and link meat, Linkbaiters bait each other on Sphinn, Chicken/Egg, Egg/Chicken…trying to make history.

The challenge lies in marketing to the only professional crowd on earth which actually understands how the linkbaiting mind lock works, plugged-in SEM professionals. Writing worthy content (which is actually useful, funny, or hip) for other linkbaiters is the phunnest challenge ever and very humbling. The KPIs for investing time in Sphinn are reputation, satisfaction, and links.

You Can’t Fool a LinkBaiter
Oh no you can’t fool a linkbaiter, at least not for long. You can only fool yourself. Get a linkbaiter to click on fake-junk-content and you’ve converted a potential evangelist friend to a detractor. You can’t break promises made to linkbaiters with bogus hyperbolic headlines. The meat must be there.

Sphinn Works
This much we know. Sphinn’s “Hot Today” page rewards valuable content with tons of traffic resulting in high quality links and new friends. Sphinn is an extraordinary opportunity for young blogs with fledgling authority to leave the nest. Thank you for the opportunity to meet your 1000 most engaged friends Danny. We’ll try not to become lion food . Read the rest of this entry »

As background for any SEM firms living in a cave for the last few days (oh no not another cave man joke) Sphinn is a brand-spanking new social media community founded by Danny Sullivan (of Search Engine Land fame). The site caters to search marketing professionals and Bloggers who submit their own content or recommend others’ material.

There’s been quite a bit of dialog within Sphinn-threads regarding the SEM community’s feelings about the site. Andy Beard just asked Danny Sullivan to step outside to discuss things further.

Vote For Your Favorite Search Marketing News.
The “news” is voted to the top and gains prominence. For instance, if you feel so inclined, please go give this story a Sphinn (vote) here. Whether you like Sphinn or not over a thousand members joined in the first couple of days. That’s a lot of users for a niche’ social community targeted to a relatively small professional trade group. It’s yet another way to research SEM topics which you should certainly check out. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s not much debate about it. Predictable recurrent content is the new SEO. Call it a blog, blog powered online media room, press release, or a post to a content management system which is plugged-into-the-grid by pingbacks, trackbacks, and tags. Creating compelling content, of value to your readers, on a set schedule yields wonderful rewards. It’s hard work and is very labor intensive.

Much to my chagrin, sometimes even the most avid of journalist blogger-fanatics might not have enough time to write because of other important business. In my case we have new client blogs to launch, dozens of pay per click (PPC) campaigns to manage, conversions to track, analytics to dissect and conferences to attend.

Don’t Waste Precious Words.
Many beginning bloggers miss extra traffic opportunities by minimizing quick posts as throw away for lack of thoughtful external linking tactics and promotional strategies- which don’t take much time at all. Remember that stream of consciousness posts can sometimes send thousands of unique visitors to your site over the course of weeks or months. It all adds up.

Here are a few tips for sourcing quick posts for business blogs (when you really don’t have time) which can yield traffic. The following scenarios are actual case studies from clients’ blogs. The traffic counts are for the 30 days following each post. Try these simple techniques to make emergency too-busy-to-write-business-blogger-posts pay. Read the rest of this entry »

In response to our recent posts in the Paid Marketing Category, we’ve received a number of email inquires asking for advice regarding PPC (pay per click) learning resources.

Before you get out there and spread your PPC testing wings, there are a number of outstanding blog resources which are best read prior. Even the most experienced SEM professionals read every day to keep up. Here is the list of PPC Blog Resources we monitor @ aimClear. The links below lead to a wealth of free information focused on paid search marketing. Read the rest of this entry »

Well we’re back at home after a couple of days in Minneapolis/St. Paul with clients. It was nice to hear from MIMA members and panelists after our coverage of the MIMA Holistic Search Salon at the Calhoun Beach Club. The gathering was cool like a national SEM seminar, which was special for a local event. It occurs to me that most of our clients probably aren’t tuned in to annual SEM conference and seminar opportunities.

National search marketing conferences and seminars are a terrific way to indulge in total industry immersion, get the latest thinking from industry prophets, and the parties are legendary networking opportunities. Here’s a list of SEM conferences aimClear will be attending for the remainder of 2007. We’ll be blogging each of these events so as to share the latest with our clients.

Search Engine Strategies (SES) San Jose
August 20 - 23, 2007
This conference is a “can’t miss” event. SES was made famous over the years by the Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman. San Jose 2007 is the very last SES show organized by these luminary SEM journalists. No doubt the conference halls will be replete with nostalgia.

SMX Local & Mobile -

Tonight I had the pleasure of attending my first MIMA (Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association)Event, The Future of Search: A Holistic View,” along the metropolitan shores of Lake Calhoun in Uptown-Minneapolis.

Panelists:
Kevin Willer, Google, Saleel Sathe, MSN AdCenter, Lee Odden, and TopRank Online Marketing. The moderator was Chris Boggs, from Avenue A Razorfish.

Saleel Sathe, MSN AdCenter, explained that in organic search some results work better on different demographic segments. He touted Microsoft adCenter features which offer advertisers demographic targeting in addition to standard Google and Yahoo fare. Given Microsoft’s recent bump in usage the demographic targeting adCenter offers may become a more important arrow in search marketers quiver. aimClear buys MS adCenter and the traffic tends to convert well once on the landing page. Read the rest of this entry »