Archive for ‘SEM

Amazon’s Algorithm: Am I what I buy?

Posted by thomas

Jan

2011

I racked up quite a few purchases before Christmas, and now I’m facing the New Year hangover. The kind of hangover I’m describing is not a headache from the champagne but the feedback noise of recommendations for products. These recommendations are generated by the secret software that Amazon and other companies use to analyze what I’m buying and predict my tastes. SEO’s, SEM’s, Social Media gurus and PPC managers are all in this game to a certain degree, but Amazon–because of their captive ‘audience’ or clientele–has perfected it to an art.

It can be a little shocking, sometimes, to realize what kind of impression I’ve made on Amazon. Who does Amazon think I am? Clicking through the model of my tastes that they reflect back at me can be like looking into a funhouse mirror. Some of their choices seem oversimplified or even patronizing. Some seem random. But then some of their predictions are dead on. It can be irritating to be sloppily profiled by a machine. On the other hand, it can be unnerving to be accurately profiled in subtly nuanced and minute detail. These are the vicissitudes of living in symbiosis with Google-bots and Amazon algorithms.

All the books that are being hawked to me lately are on the oversimplified side of Amazon’s opinion of me. Because I browsed the Amazon listings for The Road, the Cormac McCarthy novel that inspired the 2009 movie-adaptation, as well as Neil Gaiman’s eschatological comedy Good Omens, I’m getting all kinds of weird recommendations. Due to the fact that both books have a post-Apocalyptic feel to them, the information crawlers inside the Web classed me as some sort of end-times nut. When I log on to my account, books from the Left Behind series pop up. I don’t own any of the Left Behind books. Nor do I have any desire to purchase them or any other book by Timothy LaHaye. Especially not now that my computer thinks I might want to.

But then, oftentimes, the algorithms peg our tastes with Vulcan-minded precision, humbling us with their ability to transform our beloved individuality into a set of mathematical near certainties. A few weeks ago a friend of mine logged onto his Amazon account and saw a recommendation for an album that his wife, a singer-songwriter, had just released on a label that he used to be employed by. The dead-on, digitally determined pick was almost telepathic, as are, to my mind, many of the song selections made for me by Pandora, the online ‘radio-equivalent’ that plays on my Mac while I sit at my desk. One minute a melody will float up into my head, and the next moment it will float out through my headphones. Maybe I’m an android after all. Maybe the memories and desires stored on the internal hard-drive in my head are easily hacked. For good or for bad, the algorithms and I have gotten to know each other pretty well over the years.

Google Boost: Fear Not PPC Managers & SEM Pros: Boost is a gateway drug

Posted by thomas

Jan

2011

4
Comments

Filed Under: Everything Else Marketing Pay Per Click Search Engines SEM

Google Boost: it should be available in most major cities by this summer. Is it going to be a big hit or not? Is it going to change the landscape of our profession or is it just going to be another little bump on the road? Our guess is: it will make the pie bigger, but it won’t be replacing PPC management any time soon.

Pros of Google Boost include: ease of use, and an eye-catching factor. Boost’s ads will stand out from other sponsored links, because they’ll be including star-ratings, reviews, and you’ll get a blue pin to distinguish you on the map from all the other red pins. Also, it’s minimum price-tag is $50 dollars, which is lower than most PPC campaigns if you want to outsource the heavy-lifting to a professional. The cons include: limited control, diminished effectiveness, and a loss of equilibrium in terms of how sponsored links will be ranked.

Scanning the articles that have been written about Boost, and consulting our in-house specialists (re: Ben), the consensus seems to be that Google Boost will most likely act like a gateway drug–introducing small businesses to the power and potential of Search Engine Marketing, but ultimately leaving them wanting more.

Here’s the theory: Businesses who have yet to be sold on the concept that AdWords campaigns will produce a solid, measurable return on investment for them (especially if they hire a professional to run their campaign), will buy into Google Boost because its entry-level pricetag is relatively cheap. When they start to see the response, they will become intrigued–they will want to know more. When they know more, they will want more control–so that they can make more money. But they won’t be able to refine their campaign because Google Boost is opaque and one-sided. Boost is not designed to integrate business-owners’ knowledge and input to make campaigns more profitable. At this point small business owners may try to mount their own AdWords campaigns, which, oftentimes, they will probably end up turning over to a professional. Other business-owners will go straight to professional PPC managers when they see the results of their Boost campaigns.

