In 2011 there were many changes to how the major search engines such as Google ranked websites in particular Google’s Panda update has notoriously shut down many online business owners and changes the way we do things. Check out this great video which describes some of the technical aspects of Google’s Panda update.

The video is for more experienced SEOs and business owners that may be doing their own SEO work, but for a quick layman’s terms analyses of Google Panda I will share a couple points.

• Google has improved their ability to determine scraper sites (these are sites that copy content from other sites and place it on their own site)
• Thin affiliate sites have also been a target of concern and now landing pages, one page sites with just ads and links to other sites can and have been demoted in their rankings by Google’s new Panda update
• The Google Panda improved the ability to target spam sites and downgrade their rankings
• Websites that use social media and get their content shared can and will see a boost in organic rankings
• Unique quality content is becoming more and more a must
• Website Design and user experience is very important now

So what do you need to do in 2012 to succeed in your online business? Well for one I don’t believe that you can continue operating online successfully unless you have a good strategy. Just putting up a pretty looking website with flash animation, etc just isn’t going to cut it. The competition is more than fierce and unfortunately the “little guys” online although can setup shop for cheap, you aren’t going to get any traction unless you really know what your doing.

Here are my tips for success in 2012!

• Work with an experienced Web Marketer that can help you reach your specific online goals
• Use Web Analytics to determine what is going on with your website
• Start utilizing Social Media you can’t ignore it anymore
• Work on creating unique, high quality and creative content for your website
• Get more committed to tweaking and testing your website, if you are serious about success online

To quote from expert SEO & Web Marketing Consultant Gianluca Fiorelli “to be good is not good enough” when it comes to web marketing now. The small and medium size business owners that haven’t got a clue where to start should consider doing research and finding a reliable SEO that can assist you because it’s not going to get any easier.

The good news is that there is still a lot of opportunities to win online, but nowadays Google and other search engines want to better understand the most influence sites and if you are able to create a brand for yourself or your online business then you will be protected from the many changes that Google will make. The idea now is to become a unique entity that is resourceful and helpful to the people looking for your product and service. It’s not enough to just have a website in the #1 rank because this can change, but what can’t change is if you build a community/brand that people know you.

Good luck to you in 2012!

The problem is that if your a newbie to the Internet Marketing world you are at a disadvantage not because you are unskilled and don’t have a lot of knowledge yet, you are at a disadvantage because there are so many options and so many people telling you what you should learn. Below is just a short list of many of the things people will tell you, you must learn in the Internet Marketing world!

• Email marketing
• Social media marketing
• Social media optimization
• Pay per click marketing
• Bum marketing
• Search engine optimization
• Search engine marketing
• Niche marketing
• Link building
• Affiliate marketing
• Video marketing
• List building
• CPA marketing

This is just a short list of all the topics you are presented with as a newbie or even a person with some experience in the Internet Marketing world. Then what you are presented with is a long list of “GURUS” who claim to hold the secret to success online. The fact of the matter is they don’t hold any secrets (accept for maybe a few guys who really innovate and come up with creative marketing methods). Otherwise they are just learning the information that many people are too lazy to learn themselves or don’t know how to find themselves and charging you thousands of dollars to gain access to that information, in many cases way overcharging you and hyping everything up.

Why should you listen to me about this topic anyway? Because I’ve purchased a lot of Internet Marketing products during my early learning stages, I’ve attended hundreds of webinars, read tons of free and paid ebooks, watched many videos and opted in to nearly all of the Internet Marketing “GURUS” mailing list. In fact I have a gmail account dedicated to receiving all the emails from the “GURUS” to which they send me usually 1 email per day at least a couple times a week. I have the experience to know what a good product is and isn’t and I know too many Internet Marketing products are crap.

Maybe crap is a harsh word but most of the time the information is freely available online in most cases but the “GURU” will gladly package it up and present it to you on a silver plater because many people in the Internet Marketing world are too lazy to find the information themselves or they don’t know where and how to start. So along comes the “GURU”.

This is why probably 90% of the newbies never make a dime because they are listening to bad advice, misinformation, half truths and following old methods from “GURUS” that used to work months and years ago that the “GURU” decided to sell to you so they can make more money!

I’m not going to list the names of the GURUS because that isn’t fair and not necessary, also I don’t want anyone to think that all of the guys you may know as a GURU involve themselves in bad practices, crap products, etc.

I just hope I can warn many of the newbies that decide they want to enter this industry/field of practice so they have a better understanding of how to pick products they want to use to learn from, who they should follow, how to figure out who to follow, etc.

