Let’s start this post with a minor clarification.  The relevance attribute or “rel” tag basically defines the relationship between the current document and a linked document.  For example, say I have two html pages, cookies.html and milk.html.  I decide to link the cookies.html page to the milk.html page, hence fulfilling the current document and linked document requirement.  When linking the cookies page to the milk page the code on the cookies page will traditionally look something like this in standard html:

<a href=/milk.html>Milk</a>

Milk is the word that displays to the web user.  Just as “href” is an attribute the same is true for the “rel” attribute.  Href tells “Milk” where to go when the user clicks on the link and Rel describes the relationship between milk and cookies, which we can all agree is pretty darn good.  With a “rel” tag, the same link may look like this:

<a rel=”friend” href=/milk.html>Milk</a>

This makes the assumption that Cookies and Milk are friends.  Why include a “rel” tag?  For one, it’s great for classifying content and styling links.  Search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo! will refer to rel tags to get more information about a link for search engine optimization or SEO.  Browsers support rel tags but do not use the attribute in any way.

Below is a list of different relevance tag values and what they do.  Each can impact SEO in its own way.

Almost twenty additional rel tag options exist, but the rel tags listed above will make the biggest impact on search engine optimization or SEO.

If you have more questions about relevance tags or search engine optimization, visit us at www.thenetimpact.com.

 Worth a Look

• Facebook advertising is rapidly growing due to its ability to target users based on their “likes”, behaviors, and interests. This article from Dave Williams discusses the depth of data companies can find and how brands can use Facebook data for targeted advertising.
• Though Google plus mania may have cooled since its buzz-worthy “private” release in June, there has remained a strong undercurrent of interest in the social media and developer community. This week the Google plus API for public data was released, allowing web developers to build third party tools implementing data from the fast-rising social network.
• For B2B marketing, SEO is essential for building and maintaining a strong presence on the web. Search Engine Watch offers a great article pinpointing 10 concepts that every organization should understand when aligning SEO with B2B marketing
  

Trending Searches

Rising Searches from Google Insights

This past week saw a rise in traffic concerning the 10^th anniversary of 9/11, the beginning of the NFL season, and the Miss Universe pageant. Certainly, this was a week of diverse results.

1. 1. miss universe 2011 (+1,850%)
2. 2. miss universe (+1,700%)
3. 3. scarlett johansson (+1,300%)
4. 4. missoni (+1,100%)
5. 5. 9/11 (+450%)
6. 6. twin towers (+450%)
7. 7. 9 11 (+400%)
8. 8. 911 (+300%)
9. 9. obama (+80%)
10. 10. nfl (+70%)

TNI Partner Spotlight

• Custom jewelry e-commerce partner Jenny Present (@JennyPresent) was recently featured in a popular industry blog, papernstitch. The post offers a tour of the Jenny Present studios and insights into the design process.
• Sandberg, Phoenix & Von Gontard, P.C. (@sandbergphoenix) has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America 2012, an annual publication based on peer-review surveys of over 40,000 lawyers nationwide. Congratulations to the 5 Sandberg Phoenix attorneys selected for such a great distinction!

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 Worth a Look

• Search Engine Optimization is an important investment for any company with a presence on the web. However, the SEO process is not as simple as many think. In an article this week for Business Insider, Lisa Barone (@LisaBarone) addresses company-wide SEO guidelines for modern businesses. She asserts that for optimal effectiveness and efficiency, everyone in an organization needs a basic familiarity with SEO.

• Hootsuite, the popular social media management tool, received some big updates this week. This article highlights some of the upgrades to Hootsuite’s Facebook integration functionality. As fans and users of the service, we were excited to see Event and Group tools, Photo Uploading, and search capabilities added. (via @InmanNext)

• The holiday weekend is almost upon us! Before finishing at work for the week and taking a well-deserved break from the computer screen, check out this Labor Day Infographic from Credit Donkey. It contains interesting statistics about the history of the holiday and the US Labor Force as it stands today.

Trending Searches

Rising Searches from Google Insights

Hurricane Irene and Steve Jobs’ resignation were both responsible for a lot of searches on Google in the past week, but buzz surrounding MTV’s Video Music Awards and its performers beat them both on social media and in search this week.

1. 1. vma 2011 (+4,550%)
2. 2. vma (+3,750%)
3. 3. beyonce (+650%)
4. 4. irene (+550%)
5. 5. hurricane irene (+500%)
6. 6. hurricane irene path (+400%)
7. 7. steve jobs (+400%)
8. 8. hurricane (+350%)
9. 9. irene path (+350%)
10. 10. lady gaga (+200%)

 TNI Partner Spotlight

• Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard P.C. (@SandbergPhoenix) has been named a top law firm in St. Louis, as voted on by readers of Small Business Monthly. They will be featured as one of the “Best Businesses in St. Louis” in SBM’s upcoming Business Owners’ Guide. Congratulations!
• Our friends at The ROHO Group (@TheROHOGroup) are title sponsors of the US Open USTA Wheelchair Tennis Championships for the third year running. They’ll be helping out at the tournament in Forest Park this holiday weekend.

