How Do Newsletters Impact your SEO?

While not every business may have the time or the resources to do a newsletter, there are a couple of things that Yoast does very well in this category from a content perspective.  First they weigh in ongoing discussions within the SEO community, provide thought leadership and advance popular topics from their blog.  Second, they share free tools and other resources that the community can benefit from.

 

 

TIP – Either start a conversation or join one.  Yoast did not launch with 75,000 subscribers, but because the users received tremendous value from their content, the word spread.  Find areas on the web where you can become a resource, create content and when appropriate create the vehicle to get your message to the masses.  Need some inspiration? Check out NTENT’s monthly newsletter, Vertical Impact,  dedicated to helping small businesses market their businesses better online.

Kick-Start Your Holiday Campaign Planning with 7 Quick Tips

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Don’t let the holidays sneak up on you this year. Each passing day is bringing us closer to the busiest online shopping season: Last year, online sales reached over $54.5 billion in November and December.[1] The National Retail Federation expects a 13% increase in online retail sales this year![2] It might be painful to think about Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the last minute Christmas Bonanza now, but it’s important to jump on the holiday bandwagon early. Marketers all across the country are already preparing for the holiday rush. Advance planning can position your business for online success, more sales and more joy as you head into 2014!

1) Get a Historical Perspective:

Start to gather holiday campaign information from last year – results, creative, calls to action, promotional schedules and more.

2) Identify Trends:

Now that you’ve laid out your campaign promotional periods and performance metrics from last year, you will need to spend some time pulling out the creative that you used. Look at ad copy, keywords, targeting specifications, images, URL’s and the landing pages where the ads drove traffic to on your site.

3) Develop a 2013 Holiday Campaign Plan:

A well-built plan should include, at a minimum, the following items:

Promotional Calendar (including special campaigns for current consumers)

Campaign Launch dates and Flight dates (the start and end dates for each campaign)

Target Audience

Ad Creative Options

Goals: Impressions, clicks, conversions, traffic

Destination URL

4) Motivate for Mobile:

IBM Online Retail Index reported that mobile shopping accounted for over 20 percent of all online sales! This trend is expected to continue to grow as we approach the 2013 holiday season. Get in gear now by updating your profiles with location information, creating mobile campaigns and building mobile landing pages. Get more tips on our blog.

5) Create a Back-Up Plan:

Consumers’ moods, patterns and preferences are always changing, so you’ll need to have a few back-up plans ready to roll. Minimize the stress by preparing for them. Here’s how:

Create a few variations of ad copy for each campaign

Have a few different landing pages created ahead of time as back up

Be prepared to have a few offerings ready to go to drive sales (free shipping, additional percentage off, etc.)

6) Set a Reporting Schedule and Stick to It:

The holiday time period is the busiest time of the year for online retailers. There is so much that needs to be done from processing sales, filling orders and tracking deliveries. Without a doubt, it’s one of the most challenging periods to set aside time for reviewing campaign reports BUT IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TIME OF YEAR TO DO SO! Reduce the chaos by setting a reporting schedule now with daily and weekly review times.

7) Make a List and Check it Twice:

Go through this holiday check list one last time to make sure you have covered your bases. Go through the plan with your team so that everyone has a common vision and goal. Take some time to review your ads, landing pages and website.

Without a doubt, getting your mindset into the “holiday spirit” is a challenge with summer still in session and back to school activities in full swing but, the truth is, savvy marketers are already busy plotting their online retail strategy, ensuring that they are one step ahead of the rest. Are you one of them?

 

Special Announcement:

NTENT Launches Online Video Destination, Uvidi.com!

We invite you to discover entertaining and engaging online videos from professionals and rising stars on Uvidi.com. Viewers get access to tips, tricks and insights in food, family, home, garden, entertainment, travel, sports and more! We make it easy for our viewers to discover highly engaging and entertaining videos from around the web. Find what you want on Uvidi.com!