Here are the common problems with a lot of Internet Marketing products (this is not a complete list):

• Methods are no longer working, the person selling them knows this but to the general public the product/method is sold as a new “secret” the next gold rush if you will
• The product only shows you part of the information, you don’t have a complete picture of how to implement, steps are missing the product isn’t professionally thought out so that buyers could really benefit
• The copyrighting on the product is done by a good copyrighter but the contents of the product are less than to be desired, nothing but fluff
• The product is endorsed by an established “GURU” with a large email list, which he proceeds to send out to his loyal subscribers who trust him, and he shares in any profits made on the product, this GURU may not have necessarily experienced or used the product at all (I know this doesn’t just happen in the Internet Marketing world)
• The product is sold with a guarantee but the problem is most people are too lazy to follow through on all of the steps and process needed and often don’t get to the point where they can validate whether the product works, they get bored and move on to another “secret method” from another GURU
• People jump from GURU to GURU hoping that the GURU will give them the master key without them having to do very much work, people want to buy into products that supposedly will do all the link building for them, all the writing for them, and there are many people who will again gladly package something up for you to buy
• The product is sold with an angle that it’s easy to have success if you just follow a few simple steps, all you have to do is click a button essentially and you will have success
• The product is sold within the GURU’s inner circle they claim they have made $10k in a week but they fail to tell you they did it selling to their own existing subscriber list and to their Internet Marketing GURU buddies to which you wouldn’t have especially if your just starting out
• The GURU will sell you a course on Facebook even though people who really know Facebook understand that Facebook methods are ever changing, and spending $999 for a Facebook course is outrageous especially when it only takes 15-30 minutes to learn how to use Facebook ads if you’ve never done it before.

So how do you protect yourself from purchasing bad products when your just starting out or wanting to learn about Internet Marketing? Here are my suggestions:

• Fully research the person you want to follow and learn from, if your goal is to become a Super Affiliate Marketer does the person you want to follow or the product you are buying from someone that is actually making money in the real world of Affiliate Marketing or are they just making their money selling you “how to products”?
• Find a mentor that is actually doing what you want to do, a true master that wouldn’t mind taking you under their wing and showing you the ropes (even if you have to pay them) I’ve done this before
• Check out independent reviews of any product or person you want to follow, don’t just rely on all the testimonials on their own website, look for proof in other areas such as if they are claiming to be the Facebook GURU then check them out on Facebook, check them out on Twitter, do they use Quora, are they active on LinkedIn or any other real world web sites. Its easy to get impressed by all the hype but don’t.

The bottom line is there are a lot of very smart, honest, reliable Internet Marketers that actually do walk their talk, but as with almost any other industry you have hoards of wanna bes, slick talking hyped up guys/gals that don’t really do anything special but claim to be the answer to all of your problems. Do yourself a favor and be careful anytime you are about to spend your time or money, good luck!

Here is my recent answer on Quora.com about a topic that many people may be wondering about.

Here is my take on SEO vs SMO.

They both can work depending on the project you are working on and what you need to get done.

• In the search engines you don’t need to butter people up or try to make friends with them first, because the intent when someone searches in Google/Bing/Yahoo, etc is to find something, buy something, etc.
• When it comes to social the intent is to network, research, get a recommendation on a product or service and THEN MAYBE BUY.
• Social media is just like meeting someone at a cocktail party or a networking event, you aren’t going to go after them right away and start asking them to buy your widget, etc. You will exchange business cards, stay in touch and then later on down the line you may do business.

There should be a distinction that with SEO if someone is looking for a site where they can buy shoes well once they find the site and they find the shoes they want, BOOM it converts. In social usually they aren’t in the mindset to buy shoes right away but of course it depends if that social site carries ads, etc.

Take Twitter for example, no one is in the mindset to buy, yes they will read your articles, download your free material, sign up on your mailing list but you have to understand at one point the buyer is at on a given website. Understand the audience and their mindset and you can win with both SEO and SMO combined.

Video Marketing can be very beneficial to your online marketing goals. What you want to do with video marketing is to use it to drive traffic to your online website. Here are my top video sharing sites that I use and would encourage others to use if you aren’t already.

1. YouTube.com
2. DailyMotion.com
3. MetaCafe.com
4. Break.com
5. Vimeo.com

Yes there are plenty other video sharing sites but these are the heavy weights that I have used and the only ones most of the time that get me in top spots in Google and drive the most views and traffic. If you are going to do anything with video you should be using YouTube, DailyMotion is a strong video site which I love that also gets ranked well in the search engines.

