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Archive for July, 2008

Be a Domainer! Cut out the Google Middle-Man.

Friday, July 25th, 2008

Internet Marketing Health CheckBuying domains for their traffic can be good for your Cost Per Lead (CPL).

Do you buy traffic to your website through the legendary Google Adwords? Specifically, are you purchasing clicks through the Google Content Network? If you are, chances are there are some ‘parked domains’ out there that are sending you some quality traffic. To cut out the Google middle-man, you can go directly to these parked domains and see if they’re for sale.

So, what the heck is a parked domain?

According to wikipedia.com (link), domain parking refers to the registration of an internet domain name without that domain being associated with any specific services (e.g. without a specific company website). This may have been done with a plan to reserve the domain name for future development or to protect against the possibility of cybersquatting.

Domain parking can be classified as monetized and non-monetized. In monetized domain parketing, advertisements are shown to visitors; in non-monetized parking, an “under construction” or a “coming soon” message may be put up on the domain by the registrar or reseller.

So, in essence you’re looking for parked domains that are monetized and showing your ads on the content network. Typically these domains get traffic either through type-in traffic or out of date inbound links.
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Search Engine Optimization versus Usability

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

Guest Author: Theresa Putkey of Key Pointe Usability Consulting

As a usability expert, I was surprised to learn of the ways that search engine optimization (SEO) can fly in the face of usability.

Basics
Let’s establish some baselines for what we’re talking about:

Usability: While many people argue about precise definitions, in practice, usability basically means that the product should serve the user needs, whether that product is a tea pot, a piece of software, or an e-business website.
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How fun is Google 411?!

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

Google 411
Apparently the voice researchers at Google have come up with a fabulous new free service. Tired of seeing those 411 calls on your cell phone and landline every month? I know I am! Google is changing that old school way of thinking. Why should the customer pay for the privilege of gaining a business’s information? (This works for business listings only, not residential).

Google’s already got all the information and it’s fantastic way to encourage their users to continue using Google on a regular basis. It’s a new FREE (yes, I said FREE!) 411 service. And I’m happy to report that it’s also fast and very easy to use.

I just gave it a try and was pleasantly surprised to see it works in Canada too! Sadly it’s only available in English at this time, but who knows what will happen in the future.
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Dancing with google. They lead, we follow.

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

Google Screen Shot
I just read a great little interview on redflymarketing.com.

It was with Aaron Wall of SEObook.com. As you may or may not know, he’s one of the go-to-guys for SEO and literally wrote the book on the subject.

Q. {to Aaron} Google is all over the place right now and it is looking like a lot of factors that once held weight no longer do and vice versa. What do you make of the current state of flux? Where do you see Google applying more weight?
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Free $100 Facebook Advertising Credit Courtesy Of Visa

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

Visa Facebook Advertising Credit
For those of you who are not advertising on Facebook already (and even if you are) and want to give it a try, now there is a completely free way to test the waters!

As part of the Visa Business promotion, Visa is offering $100 USD in advertising credit to Facebook users/advertisers. To get the free credit, all you need to do is (and yes, we’ve tested this out and it’s true)…

  1. Log into Facebook and add the Visa Business Network App.
  2. Once added, Facebook will send you a coupon code via email with instructions on how to add the credit to your account.
  3. Log into your Facebook Ads account at http://www.facebook.com/ads/manage/
  4. Click on the “Billing” at the top of the Ads Manager.
  5. Click on the “Funding Sources” tab on the Billing Summary page.
  6. Click on “Enter Coupon Code” and enter your code as shown in your email.

Visa Facebook Advertising Credit

NOTE: The credit expires 90 days from date the Visa Application is added to the Facebook account.

October 17 Media specializes in website development, paid search advertising, social media and viral marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) and email marketing.