Disclaimer: I am writing this under the assumption that you  understand a couple of things. The first is that you need to employ a web marketing strategy that includes SEO, and why that is. The second is that it is going to be 2010, and in 2010 you need to ALSO be employing a social media marketing strategy- and why THAT is. If you understand those two things (even if you are not doing them yet) then read on. If not, email me NOW at chris@pageonewebsolutions.com!!!

Now, let’s consider press releases. Once we understand that marketing online (in any sense) works best when we employ the concept of LEVERAGE, we can see why press releases are so beneficial to our campaigns- and are no longer an option.  If you want to get yourself in front of MILLIONS of people, the online press release can’t be beat.  When coupled with the fact that search engines (and Google in particular) LOVE press releases, it stands to reason that a consistent press release campaign is an absolute must if you intend to dominate your market in today’s online  world.

“Search engine rankings are arguably the most important small business marketing tool available today because it drives Web traffic — and potential prospects — to a small business’ Web site,” a PRWeb spokesperson recently told the industry website WebProNews. “However, because improving search rankings is desirable, achieving results can be both challenging and highly competitive.”

WebProNews goes on to tell us, “PRWeb shared a case study with us, involving a firm that typically sees a boost in search engine rankings and a 50% spike in web traffic after they issue a release. In fact, for one release in particular, the firm saw a spike of 400% on two different Web sites, and the firm doesn’t believe they were from the same users. They also incorporate social media tools like Twitter to extend the “shelf life” of press releases, and say that drives additional traffic.”

On top of that, it is recognized in the web marketing industry that when using the web to research, 95% (NINETY FIVE PERCENT!) of journalists will use search first.  If your website and your press release are both showing up on Page 1 of Google– who do you suppose looks like the expert in the field? Who do you suppose will be getting the call from the reporter, and who do you suppose will be getting quoted in the article? Imagine what your prospects will think of you then. IT HAPPENS EVERY DAY………

Well, that’s it for 2009…everyone have a great holiday, and we’ll talk again in 2010. If you take anything away from this space into the new year– make it this: you will be losing significant market share in 2010 if you get left behind on this stuff. Whether or not you choose Page One Web Solutions as your provider,  you need to be an aggressive social media marketer; its simply not an option anymore. Your competition is doing it- I promise you that.  Lets keep ahead of the curve and make 2010 a profitable online year.

About 2 weeks ago, a piece of noteworthy news came out of Google regarding a change to the presentation of some of the results that are returned in its pages. This is in addition to the much anticipated Caffeine update (which is also beginning to show itself and will be the subject of another post a little bit later this week). The announcement stated that Google would begin testing the presentation of breadcrumb navigation in  its SERPS (search engine results pages)  in place of the traditional URL structure that we are all used to seeing. A result here and there seemed to show after the announcement, but I am now seeing this with enough frequency that it merits a discussion (or at least a mention). Lets head out on to the web and take a look:

Lets consider the search for, oh I don’t know,  Jimmy Buffett CD.

You will notice that the first two results (at least at the time I am writing this!) are from CD Universe and have a traditional URL structure underneath them in blue.  Now, look at the three and four results that currently belong to Amazon. Can you see the difference in the URL? To those of you that use this type of navigation on your sites, this will make perfect sense. What does this mean as far as rankings are concerned? Well, as always Google is trying to present searchers with the most relevant set of results possible, and they also fell like this presentation will be easier and more user friendly for searchers.

This is a pretty significant change that we are seeing. Folks, if your site has lots of pages and/or products and services……LISTEN UP!!!  The state of your internal linking structure and site navigation just got a whole lot more important in the eyes of Google!

Please pay extra close attention to this, and as always, if you think your site needs help and would like to get it done correctly the first time, send me an email at chris@pagonewebsolutions.com to set up a  free consultation…..