Make getting prepared a bit easier this year - Download our Step-by-Step Holiday Planning Guide

 

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[1] eMarketer. “Online Holiday Shopping Forecast and Trends”. September 20, 2012

[2] National Retail Federation. “NRF Forecasts 3.4% Increase In Retail Sales For 2013”. January 28, 2013.

Innovations in Mobile to Make You Smarter

The mobile browser is so 2006. Technology in 2014 is poised to dramatically alter the smartphone user experience by delivering real-time knowledge directly within your favorite apps. Messaging, digital media, and even games will help make you smarter by providing you with information faster than ever. You don’t need apps that pretend to ‘train your brain’ …

How Vertical Search and Semantic Technology Will Change Digital Advertising

NTENT CEO Colin Jeavons gives his perspective on the future of digital advertising. Even those of us firmly entrenched in the world of digital advertising need only to watch an episode of Mad Men to be struck yet again by how much marketing has evolved. Where we once looked to attract the widest audience possible, effective web marketing today relies on targeting the people most likely to buy our merchandise or book our service at their moment of peak interest...

NTENT Joins the Fight to Combat Online Piracy

Leading advertising networks have joined the White House in adopting new voluntary codes to address counterfeiting and digital piracy. This pact heightens the battle against illegal goods that threaten consumer health and safety as well as the integrity of brands.

Last week, 24/7 Media, Adtegrity, AOL, Condé Nast, Google, Microsoft, SpotXchange, Yahoo!, and NTENT all announced compliance with best practices to reduce...

NTENT Launches Automotive Vertical with Source Interlink

Advertising Platform Provider Grows Network Reach, Billions of Ad Impressions Served Each Month

NEW YORK – July 16, 2013 – Today, top search technology company NTENT, expands into the automotive industry by partnering with Source Interlink, a leading integrated media and merchandising company focused on enthusiasts of automotive, action sports and other niche activities, to launch its first-ever automotive vertical content network...

Innovations in Mobile to Make You Smarter

The mobile browser is so 2006. Technology in 2014 is poised to dramatically alter the smartphone user experience by delivering real-time knowledge directly within your favorite apps. Messaging, digital media, and even games will help make you smarter by providing you with information faster than ever. You don’t need apps that pretend to ‘train your brain’ …

NTENT Selected as NYER Small Business Award Finalists

For the past eight years, the New York Enterprise Report has recognized the Tri-state areas top companies for their business practices. This year, NYER is proud to announce that Ntent was selected as a Best Practice Award finalist in the technology category out of dozens of qualified applicants...

NTENT Launches Automotive Vertical with Source Interlink

Advertising Platform Provider Grows Network Reach, Billions of Ad Impressions Served Each Month

NEW YORK – July 16, 2013 – Today, top search technology company NTENT, expands into the automotive industry by partnering with Source Interlink, a leading integrated media and merchandising company focused on enthusiasts of automotive, action sports and other niche activities, to launch its first-ever automotive vertical content network...

Search Engine Journal Focuses on How Vertical Search and Semantic Technology are Changing the World of Advertising

There is so much buzz in the press about semantic search technology, it’s hard to cut through the clutter and get to the meat of what it means for you, your business and the big world of advertising. In a recent post on Search Engine Journal, our CEO, Colin Jeavons, helps shed some light on how semantic search technology is working to create more meaningful relationships between advertisers, consumers and content creators. 

Here’s except from Jeavon’s article, “How Vertical Search and Semantic Technology Will Change Digital Advertising”:

"New search tools have emerged to help online publishers and marketers connect users to the content, products and services they desire within their areas of interest.  Semantic technology represents the forefront of the search experience.  Instead of relying on keywords, which can lead to narrow or inaccurate results, semantic search is based on concepts and is therefore more likely to understand the searcher’s intent.  For example, if someone is on a food website, a semantic search engine will ensure that their search queries result in ads related to food or cooking.  A query for “java” on a food site will result in content related to coffee, not computer programming.

