Archive for September, 2009

Published by parMaster on 25 Sep 2009

Yahoo.ie Launches 2 Years Later, And Still Not Irish

When I look back and see that almost 2 years have passed since writing about Yahoo!’s Irish Search Results I have to wonder where does the time go? A couple of days ago a Yahoo! employee called Dave left a comment on that post mentioning that Yahoo.ie is now alive and kicking:

Yahoo! Ireland homepage - yahoo.ie
Yahoo!’s new Irish yahoo.ie homepage

But maybe they haven’t committed 100% yet to their Irish presence:

Yahoo! Ireland Property Section
Yahoo! Ireland Property Section

Lots of Irish finance news (not):

Yahoo! Ireland finance section
Yahoo! Ireland finance section

But surely they’ll serve up Irish personals (dating)…

Yahoo! Ireland Personals (Dating)
Yahoo! Ireland Personals (Dating)

Try entering Dublin as your city and see what they return…. *sigh*

So basically Yahoo! has given us a new Irish homepage to their UK portal. Maybe in another 2 years they may actually include some Irish content… Not holding breath (

Want to read more?

  1. St. Patrick’s Day Fun – Yahoo! Calls Irish Politicians ‘Snakes’
  2. Yahoo! Comes to Ireland (properly)
  3. Google News Finds HSE ‘Entertaining’

Published by parMaster on 24 Sep 2009

Why SEO Is Not As Easy As It Used To Be

SEO used to be fairly simple. If you wanted your website to rank well then you simply wrote keyword-based content, tweaked your meta tags to target the right keywords, and built some backlinks. Voila! You ranked. Today, however, it’s not so easy. There are challenges, but the basic principles are still the same. You still write [...]

Published by parMaster on 24 Sep 2009

Review: YouTube and Video Marketing An Hour A Day

Greg Jarboe Book “Master Story Teller”, that’s how I would describe Greg Jarboe, someone I’ve known in the internet marketing and PR world for several years. Now he’s pioneered yet another essential digital marketing channel: online video. In YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour A Day, Greg has assembled a priceless collection of insights, examples and practical tips for companies that want, that need, to understand how to use video marketing to grow their business. You cannot afford to miss this story.”

That’s the endorsement I gave Greg’s new book based on the preview copy a few months ago. He gave me a copy of the final book at SES and I thought it very timely to provide a more in-depth review.

Speaking of Greg Jarboe and videos on YouTube, here’s a video interview I did with Greg in 2006 at Pubcon where he offers excellent advice on staying current: “Use last year’s tactics and you’ll get last year’s results”.  Search YouTube for Greg’s name and you’ll find he’s equally at home in front of and behind the camera.

As an active participant in the marketing industry, I see a lot of companies trying to get their arms around what will be the “next big thing” in digital marketing and social media. With YouTube the second most popular search engine after Google, video marketing is a big part of that answer.

What’s great about the “An Hour A Day” series from Wiley is that each book is structured around practical tips.  Sure, there’s mention of a dead terrorist Ventriloquist dummy and Paris Hilton in jail, but you’ll also find great background information on the emergence of YouTube as the dominant online video hosting service on the front end and “Mysteries of Online Video Revealed” on the back end.  In between, chapters 3-10 offer a day by day, week by week plan for developing and executing a video marketing effort over 8 months that any motivated marketer can follow.

The “guts” of the practical tips in this book start with mapping out a video marketing strategy, finding influencers on YouTube and other video services and a clever reversal of the “old map of mass media”.   You’ll also find very specific video optimization tips starting with keyword research and tools as well as specific video optimization tips for YouTube, other video sites and types of video promotion.

Here are a few sample video optimization tips:

  • YouTube SEO involves including keywords in the title, description and tags. Attracting views and ratings is also helpful for better rankings on YouTube.
  • Web video SEO involves using keywords on the page the video is embedded in as well as in anchor text links to the page. Filenames, metadata and RSS enclosures are also opportunities for keyword inclusion.

You’ll find many more tips on video marketing besides those focused on SEO.  The video marketing plan outlined in Jarboe’s book continues with tips on creating viral video content using an ample number of specific examples and then covers the brass tacks of creating a YouTube channel and socializing within the YouTube community.

While a lot of the popular videos on the web are of the home grown, Flip video type, there’s a lot to be said for good video production skills and chapter 6  covers everything from video formats to ideal resolution to editing software.    Jarboe also offers advice on becoming a YouTube partner and advertiser before getting into the metrics of YouTube Insight (Trust but Verify) and illustrating the measurement of outcomes vs outputs.

In the way that Andrew Goodman “wrote the book” on Google AdWords, Greg Jarboe is undoubtedly the guy who “wrote the book” on YouTube and Video Marketing. If video is in your social media and content marketing future, this book is an excellent starting point.

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Published by parMaster on 23 Sep 2009

Video Marketing: An Agent Of Trust

Online marketers are extremely interested in building trust. In fact, if you don’t build trust among your readership you will likely not make money online. Video marketing is the perfect tool for building trust. Text is one dimensional. In order to build trust you have to go to great lengths to convince people that you are [...]

Published by parMaster on 22 Sep 2009

100+ Search Marketing Resources to Learn SEO & PPC

100 Plus Resources to Learn Search Marketing

How do new marketers learn SEO and Pay Per Click? How do professionals stay current with search marketing tactics considering the sheer volume of social media distraction?  Last month we ran a poll of Online Marketing Blog readers to discover preferences for learning and staying up to date with current search engine marketing strategies and tactics.  Below are the top categories selected by readers. However, we’ve taken it a step further and listed over 100 different resources for marketers to start, maintain or advance their level of SEO, PPC and any other type of search based marketing. Enjoy!

Search Engine Marketing Blogs

SEO/SEM Blog Aggregators:

Testing Tactics on Your Own Web Sites

Search Engine Marketing Forums

Paid Subscription SEM Communities

Search Engine Marketing Webinars

Search Marketing White Papers, Research, Special Reports

SEO & SEM Email Newsletters

Online Groups for Search Marketers (Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning)

The Big SEM Conferences

SEM Consultant/Agency Advice

  • TopRank Online Marketing – That’s right, we put our own agency )  - The reality is, your current SEO/SEM agency or consultant should offer some kind of ongoing education and/or training on top of ongoing consulting services. If not, call us!

Print Magazines

Offline Networking Groups or Meetups

Books on SEM

Niche or Regional SEO/SEM Workshops

Search Marketing Industry Web Sites

SEM Workshops, Training & Certifications

Search Marketers on Twitter

SEO & PPC Focused Podcasts

What did we miss? Please share in the comments.

I took a quick poll on Twitter for some of the resources and want to thank those that made suggestions: @chrisgarrett, @scottclark, @danperry, @katemorris, @jonnytee, @Phil_EH, @steveplunkett, @chiropractic, @pratt, @kennyhyder, @kalena, @goglobalwebs, @scottdeto, @thashow.

chrisgarrett
scottclark
danperry
katemorris
jonnytee
Phil_EH
steveplunkett
chiropractic
pratt
kennyhyder
kalena
goglobalwebs
scottdeto
thashow
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© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | 100+ Search Marketing Resources to Learn SEO & PPC | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

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