MetaCafe is a very strong site as well followed by Break.com and Vimeo.com. Here are some quick tips when it comes to developing your video marketing strategy for your business.

• I see a lot of funny videos but for business I would recommend creating an informational video which includes the top questions your potential customers and clients may have about your product or service. You could respond to one question per video.
• Video gives your prospects a glimpse into your business, your products and services without being pressured by a sales man, remember people love to buy but they don’t necessarily want to be pressured to buy, any sign of the words “buy” “quotes” “discount” and it gives people a bad taste, don’t force people to buy your products or services before they are ready.
• Use tags and descriptions in your videos, try to give them a good idea of what the video is about in the title especially, craft titles similar to book titles or magazines make them so that it encourages people to read and share your videos.
• There are many other websites to promote your videos, but the list above are the places you want to get started at to ramp up and get maximum traction.
• Use the YouTube keyword tool to find out what people are using YouTube and searching for, remember YouTube is a search engine as well, people use YouTube for a variety of reasons, they use it to find tutorials, find ideas, watch news, watch movies, etc. If you can match what’s hot and being searched and create video content that could also related to your business you have a winner. One of our videos in the dating niche went viral and has over 600k views in less than a year with no gadgets, no tricks just simple methods we use. Give people what they want is the lesson and you can win almost every time.
• There are lots of tools that offer video distribution and I’ve used a lot of them, my recommendation is that you don’t need it. Go for quality in the beginning and if you really think you need automated tools you can make your own using free software. I will share some of my methods soon in one of our newsletters. Stay Tuned!

Good luck and I hope some of these methods are useful and help you out in your video marketing goals.

A lot of business owners are still hesitant to get online for a variety of reasons, here are some of them.

• My customers don’t use the internet
•  I just don’t have time to manage a website
• I don’t know where to start there are so many options
• I want to get my website on Google but I don’t have much money to invest
• I have a Facebook Page isn’t that enough?

The problem is that many of these businesses don’t really understand that getting on the web pretty soon won’t be much of a choice, because you better believe if you don’t get online then your competitors will and they will be way ahead of you. Instead of sitting and thinking long and hard about getting online here is my suggestion:

• Sign up on Blogger at the very least or WordPress.com and learn how to use either of those two sites to build your website.
• Better yet purchase a domain name for your business and then install WordPress and get your website online if you need assistance hire a virtual assistant or someone on odesk, freelancer.com or a similar site to set it up for you, it should cost around $100 or less

The fact is that you need to have a domain name you control, there are many benefits to having your own website but many people still don’t understand it. Having your own website isn’t just about getting on Google and getting high ranking your website is your online home, when people want to check you out they will visit your site first.

When people “Google” you your identity will be determined by what is seen and read on your website online. More and more people are using Social Media and other sites to make buying decisions, just think about it your website is your perfect opportunity to say something positive about yourself however biased it may be, but if you also have a good following in Social Media and can back up your claims then in combination with your website it’s a win-win for you.

For those businesses that choose to wait for whatever reason and not setup their website they will be far behind. The internet is moving fast, everyday there is something new, new sites are popping up like flies, new opportunities to connect with more people are abundant, why are earth wouldn’t you want to take advantage of that is beyond me.

Of course I know it takes time and thought to figure out what you want to do with your website when you first get started, that’s why you should definitely consult with an experienced webmaster and/or seo who is very familiar with the web. Even if you have a consultation first before deciding on what you plan to do. There are a lot of information floating around on the web so you want to be very careful who you listen to. I think the number one problem is that newbies listen to the wrong people and wind up spending a lot of money when they really didn’t need to.

I hope some of these tips and insights can help you good luck!

Having a website is a great way to get yourself more customers more leads and build your business. Follow these tips to maximize your web marketing.