Stay up to date on industry news and commentary, TNI happenings, and events with web experts. Sign up for The Impact Update today!

 Worth a Look

• Of course, the major news in the tech industry today is the resignation of Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple. While he is stepping down, Mr. Jobs remains involved in Apple operations as Chairman of the Board. Still, it is a clear time of transition for Apple. This article on AdAge takes a look at Steve Job’s major contributions to Apple and the profound impact his work has had on the consumer electronics world.

• Google Panda, the major update to Google’s search algorithm, had its six month anniversary earlier this week. Since its inception, Panda has been a source of contention among the SEO community. Focusing on the user experience more than ever, the algorithm change has caused some traditional search powerhouses to lose traffic, while many competitors are adapting quickly to rise in the rankings. This post from Search Engine Watch highlights some of the challenges that Panda presents to the dynamic field of search engine optimization.

Trending Searches

Rising Searches from Google Insights – Computers and Electronics

Tech searches this week have been dominated by the HP touchpad. HP announced its decision to end its support of their tablet, leading retailers to slash prices as low as $99. Many consumers saw this as an opportunity to enter the tablet market at a low price. Demand for the touchpad is high, as many retailers online and off are selling out.

1. 1. best buy touchpad (Breakout)
2. 2. hp touchpad  (Breakout)
3. 3. hp touchpad android (Breakout)
4. 4. hp touchpad sale (Breakout)
5. 5. hp touchpad (+2,850%)
6. 6. hp touch pad (+2,000%)
7. 7. touchpad (+2,000%)
8. 8. hp tablet (+1,250%)
9. 9. hp touchpad review (+1,000%)
10. 10. webos (+750%)

TNI Partner Spotlight

• Nawgan Products (@DrinkNawgan) announced a major international investment this week from Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings. Congratulations to Nawgan for continuing to grow. We love to see clients making waves globally!
• This weekend Belleville, IL nonprofit the Karla Smith Foundation (@KSF_Hope) hosts the Erase the Stigma conference. This two day event will feature speakers and presentations on the challenges of mental illness and mental health advocacy. Good luck this weekend!
  Here’s a great feature from a local news network on Linq 360 and their mission to bring new firms to the growing tech industry in Las Vegas. Unidev was eager to be part of this movement, opening Las Vegas offices earlier this summer.

Stay up to date on industry news and commentary, TNI happenings, and events with web experts. Sign up for The Impact Update today!

Information architecture is not something that you can do quickly. This post recaps Omni Marketing’s presentation from Shari Thurow.

Information architecture and SEO
Challenge:
First, consider organization and labeling. It must be easy to use and your information must be easier to find.  If people cannot find what they want to find, they will leave your website and you will lose customers. Only an average of 12% of web visitors will return to a website that was unhelpful before.

Solutions:
Wireframes helps reduce lost customers, reduce development costs, increase crawlability, increase indexation, increase rankings and build brand value.  Tech teams often don’t think like your customer.  A technique to try is to take a website screenshot and remove design and content and individually quiz people about what page they are viewing.

Content MUST contain words and phrases that people type into search engines. Reduce  number of ”WTF” moments.

You do not want the technical model of your tech team. Accommodate navigational, informational, and question search types.

Understanding information architecture
Challenge:
Return to the idea of organization and labeling think about categorization, hierarchical taxonomy. Avoid practices like siloing and page rank sculpting.

Solution:
To have successful blogs and social media networks, use categorization. If you have different types of visitors or industries, versioning pages to include relevant keywords in the content is important.  Give multimedia a separate area in addition to their native locations. To test, make sure you’re observing the user target that you want to reach.  Pages should be unique, distinguishable and well-labeled. Think in terms of navigation labels over keywords.  Yup, SEO and information architecture are related.

For blogs, titles and headings SHOULD contain keywords. Use embedded text links to other previously written blogs and…categorize, categorize, categorize. This helps your articles and posts maintain traffic as they age.

A few resources:
Taxonomy Warehouse provides taxonomy structures by industry.
Use a tilde ”~” search to find keyword synonyms.

Check out The Huffington Post for a great author page structure.

Navigation Labels:
Only children and programmers “minesweep”, don’t require users to search for links. Make them obvious.

Spell out abbreviations.

