aimClear Search Marketing Blog

During SES New York, aimClear will be giving away 3 iPod nanos®. The only KPIs are fun and friendship . Ya’ know, one is sliver and the other’s gold. There’s no obligation, (absolutely no data-mining). Each iPod Is Engraved With “#SESNY Search Engine Strategies 2010.

Entering is super easy and there will be three big chances to win, one each day of SES NY. The only catch: you must be a badge-carrying Search Engine Strategies New York 2010 attendee holding a Platinum, Speaker, Press or Exposition pass. Enter now! Here’s How You Play!

Search Engine Strategies New York is an annual conclave of rare depth and importance.  In search marketing, channels evolve at blazing speed and staying relevant is an intense and ongoing process.  As part of our commitment to stay cutting-edge-current, aimClear team members hit the road for about 80 days of training each year. SES New York is on the shortest-list of must-attend seminars we would simply never miss. Here’s why: Read the rest of this entry »

Google is planning to test ultra-high speed broadband networks and is considering Duluth as a trial location, among others across the country.

Google Fiber, so you’re considering a move to Duluth…? Join the club. In 1982 I first came to visit. Then after a decade-long love affair with the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) to the North, I finally made it here in 95’ and never left. Our office to this day is in famed Canal Park. Many of us here have similar stories of falling in love with Duluth and moving here.

Google, over the coming days, we’ll be sharing aspects of our community and why aimClear, an internationally known search marketing agency & many other tech’ companies, thrive here.  57% of aimClear’s employees were either born in the Duluth/Superior area and/or are a product of University of Minnesota, Duluth or University if Wisconsin, Superior.  Today’s Part 1 shares some background, pictures from our friend Dennis O’Hara & a free music download of one of my songs-deeply inspired by Lake Superior. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s remarkable really. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will take the stage for a “Fireside Chat” with Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of SearchEngineLand.com and conference co-chair, to kick off SMX West on March 2, 2010 in Santa Clara.  In his inaugural address speaking directly to the inner-search marketing community, Mr. Ballmer will discuss Microsoft’s evolution in search and his vision of the future.

Given the Microsoft/Yahoo search deal, his appearance is a notable gesture. But does this keynote by Microsoft’s highest-ranking officer, arguably one of the most powerful businesspeople in the world, signal a commitment to outperform Google in algorithmic transparency and support for SEOs? Read the rest of this entry »

Though social media participation has exploded, we meet businesses nearly every day  that have barely, clumsily or not dipped their toes in the in the water.  They ask, “Should we have a Facebook page,“ “What about YouTube” or “Gee, should we be tweeting?”

These entrepreneurs are usually full of life, energy, present a history of offline success and have little idea what to do about social media. Is your business wondering how to incorporate social media in day to day marketing, customer service and public relations routines? This post recommends classic D.I.Y. social media marketing tactics & real-world examples for businesses. Read the rest of this entry »

Should direct marketers place Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and/or other buttons as part of the template for every email blast?   What about PPC landing pages? Should Twitter and Facebook be exit-options for every PPC landing page impression? How should advertisers think about socialization as either primary or secondary KPIs (key performance indicators A.K. A “goals.”)?

At first gape, these questions seem easy, yes?  “Of course, yes, socialize everything” you shout!”  “After all, isn’t the ‘net  all about social media these days?” How could it be wrong to ever consider omitting the all-powerful and ubiquitous social media click-me-now badges? Read the rest of this entry »

credit: rahady
We’ve reviewed many sites where supposed search engine optimization “experts” damaged a business with archaic techniques and/or outmoded business practices.  While it’s easy to spot most scumbags, it can be much harder for laypersons to sift out previously germane SEO dinosaurs– now dangerously out of step.

To fill the void, this post offers wary small business owners, CMOs and marketing managers a 30,000 guerrilla vendor gut-check litmus test. Use these 20 procedures as first-line-of-defense screenings to evaluate whether your experts have kept current or are messing with your livelihood.  You may be surprised by the results. Read the rest of this entry »

Read it and weep. Google seems to be testing even deeper integration of real-time search in SERPs (search engine results pages). Either that or maybe it’s a bug.  Check out these suggestion results (found at the bottom of the SERP) for our KnowEm friend, Michael Streko.

Obviously, Google is now cruising real-time search and Twitter for SERPs suggestions. Here’s where that suggestion is derived from: Read the rest of this entry »

Search moves at the speed of light, so staying current is crucial.  This list of over 1,500 search industry articles, ideas, tweets, tool reviews, notes, snippets and snark is our 2009 internal agency-training library of  content. The aimClear team has embraced systemic review of this “Daily Training List” and it’s a cool part of the routine.

This mutual commitment to reading helps our shop keep a fresh awareness of current developments and is an important component of our training. We often discuss these posts as a group informally, and refer back to them as resources. I personally revisit the archive, send links to clients,  tweet, etc… It takes hours every day to read this much and we’ve found a lot of value in keeping discoveries in the link roundup format. Try searching this page for anything that happened in search last year and chances are you’ll find a useful resource.

We’ve decided to publish last year’s daily training notes for two reasons: First we want to gratefully acknowledge the bloggers and publications we depend on each day.  I’d like send special thanks to Barry Schwartz, the DailySearchCap,  SEOmoz, SearchEngineWatch & AllTop. Second, skimming the list of over 1,500 bulleted entries provides a sweet overview of our industry’s evolution in 2009. Read the rest of this entry »

To begin, this post is not a black hat tutorial teaching how to build spam-scraper-copyright-infringing websites. Rather we’ll highlight simple white hat techniques to successfully republish and rank “duplicate” content, all the while creating new value for users.  Please don’t use these methods for evil. Read the rest of this entry »