• Map out what keywords you plan to use on your website this is very important, do proper keyword research and/or if you already know what your customers and clients or potential customer and clients are searching for when they use Google then use those keywords. Make a list and put it in a spreadsheet or a notepad or word doc of some kind.
• Choose the platform you want to use for your website, for example if you want to be more independent and not have to rely on web designers, graphic designers, etc then you want to pick a content management system such as WordPress. WordPress will allow you to add content, update content to your website without needing any web designers or knowing any code. The platform is important because if you relied on a typical static HTML site you would need to know how to update the web pages and that can be a cumbersome and long process if you are just learning. Stick to what you do best and the most important thing is to get your website online.
• Spend time writing good content for your website, and commit to doing this on a regular basis. The web is full of blogs and websites that have been abandoned and not updated in a long time. If your an attorney or dentist for example make sure you keep writing, make your writing targeted though your marketing should be for your potential clients and current clients and not just everyone in general. The more targeted and niched you are the more likely you will get the type of clients you want through your communication.
• Don’t worry about getting a web designer, take it from me a lot of web designers are lazy, yes they are very talented but they are very busy and often take on more work than they can handle, if you don’t have to hire a web designer I would consider using Blogger.com or setting up a WordPress based website this way you are in control and you don’t have to wait around for someone else. Your website doesn’t need to be perfect from the start, none of the big boys such as Google or Yahoo had perfect websites when they started. It’s a growing process, I’ve updated this website about 3 or 4 times already and I plan on doing another update in a few months. The content will stay but the layout and design may change. So it’s best to get your website up and running as quickly as you can so you can get indexed in Google.
• Don’t try to mimic what your competitors are doing because first of all you don’t know if what they are doing is working even if they are above you in the listings. Focus on learning from them but don’t take it for granted that because they have a 5 page website that you need to have exactly 5 pages as well.

When working with Social Media it is important to consistently test and monitor how well your campaigns are coming along. If your networking and promoting yourself on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc you want to know if your connecting with the right people, if your increasing your influence and if people really value and like what you are sharing.

It is critical that early on you get used to monitoring, the fact is so few people do, they could be leaving a lot of money on the table by not taking advantage of what the numbers are telling you. Follow these tips below to start tracking your Social Media campaigns

• Setup Google Alerts and enter the URLS for each of your Social Media profiles, your website, your brand name or business name so you can track anybody mentioning you online. You can then respond if needed, or just follow what is going on.
• Use sites such as http://co.mments.com to track anyone commenting on blog posts about your website, business or service.
• Use sites such as http://keotag.com to notify you if any of your keywords are used as tags on any blogs or search engines
• Use search.twitter.com to search for any of your keyword phrases and what people are talking about them online.
• Use sites such as http://www.monitter.com to run real time searches on what people are talking about on Twitter
• Monitor what people are talking about using http://boardtracker.com

Good luck in your Social Media campaigns!

Social Media

Many people wonder how on earth they can really use social media to beef up their business, drive targeted traffic and leads to help them profit, etc. Remember how masterfully Barack Obama presidential candidate used social media to catapult himself to the presidency, I suggest people review his campaign because you will learn a lot.

• Build beefy social media profiles, fill out every single field in your Twitter profile, in your Facebook profile, in your LinkedIn profile, etc make your profile count. This is your way to share with people who you are, a half ass profile only makes you look like you really don’t give a damn about your online identity thus not getting you the results you can really achieve. If your going to get into social media and use it for your business or personal gain go all the way with it don’t half step!
• Map out which social media profiles will give your business the biggest bang for the buck. Myspace is still a popular site but it may not be the best option for your industry. If your a celebrity or musician LinkedIn may not be the best site for you and you may want to try Facebook and/or Twitter. If you don’t know how to pick which social site to use ask around, ask a reliable Internet Marketer/SEO person you know to help you with your decision. Sure it’s not rocket science but don’t waste your time spinning your wheels on sites that may be an uphill battle for you to really get any benefit.
• Select appropriate pictures for your social media profiles. We had a picture on our Facebook Page and then we decided to update the picture and immediately after we started seeing rapid friending and more response from the community. Something as simple as a picture really can make a difference in either improving your social media or also destroying it so be careful to monitor how your social media is being done.
• Focus on quality not quantity. The days of just blasting and getting thousands of Twitter followers are over, its more and more getting to the point where the quality of your followers and their followers count towards your own influence. It works the same way in real life, if you hang around with losers then unfortunately you probably are also a loser. If you hang around with millionaires you are more than likely a millionaire as well or on your way to being so. If your going to use social media take time to follow the people who are in the position to help you, remember this is all about networking and building relationships, why go on Twitter and start following bums? I don’t mean homeless people either.
• Have a schedule for how you will utilize your social media profiles. Set this up on your Google or Outlook calendar or whatever you use, be disciplined and really spend even if it’s 15 minutes on your social media on a regular basis. Over time is where you will get the most benefit in social media, it’s not about the quick hit. Social media is just like networking in real life accept it’s virtual. Follow the same principles, don’t take shortcuts and be genuine and honest to people.

Hope these tips help!

Maryland SEO

Many businesses that are operating on a local level and specifically only targeting local customers need a good way to continual drive traffic to their websites. Companies that have a strong presence online don’t have to depend on traditional sales people to do cold calling and beating down doors looking for business. Of course this is still a great option if you have the resources but consider utilizing your website as the lead generator for your business. Local traffic which is targeted can be very lucrative. Check out these tips below to find out how to drive traffic locally.

