The “New” SEO – SMX Advanced Seattle Takeaways

June 22, 2011 By Carrie Hill

My recent trip to SMX Advanced provided my brain with an overflowing basket of new ideas, concepts and procedures to process and bring to our clients.

I love these conferences, not just for the sessions that are taught, but for the ability to network with my SEO-industry friends and bounce ideas off of each of them. We collaborate on ideas and come up with some awesome thoughts for helping our clients succeed in their online markets.

This SMX Advanced in Seattle was info-packed for sure. I certainly cannot provide all of the details in one blog post, but I wanted to share information from the best SEO session of the conference.

First, the New Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors – a daunting chart of colors and initials that made me cringe at first. Luckily, a little known fact, here – I was a chemistry GEEK in high school. I couldn’t do math to save my soul, but give me a chemical equation and I was in hog heaven, I LOVED them…..weird, I know.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: SEM, SEO, Words of Wisdom

Who Said Google AdWords was Perfect?

March 23, 2011 By Jill Trujillo

Dear AdWords,

Thank you for this cost per click (CPC) recommendation:

This might seem reasonable to you at the moment, but we will check back later to see if you have another suggestion. (Maybe you are sleepy?)

Love,

Filed Under: PPC Pointers, Words of Wisdom

Increase Productivity – Use an Additional Monitor

July 8, 2010 By Trent Blizzard

How many monitors to you use in your workspace? I have 2, sometimes 3 when my laptop is open.

Everyone at Blizzard Internet uses at least 2 monitors; in fact one employee told me that “you will pry my 2nd monitor from my cold dead hands before taking it away from me.”

I HIGHLY recommend that you get your employees at least one more monitor because:

1) It will increase their productivity. I have seen research that productivity can be increased by anywhere between, 9-50%, that alone is worth the cost. http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/02/18/234899/multiple-monitors-boost-productivity-by-35.5.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/kimkomando/2006-03-02-two-monitors_x.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/20/technology/20basics.html

2) It’s cheap. 24″ screens are now less than $300.

3) They will love (or at least like) you more. This will crease morale, and also increase productivity.

Everyone at Blizzard Internet uses at least 2 monitors and our developers have 3. One employee told me that “you will pry my 2nd monitor from my cold dead hands before taking it away from me.” So, that pretty much sums up how they feel about it.

I HIGHLY recommend that you get your employees at least one more monitor because:

It will increase their productivity. I have seen research that productivity can be increased by anywhere between, 9-50%, that alone is worth the cost. I read this in Computer Weekly, the USA Today, and the New York Times.
It’s cheap. 24″ screens are now less than $300.
They will love (or at least like) you more. This will increase morale and increase productivity.

Check out my productive team:

Larry, the master of his own domain and master of coding, uses 3 monitors to rule the world.
Matt optimizes his productivity when optimizing websites using dual monitors.
Angelina Doglie is working as slow as molasses with her single monitor.

See more pictures of the Blizzard Internet Marketing Team being productive on on Flickr.

Filed Under: Bits From Blizzard, Heard Here and There, SEM, Words of Wisdom

12 Free Webinars to Make You Better, Faster, Smarter and Richer

April 23, 2010 By Jill Trujillo

Blizzard has lined up 12 webinars designed to improve your overall marketing strategy.

Each webinar is free and will run for about an hour.
Sign up today, webinars fill up fast.

Join us for:

Diagnosing Page Speed Issues on Your Travel, Tourism or Hospitality Site
Thursday, May 6th, 11 AM MDT
With Google’s recent announcement that Page Speed is a ranking factor, find out how to determine how your site measures up!

Google Analytics 101 for Hotels, Resorts, Inns and Rental Managers
Tuesday, May 18th, 11 AM MDT
Learn the basics of Google Analytics setup, how to monitor, interpret and track your online ROI.

Google Analytics Advanced for Hotels, Resorts, Inns and Rental Managers
Thursday, May 27th, 11 AM MDT
You will learn how to use goals, funnel tools and advanced reports for tracking actions that improve ROI. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Words of Wisdom

Featured Article: When and How to Outsource Your Search Marketing

September 15, 2009 By Jill Trujillo

Every business comes to a point when they have to decide whether to keep their search marketing in-house or hire an outside firm; a decision not to be taken lightly.

Blizzard Internet’s Director of Search Strategies, Carrie Hill, contributes a featured article to Search Engine Watch, a top search marketing online publication.

This month Carrie focuses this topic in her article “When and How to Outsource Your Small Business Search Marketing.”

If you are seriously considering expanding your online presence and increasing your ROI, this is a must read.

Filed Under: Out and About, Words of Wisdom

Best Practices: Vacation Rental Reviews

February 18, 2009 By Trent Blizzard

During the last two years, there has been an explosion of reviews onto the vacation rental industry scene. Clearly the consuming public is gravitating towards reviews. More VR managers are adding them to their website because the economic climate calls for low-cost solutions.

Do you know of a website (maybe yours) that is using reviews in this niche? We are looking for examples of how it can be done!

All Star Vacation Homes has their own ALL STAR guest reviews which are really quite compelling. Check out the contest to promote reviews, the signup form to add reviews… pretty much the whole system.

I am also a big fan of using a review management service that promise increased distribution to places like Tripadvisor or Google local using services like Flipkey.

I like to see reviews on the homepage (example) and property pages (example and example). Next we should start seeing reviews attached at all levels of the process, like search results… review based rankings may become as important as a photo… price… in the buying process!

Readers, please Comment below and share examples of similar sites that use reviews:

Filed Under: Web 2.0, Words of Wisdom

Avoid Keyword Greed

February 13, 2009 By Trent Blizzard

Keyword Greed is trying to target a bunch of keywords on one page… typically a homepage. It makes for an unappealing page. Instead, try targeting specific pages on your site, like a laser.

The Small Business Guide to Choosing Keyword Phrases by Carrie Hill

When we look at keyword research, our first goal is to find the keyword that is most relevant to each page we’re optimizing. We don’t need to look too closely at the search volume unless we’re working on a home page or other very important Web page. Powerful pages can support competitive phrases if the site, links, and content support the keywords. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Out and About, Words of Wisdom