I’ve recently have had a few people ask me, “Why am I in Google, but not in Yahoo or Bing?”. Even though Google is perceived as the “toughest” search engine to get ranked in, it actually isn’t true. Each search engine has it’s own search engine algorithm that determines it’s own unique results. Some people “accuse” Bing of stealing Google’s algorithm, however there are so few people who actually KNOW what Google’s algorithm is, so I completely think that’s false.

What is Yahoo’s & Bing’s Deal?

For one, Yahoo tends to like spam links and considers both nofollow and dofollow links, where Google tend to get rid of a lot of spam sites and only considers dofollow links. So to get to the top in Yahoo tends to be harder because now you have to not only beat the real sites, but the spam sites that just post their links everywhere under the sun. So in order to get into Google you need to have a low amount of spam links and a high amount of good follow links. But to get into Yahoo you just have to be the master link site for that keyword. In order words to get both you need a lot of GOOD and quality links. Now, that’s not fun is it? Now Yahoo and Bing both relies heavily on onsite SEO. Onsite SEO is optimizing your site for search engines. So your title tags, meta tags (Even though this isn’t really relevant anymore), description tags, header tags, content, etc. So Yahoo tends to favor sites who are keyword heavy on their page, but the downside of this is that Google doesn’t like TOO much on-page because they want it to look natural and not Spammy. So in other words Yahoo likes keyword stuffing, which is like the first thing we learned NOT to do in SEO Class 101! This is what makes our jobs so difficult!

Recommendations to get ranked in Yahoo or Bing

This is how I look at it. If you get yourself in Google and not in Yahoo or Bing, than I actually think your doing something right. That means your doing White Hat SEO instead of just spamming the crap out of your site. So pat yourself on the back, this is a GOOD problem. For all of the people who have the opposite problem, you or your marketing company are probably spamming your site. If you are really having difficulty getting in Yahoo, I’d recommend keep pushing the quality links. If you are ranking in Google, than you are on your way to success. It takes a FULL 6 months of SEO to fully get ranked, doesn’t matter WHAT the keyword is. It can take up to a years worth of work to actually get the full results for the difficult keywords.

Now I spoke a lot about Yahoo, but what about Bing? Now Bing places a lot of emphasis on TEXT and CONTENT, which some people will argue that Google doesn’t. Bing also places a high weighing on relevancy of the content on your site and the keywords you are trying to be ranked for. So make sure your site is ranked highly for LSI Keywords (Latent Semantic Indexing – basically in a nutshell LSI keywords are keywords that aren’t the exact phrase you are using. This will prevent you from over using your main keywords and making your site look like it’s keyword stuffing and spammy). Bing and Google both also look at the domain age. The reason behind this is so that these spam sites that pop up for a one week-one year domain life won’t get higher ranked than a mom and pop shop down the street that’s  had a domain name since 1998.

So what does this mean and how will this help you?

As a business owner you need to think about where you want to spend your money marketing. SEO can easily be done by anyone if they learn it. Just like me, you can go out and read blogs and books and try to figure it out. The best thing I think is to hire a link building/seo company to come in and optimize your site and get you links in the correct places. But remember, don’t just hire anyone because once a page is index, it’s forever indexed!!!

How would you like it if your marketing messages stuck to your viewers like the sticky filling of a Twinkie? Sounds deliciously tempting, doesn’t it? Well, Dan Bischoff has got just the right recipe for you. Your solution revolves around a little acronym called SUCCES.

Bischoff’s SUCCES is derived from an inspirational story which he summarizes in his article as, “Here’s the basic rundown if you haven’t seen it: Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State, lost 27 pounds and lowered his cholesterol by eating Twinkies and other junk food.” This remarkable story really struck and stuck with the public.

There are factors as to why certain stories or messages boom within audiences, which can help enhance your SEO. Six of these factors are all linked with Bischoff’s SUCCES acronym. And as he put it, “The Twinkie story fits each of the six ingredients that make an idea resonate.” So you want in on this special Marketing Recipe? Let’s find out what it is.

Ingredients:
• Simplicity- Try to make your messages or your story as simple as possible. Get to your core idea quickly. All of your marketing messages need to rely similar ideas so that your target audiences can easily understand them, and catch on.
• Unexpected- The message of your story is more likely to be effective if the results are highly unexpected. Unexpected occurrences or results strike the audience quickly and help to draw in a larger crowd. This also brings in the memorable aspect of your message.
• Concrete- Understand and remember the audience that you are speaking to, that way you can effectively apply your messages. For example, if the CEO of a company were handling your marketing campaigns, their language may be too flowery for the normal audience. So instead you want to eliminate as much of the corporate talk as you can, to leave a solid and concrete message that everyone can understand and relate to.
• Credible- Make sure that your story is credible, and not some fictitious story that you created just to catch people’s eye. Ensure your audience that they can trust and believe in what you are telling them. Give them credible resources.
• Emotional- It is necessary that your audience can be emotionally involved with the message you are sending out. An emotional tug can help reel in more people to your message, and keep them interested at the same time.
• Stories- Stories alone are concrete, emotional and involve unexpected outcomes. If you have a story, you have a marketing message to share with everyone.

Anything like SEO, PPC or social media is great to help get your customer’s foot in the door. However, behind it all you must have a great story and message to tell—a story that will stick, much like the Twinkie Diet. So keep that in mind when you are stirring up your next recipe for your next marketing message, because once you mix it all together you will be on the sure road to SUCCES!