 

Semantic technology does a better job than traditional search platforms in matching relevant advertisements to online content.  Because it is conceptual instead of literal, semantic technology is able to match ads in ways that are limited by keyword algorithms.  For example, an ad for avocados or salsa might appear next to an article about guacamole, even if those words do not appear on the page.” 

 

 

Improve your eCommerce Experience by Putting Consumers First

 

As an organization that works with thousands of eCommerce companies, we know that a great eCommerce strategy doesn’t just happen overnight. It takes planning, developing a method of execution and ongoing fine tuning to keep up with changing shopping trends. Practical Ecommerce recently released “10 Great Ecommerce Ideas for 2013” featuring insights from industry leading professionals from CoreMedia, Baynote, Lexity, and NTENT’s CEO and President, Colin Jeavons:

 

Include User Experience in your eCommerce Strategy

 

“It’s essential that retailers put user experience at the forefront of their ecommerce strategy. Retailers can boost sales and reduce consumer drop off by creating the shortest ‘click-to-cart’ path. That means driving consumers directly to product pages where they can purchase, versus driving them to your home page of your store where they can be overwhelmed.” Colin Jeavons, NTENT CEO and President.

Creating a fluid user experience is an ongoing challenge for many of our clients. It’s important to think about your goals and then develop a strategy that puts the consumer first. Most online shoppers don’t want to click multiple times in order to get the product, or the information, they are looking for. In today’s instant gratification world, eCommerce businesses need to focus on creating the shortest path to purchase as possible. Once you’ve got them engaged with content of your store, and interested in your products, you can use a shopping recommendation engine to encourage product discovery.

 

Learn about the  Transition to Digital Advertising.

 

Written by: Kerstin Recker, @MsKTia 

How Educational Content Closes the SEO Gap

We wanted to share a recent conversion funnel that we went through during our quest for a new SEO platform and what factors ultimately tipped the scales to select one vendor over the other.  Our hope is that this information will inspire business owners to think about content from an educational perspective and to discover new ways to become a resource for consumers in their own industries.

We have all been there before, certain decisions are made during the initial setup for a website and then the old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” kicks in.  So while nothing was “broken” with our SEO vendor, it was time to see if there was something more robust.  The detective work began as we started with a few recommendations from colleagues, a couple of informed web searches and a short list of SEO platforms from trusted websites.  The majority of vendors did a great job listing the features and benefits of their products and the differences between them and their competitors.  In the end two vendors rose to the top, the current vendor and  one that was recommended by more than one of our friends (interesting how that works).  See what tipped the scales and how your business may be able to implement pieces of the yoast.com content strategy.

Education – Guides, Industry Knowledge and Leadership:

It was very apparent from our first visit to www.yoast.com that they had more to communicate then just the features and benefits of their product; they were on a mission to educate their visitors and community about the practice of SEO.  Since their product requires some knowledge of SEO Best Practices, why not pre-educate their users.  They maintain a robust guide and update it regularly: WORDPRESS SEO, “The Definitive Guide to Higher Rankings for Wordpress Sites”.

 

TIP - Where can your business take the lead in educating your industry?  Whether you have a product or a service, start small and tackle a niche that you’re known for.  This singular piece of content will eventually become an entry into your table of contents for the full guide some day!

 

Take a look into this related article  Trying to Reach Consumers? Create Engaging Content.

 

Written by: Greg Gossler 

NTENT SELECTED AS NYER SMALL BUSINESS AWARD FINALISTS

 

 

 

 

For the past eight years, the New York Enterprise Report (NYER) has recognized the Tri-state areas top companies for their business practices. This year, NTENT is proud to announce that we are among the 30 companies that were selected as Best Practice Award finalists out of dozens of qualified applicants. NTENT is a finalist in the Best Practices Technology category.