1. You want to use Search Engine Optimization on a local level and use keywords that represent your local demographic area. For example if your a dentist located in Brooklyn, New York then you want to research and think about using keywords within your website that your local customers would be typing into Google. For example “dentists in Brooklyn”, Brooklyn, NY dentists”, etc. This will allow you to capture buyers in your local area who need a dentists because most of the time when people search locally for a product or service they are looking to purchase.
2. Write and publish articles on local websites, directories and social media sites that will present you as an expert in your field. If you don’t know how to write good articles hire someone on your behalf to write high quality articles that answer some key questions that your potential prospects in your local area would have. Remember you want to come across as the person that has the answers, that has the solutions people need and writing articles demonstrating that can definitely help. There are hundreds of article directories where you can publish your articles for free online.
3. Register your business website on local business directories in your area such as Google Places, Yahoo Local and Bing Local. These websites are very popular and get a lot of traffic, from Google Places alone depending on your industry and location you can drive a ton of traffic to your business website. You can also consider posting to the Yellow Pages so you can get listed in your local area for the services and products you provide. Do your research and find out what the costs are and if you can afford it, I highly recommend posting your business in all of these places.
4. Join online forums that are within your industry, for example if your a dentist and there is a popular dentist forum, sign up and get involved as much as you can. You don’t have to spend enormous amounts of time on these forums but the more you reach out to your community it will have a long lasting effect as you being a serious player, a resource to the community and to your customers and clients. Your clients will Google search you to find out more about you, if they find videos, articles, forum posts that you have written online this will add to your credibility.

This question comes up a lot on various search engine optimization forums, business forums and the like. It’s usually asked by a business owner or entrepreneur who knows they need SEO and Web Marketing but they do not know which company or consultant to pick. Here I will give you some honest answers to this question and just because I wrote this it doesn’t mean I’m trying to persuade you to work with Maryland SEO or any other particular company. I feel that there is more than enough business for every SEO/Internet Marketing company and that not every customer or client is a good match for every business.

Here are my tips on finding a good SEO company/consultant:

1. Start by writing down exactly what you want on paper, the reason is that you should get very clear on what you want first before doing anything. If you need help updating your Blog this isn’t necessary the job of an SEO. If you need help with Web Design again this isn’t the job of an SEO. If you need articles written again this isn’t the job of an SEO. An SEO is the person who will provide you guidance on marketing your business online, they will recommend tools and activities that can be done to improve your ranking, to improve your conversions and to get you more traffic. They will formulate the strategy that you need. Consider the SEO Company or consultant your Medical Doctor specializing in brain surgery. If you need stuff done like articles, WordPress updating, Web Design, Graphics, etc. hire a Virtual Assistant!
2. Just because a company will provide you with a free consultation doesn’t mean anything. Free consultations are just that FREE, remember the old saying you get what you pay for. Don’t think that you will get a full solution from any SEO company with a free consultation and here is why. Many people will go around calling up every SEO company they can find asking for a free consultation knowing they don’t really intend on doing any business. They do this either because they are a competitor pretending to be a customer trying to steal methods and materials or it could be a person who wants to see how much they can get for free without paying. Serious business owners and entrepreneurs should always be prepared to pay for high quality within your budget. If your budget does not allow for high quality DO NOT engage any SEO campaigns yet. Wait until you have the full budget whatever that may be according to your goals. Just doing a little SEO may have very little effect but some people think it’s better to do something rather than nothing I don’t agree. Do it right the first time. Don’t waste your time or money on any cheap or free activities unless you know for sure you can win.
3. Do a one-two month trial with an SEO company. This can be very effective because you can see within 60 days if they can produce results or not. Pay close attention to their customer service, are they responsive to your questions, do they answer your emails, are they committed to your project or are you just another client to them. Don’t commit more than 2 months until you know for sure they are reliable, trustworthy and will work hard on your project with honesty. There are a lot of talented SEO guys out there but some of them are lazy and will take your project on but not really do anything. It’s not that they can’t, it’s that they are lazy so you want to guard yourself against this.
4. Ask around, visit reliable SEO sites such as www.seomoz.org and ask them if they can give you a recommendation. The reason I would suggest SEOMoz is because they have a track record and a good reputation in the community. They have worked with a lot of large and small companies, they have a lot at stake and so they aren’t into quick money or trying to hustle some poor business owner. You can guarantee to the best of their knowledge they will steer you in the right direction.

I’ll have more tips for you guys in other articles but I hope you find some of this information helpful, good luck to you all and let’s go make a ton of money!