The Internet Marketing & Seo Malta Guy

I just noticed that for any domain google is showing up to 3 pages now while before it used to need SEO skill (calculating even keyword deconty) or luck to get 2 page listings in Google.

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I have been wanting to write a post like this for 2 reasons.

1. To shed some light on common SEO myths.
2. To show how powerful international companies just with huge marketing budgets such as Nikon are loosing out because they neglect SEO as part of their strategy.

In no way is this article intended to damage the Nikon brand, I highly respect the brand it is merely an observation about facts that should be acted upon.

Company leaders and even marketing managers often get surprised when they type in their brand name or a product they are selling and notice that they are not number one.  They automatically make up the assumption that just because they have a powerful brand, their company website will automatically catapult to the number one position on Google.

An example of this is when I did a Google search for buy Nikon D5000 camera. The Nikon.com or Nikonusa.com website are nowhere to be seen. Instead companies like Amazon, EBay, CNET and other Review Sites are raking in more profits by mooching of the Nikon brand.  Now this in no way is illegal, Nikon are still making profits if either one of the websites promoting their products sell, but it’s coming to a greater cost, lowering their margins.

After I modified the query for from buy Nikon D5000 camera to just Nikon D5000 camera I hit the jackpot (or so i thought), Nikon.com website appeared and I clicked on the link which took me to http://www.nikon.com/about/news/2009/0414_d5000_01.htm which is just a news page with no information on where to buy the camera whatsoever, no asking for location to find nearby stores, nothing. It just took me to a page with a list of cameras which have nothing to do with the D5000.

I believe you get the point….

The last facts I want to share with you is Nikon.com …
- has a Google Page Rank of 7/10
- on Yahoo Site Explorer it registered 144,000 inbound links
- using Google’s Site command, we know that they have around 27,000 pages indexed.

We are all fighting to get more links to our website and to increase our page rank. SEO starts at home. Do not attempt to do Off Page SEO before you get your On Page SEO to a respectable level.  Do not just get links to your home page, make sure they are targeted to landing pages also.

First fix your website as much as you can.  It doesn’t make any logical sense to get people into a broken down and messy restaurant. First fix fix the restaurant and then get people to visit.

P.S. If you see “holes” in big brands’ SEO Strategy, that could mean an opportunity as an affiliate to jump into a niche or target a product.

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It’s hard to find someone that really knows how to take a project from start to finish.  A lot can take a project from 0 to 95% on their own but only a few can take it up to 100%.  These people that can give a 100% on a project and pay attention to every little detail are hard to find.

We all know how exciting it is to hop on the next project or the newest idea and we tend to forget on the task at hand.  We leave out the small details in a website, aligning the text properly, make sure the alt tags are all set, calling the client for the last bit information and debugging the code to make sure it’s perfect for deployment.

So the question is are you a 0 to 100% guy or are you settling for 90%?  If you are the former, you have a winner’s mindset if you’re the latter, that’s a looser’s mentality.  The team that slacks down the last 10 mins of the game when the score is tied is the team that’s going to lose.

If you are the team’s leader, what are you going to do to get them to work to 100% all the time, and are you giving a 100% yourself?

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I am currently at home in my pjs since I caught a cold and the first thing I do when I open my eyes is check my e-mail.  Behold, a sale was made for 180 Euros. Not bad at all.  I have always liked the idea that you can make money while you sleep, even though it’s hyped up by many Internet Marketers.

Now don’t get me wrong I HAVE made money while sleeping through Pay Per Click campaigns but never through Search Engine Optimization in such a competitive market.

What really makes this exciting is not the money but it’s the sense of accomplishment that hard work, research and proper strategical execution really does pay off.  Taking the time to build good quality optimized content that adds value to your customers and to the search engines pays off.

It’s exciting because it shows that in any market, the little guy, with a relatively small budget (compared to giant brands) can come out on top if he’s smart enough.  Everyday I get more exciting results which show that using SEO and Social Media effectively will give your more results in the long run than  a TV Campaign or any other traditional media can at a fraction of the cost.

It’s exciting to know that with the right people backing you up, you can do pretty much anything. GO Team!

Live long and prosper!

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The holiday season is among us and if you haven’t started shopping for presents you probably soon will be.  Marketers know this of course and they have their Holiday Marketing plans and budgets ready and rolling out slowly, but will that budget be enough?

In May 2009, Google changed its policy toward trademark usage in AdWords ads. Previously, Google had not allowed advertisers to use trademarks they didn’t own, either for targeting or in ad text, and Google was responsible for policing that policy. Under the new trademark policy, advertisers can use trademarks they don’t own under certain circumstances, such as if they are reselling a product or discussing the product on an informational site.

Search for branded terms naturally go up in the holiday season and Google’s self-policing new policy means that spammers and fraudulent sites who have larger budgets than the average affiliates will have more opportunity to buy branded terms, increasing the CPC and overtake brand terms from affiliates and even brand owners.  Also if they are selling knock off products, they will have a higher ROI as the markup on the products ain’t so high.

Some think Google are being greedy in profit terms and that they are taking advantage of the season and the people’s need.  What do you think?

You can read more on the issue and Google’s policy at http://www.clickz.com/

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