 

 

The newly revamped awards event will take place on October 9, 2013 at the Hilton New York. Finalists and winners will have the opportunity to network at the newly revamped awards ceremony showcasing the best small businesses in the NY metro area.

 

 

Winners will be announced in front of the “who’s who” business community. We hope you celebrate us! Visit http://nyreport.com/awards for more information. 

 

 

Time to Do a Double Take: Are Google AdWords and Long Tail Keywords Still a Viable Strategy for Growth?

As search evolves, the effectiveness of AdWords comes into question. If you’re trying to use AdWords as a way to rocket your site past the competition and get ranked high in search results for high value keywords, you’re better off investing in other methods. This is because Google has changed the way they manage search results and this has had a major impact on AdWords advertisements. However, when you’re deciding which long-tail keywords are worth developing content for, AdWords is still a great tool.

AdWords Experiment         

The advertisements displayed in your search results on Google are custom tailored to you. To see this for yourself, the easiest thing to do is try searching when you’re logged into Google and when you’re not. If you’ve got two browsers then you can login with one and not login with the other. If you only have one browser, take a screen shot to compare your search results when you’re logged in and when you’re not. Here’s a list of three keyword strings to try:

 

1.     Simpsons

 

2.     Buy Simpsons costume

 

3.     Buy Padres tee shirt

 

Keep in mind that even when you’re not logged in Google will customize your search results based on your location. The results I am presenting come from searches conducted in Raleigh, NC. Your results may vary slightly.

 

Simpsons

 

For the first search term, Simpsons, in both cases there are no advertisements. Additionally, the top two results are the same, however, the rest of the first page results are different when I’m logged in from when I’m not.

 

 

 

 

 

Buy Simpsons Costume

When I’m not logged into my Google account, no advertisements are displayed with the search results. However, when I login there are several results displayed in the sidebar. Additionally, the other results on the page are ordered differently when I’m logged into my Google account.

Example: Logged in

 

 

 

 

Buy Padres Tee Shirt

 

Of these three keyword strings, the biggest difference can be seen with “buy Padres tee shirt”. When I’m not logged into my Google account, the search results show multiple advertisements along the top and side of the page. Additionally, there are four images of shirts available for purchase listed in the Google Shopping results. However, when I’m logged into my Google account, eight shirts are listed and the advertisements in the sidebar are gone. I’ve includes screen shots below to illustrate these differences.

 

Example: Not logged into Google

 

 

 

Example: Logged Into Google

 

 

Google Results Pages

In addition to custom search results, there are new layouts for special results pages. This includes results pages with no advertisements, or very few. However, there are also pages with entity cards (such as the Simpsons results page) or shopping results (such as the “buy Padres tee shirt” results page). Overall, Google search results pages are showing fewer advertisements for high value queries and limited ads on longer tail keywords.

 

Moving Forward

With fewer advertisements being displayed in search results, it is even more important to optimize your site for search engines. This will ensure your content shows up in the organic search results. However, there are different ways of doing this for different types of businesses. Brick and mortar companies, like restaurants and stores, should approach search engine optimization differently from online retailers.

 

Restaurants and Stores

With the Google’s focus on custom and local search results, the best thing to do is ensure your address is properly listed in the yellow pages, Yelp, and other online directories. Additionally, it is a good idea to develop incentives for online reviews. This can get your business ranked highly in local search results.

 

Online Retailers

Since the business of online retailers is delivering goods and services to a vast customer base, local search will not play as crucial of a role as it does for brick and mortar businesses. Instead, online retailers should put more focus on listing products and services in Google Shopping rather than just relying on creating a long tail keyword strategy for AdWords.  These listings earn a high rank in organic search results, particularly when an image is included. Alternatively, extending your digital strategy to include contextual advertising on relevant publisher sites can drive traffic to your store.

 

The reality is that as search and search based products like AdWords continue to evolve so must the strategies that online publishers and retailers use to sustain or boost their rankings in search.