Source: http://www.seo.com/blog/twinkie-diet/

What do most people who work extra hard look forward to you ask? TAKING A BREAK! However, when you are in the online marketing industry this could be one of the worst mistakes to make. Of course everyone deserves a break and needs a little vacation here and there. But just because you are taking some down time for yourself doesn’t mean the rest of the world is right there with you.

Not to discourage you from taking a vacation, I have to mention that there can be many negative side effects in doing so. Robin Neifield, CEO and cofounder of NetPlus Marketing Inc., seems to think so too. In her article, “Taking a Break,” Robin leaves us with nine possible expectations if you plan on taking a short or long leave of absence in the online marketing industry.

Still thinking about taking that break? Well, here’s what you can expect if you do:

INCREASED COMPETITION
The second you decide to relax, you have to remember that there will always be someone who is still working. By backing off, you leave an open door for competitors to strategize and formulate ways to attract new customers—some of which may have been your own. These could have at one point been loyal customers, but since you are nowhere to be found, they had to seek out other options, which is where your competitors come into play.

When you surrender customers, this of course strengthens the competition. Therefore you must make sure to, “prioritize your current customer base if circumstances force you to make drastic cuts or pause programs. If you can do nothing else, hang on to regular communications with them,” as Robin would put it.

POTENTIAL CUSTOMER/SALE LIMITATION
Upon leaving, you also risk the factor of gaining new customers. By pausing or stopping your productivity in online marketing you are ultimately limiting your potential when it comes to sales or future customers.

As Robin says, “you may benefit from some limited passive referrals but you are sacrificing scale. Scale brings efficiencies and a more stable position in the marketplace.”

Also, you may be intently focusing on your current economics, markets or samples without approaching other addressees or options. And this is what could lead to a major downfall for your company.

LOSS OF CREDIBILITY
In layman’s terms this is simply the loss of credibility between your company and your customers. This can happen at an alarming rate, especially when it is involving social media. Whatever your company may have in the public domain has the chance to rapidly become inapt and obsolete.

HALTED OPTIMIZATION
Taking a break puts attaining knowledge from optimization at risk. In certain areas such as display media, the stop and go theory insists on a revamp stage for your company to be able to rebuild traffic, and also gather new data produced from the traffic. And of course this would all be in effort to enhance the top placements, messaging, creativity, etc.

LOST DATA
Collecting data is very crucial to a business. It allows us to follow trends and find just where we stand. So missing out on this could be very negative to your company. When you take a break you put yourself at risk for losing trending data.

Also since things are always changing in the online marketing industry that means there is always something new to learn. According to Robin, “Seasonal learning is compromised or missing when activity is frozen or dramatically altered during key periods, including those periods just before and just after. Gleaning actionable data from intermittent periods of activity with wildly different objectives does not provide a clear picture of year-over-year or month-over-month trends.”

That being said, it is much more difficult to get an overall vision of the direction you want to head toward, when you have holes in your information. That is why you do not want to skip out on always having current data.

COMPLACENCY
Normally when you’re on a little getaway contentment settles in. But complacency is something you will want to avoid when it comes to maintaining discipline. This applies to areas such as regular program testing, maintenance, optimization and reporting. By staying in check with each of these areas it increases the chances of improvements throughout your organization.

Robin adds, “without that critical feedback, sites, language, promotions, and approaches can decay and staff can get lazy.”

Consequently, you may be tempted to stop watching your competitors, and learning what approaches they are taking. This potentially puts your company’s well-being at risk due to missed opportunities to respond to the information you have acquired.

LAY-OFFS
Unfortunately, the online marketing industry is a cut-throat business. If you or your team does not stay on top of their game it could possibly lead to one, some or all of you being let go. This could compromise the success of your company—if you are a small company having to make a budget cut it may lead to losing smart people with influential wisdom.

On a larger scale, if you are involved with an agency partner you may lose continuity with people who have personal intelligence within your business but they have to be relocated or laid off completely.

And then you will always have your good workers who need a challenge and strive to succeed. If they are met with a halted or reduced program, they may choose to leave on their own to find something more challenging.

INEFFICIENCIES
Every time you need a break, or decide to put your company on hold, there is much relearning that will have to occur. Being out of the game can lead to much inefficiency.

During your period of dormancy there are plenty of tasks that can stack up labor time, which means that there will be higher costs associated with this, all of which could have been prevented and spent on more productive areas such as actual media.

In fact, longer, consistent programs offer room to discuss pull, which in the long-run will assist in making your media money more effective.

FAILURE TO CAPITALIZE
Without actively participating, you may be missing out on the unexpected. Since we cannot predict what is going to happen, that makes it all the more important to stay on top of things. Taking breaks can lead to failure to see or capitalize on these things.

Like Robin says, “any pause creates a disadvantage with the landscape moving so fast,” and I think she makes a great point with that.

So even though you may be very deserving of, and very much in need of a vacation, you should stop and think about what it really means. Can you afford to take a break; is it the right time; is it going to cost you in the long-run? Sometimes you may not have a choice and may have to take an unwanted break. If this happens just remember to keep in mind not to forget about your work for too long—the longer you are away, the worse it may be when you try to return. So take a break…with caution!

Source: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1734855/taking-break