So: our working hypothesis is that Google Boost will make the pie bigger. What do you think?

If you need some advice about Search Engine Marketing check out SmallBox’s services here. Or just get in touch with us here.

Google Places – Challenges and Rewards

Posted by PJ

May

2010

0
Comments

Filed Under: Everything Else Pay Per Click Search Engine Optimization Search Engines SEM SEO SmallBox

If your business has a physical location where customers can walk in and conduct transactions, you probably already know about the power of Google Local. But April 20th brought the switch from Google Local to Google Places. What does it mean for your business?

If you are doing everything correctly, probably everything will continue to work as normal. But what if you have never really completely implemented your local search optimization? How do you know if you require professional Local SEO Services?

Here is a checklist to make sure your local customers can find you:

step 1 – Search for your service. Most services will show local results complete with map and other important information. If you are not there you might need professional local search services.

step 2 – Search for your competitors. If they appear ahead of you, then you are losing business. Small Box SEO can definitely help with that.

step 3 – Assess your PPC. If you are spending money each month for clicks, and not converting those clicks to paying customers, then Small Box can improve your results, or help you replace that traffic with better converting organic results.

step 4 – Search for your company on a mobile device. Mobile technology is driving business. If mobile devices are sending people to the wrong location, then you have lost a customer. Small Box executes your local strategy completely, with zero problems for you.

step 5 – Understand your audience by viewing your statistics. Your audience is telling you important things about your site. Are you listening?

It makes a lot of sense for any business to try and manage as much as possible in house. But when it comes to connecting locally in your community, why leave loose ends? The businesses that have 100 % of their profile complete are going to win the battle for Local SEO.

Don’t take chances, Contact Small Box in Austin at 512-850-4819 or Indianapolis at 317-254-0932.

Easily Approachable and Quite Deep

Posted by PJ

Jul

2009

1
Comment

Filed Under: Culture Design Development Everything Else Marketing Pay Per Click Search Engine Optimization SEM SEO SmallBox

Seth Godin writes

“There are very few products, services or organizations that are simultaneously easily approachable and quite deep. That’s an opportunity for you if you can figure out how to be both, but choosing just one is a more likely scenario. So, which are you?”

It’s a good question, here’s how I would answer:

The web seems really complicated but not to me. I just see it as a series of decisions that require particular expertise to do correctly. The best decision is the one that makes the next one seem more apparent. There is never going to be one person who is right about everything all the time. What’s important in doing a web site, or marketing strategy, or making any series of decisions is to make each one as close to right as you can so the next one is clearer.

We do that by first and foremost attracting the top talent in the region. Then we challenge them to do more, to understand the implications of these important decisions. Then we provide what we hope to be the top level of customer service for our clients.

The results are clear to me, some are big and some are small. I take a small amount of pride in knowing that we are growing while other web companies are going out of business or shrinking. But what I take the most pride above all is the relationships that I have built with those in the box with me, and the way we extend it to our clients. Of the huge number of sites we have helped produce, 99% of them are still online exactly as we launched them.

Key to our growth is the way we have extended our services beyond designing and programming websites. It is a complete array of services our clients need, and some they don’t. That’s the real Small Box difference right there, whatever people think they know about us, there is more.

SEO Tip: Google Local Listings for Businesses

Posted by Jeb

May

2009

0
Comments

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization Search Engines SEM SEO

Here’s a Search Engine tip that many businesses don’t know about but should. It’s really, really easy to have a nice Google Local listing for your business. Also, these local listings often show up above the normal organic listings. Here’s the thing, it’s much easier to get to the top of your Google Local listings than the top of the normal listings. Check out the screenshot below. (click on the image to see the live search, results may differ depending on whether you are logged in or not located in Indianapolis, etc)
Note how our client Antique Helper Auctions is at the top of the Local Business results and then #2 for the organic listings that start below.

Now there are some “tricks” to getting a top local listing but the Google Local listings run on a different algorithm than the normal listings. It is widely agreed that the Local listings are much less competitive since you are only competing against your local competition. Why does this matter? Look below at the results for the search “auctions”. Google knows I’m coming from Indianapolis by my IP address (I wasn’t logged in to my Google account for these screenshots btw) so it gives me local results mixed in with general results. It knows what I want is probably a local service. Most services have a mostly local customer base.

Have you created your Google Local account for your business? If not, do it today, it’s free, easy and will definitely result in business coming your way. Getting to the top of the local and organic listings won’t happen overnight. But we can help….

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