Give people choices, but not too many. Drop downs give too many choices, one button makes people feel they’re being forced into a sales funnel.

Review Tips for Getting Valuable User Generated Content
Challenge:
How do you get good website, product and service reviews?

Solution:
Monitor and reward good reviews.

That’s it! Great presentation!

1. Your brand is not a logo, advertising, your mission statement, etc. Your brand is a gut feeling (as articulated by Robert Brunner, Ammunition Group). Or you could say, a brand is the intangible sum of your assets (Tom Schmittdiel, PSG Marketing).

2. It is important to identify every touchpoint of your brand and then deliver on the brand promise that you’ve made AT EACH touchpoint.

3. You cannot tell people what to believe about your brand, but you can be consistent with your branding efforts. Words create a challenge you must live up to, actions give you the opportunity deliver on that challenge.

4. Communicate your brand consistently online through your navigation, social media, search engine optimization (SEO) and beyond.

5. For EVERYTHING you do, ask yourself, “Does this follow the brand that I’ve created?” If this brand were a person, would it do that? Here? In this way?

Download Powerpoint Slides

The Yellow Pages are pretty much dead, TV advertising is pricey and sometimes print advertising just doesn’t really get the job done. With more and more people searching for local businesses online, search engine optimization has become the most effective way for local businesses to bring back existing customers and draw in new ones. 

Local search marketing focuses on elevating the visibility of a local business in the search engines so that it can be found (and clicked) earlier and more often in the search results by consumers who search online for local businesses. The goal of executing a local SEO Internet marketing campaign is to let the search engines know that you’re one of the 10 best resources on the Internet for users in these localities, who are interested in topics that are relevant to your website. Create high quality content that is good enough to rank in the top ten search results, and facilitate the kind of link connectivity that the search engines expect to see around that type of resource. The result will be a website that provides a better user experience based on targeted content and one that ranks well in popular search engines for relevant keywords.

More and more local businesses are becoming aware that consumers are using the Internet to find out information about their products or services before making a purchase. This information is confirmed in study after study such as that done by The Kelsey Group which has discovered that the amount of consumers doing online research for local products or services has reached 97%. 

• 90% use search engines
• 48% use the Internet Yellow Pages
• 42% use comparison shopping sites
• 24% use vertical sites 

People who use search engines to find local businesses and local business information do not search just for the sake of searching. They search for the sake of finding. And when they find, they take action, as the Nielsen/WebVisible study cited: 

• 70% will call the phone number on a website
• 60% have referred a business they found on the Internet to a friend
• 52% always or often research online first, then follow up with an offline purchase from a local business
• 14% will send a business they found online an email
• 11% will fill out an online form 

With numbers like these, the rate of conversion for people searching for local businesses means that local search marketing doesn’t just expose a business to a large crowd; it exposes a business to the right crowd - people that are ready to take action. Search engines are well aware of the importance of search engine marketing at the local business level. For example: Google recently announced that 20% of all Google searches have a local intent behind them (that number climbed to about 33% for Google searches via mobile devices). 

Whether your business is a major corporation with locations in cities all across the country or all over the world or it’s a small business with a single location, local search marketing is essential to online marketing success if it depends at all on local clientele. Local Internet marketing is still on the cutting edge, and those local business owners who act fast have the potential to increase their market share dramatically. 

Here are six tips from The Net Impact to boost your website rankings in local search:
 

1. Claim your local business listing at the various local listing websites ( Ex: Google, Bing, Yahoo..) 

2. Update your local business listing with information about your business, product and services. Include all of the information you can (photos, videos, coupons, discounts, offers and promotions are great!) 

3. Maintain and manage your local business listing regularly to keep up to day with changes such as the relocation of your office. 

4. Get customers to post reviews about your business, products and services on your local business listing. You can suggest they post their review at one or multiple local listing websites, however, the local consumer will ultimately be the one to decide which and how many of the local listing websites they are will to submit their reviews. A great site to check out reviews is Yelp! 

5. Don’t forget to add your businesses on local Maps.  As Google, Yahoo and Bing start showing Map listings above organic searches it’s important to at least list your business in Local Business Centers. Many other factors encourage more and more users to add their business in local listings. – plus it is usually free to add businesses in local maps and directories ( some search engines like Yahoo charge a fee for Enhanced features). 

6. Spread the world about your business around the web – outside of your local business listing (such as Social Media Sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter). Social factors can influence standard search results, as well as queries made specifically on social search engines.  

In conclusion – Optimizing for local search is a great way to Geo-target your search traffic and drive customers to your brick and mortar location, while placing your company a step ahead of your competition. Leverage search to show clients where you are and how to get there. This is the perfect way to tie your online presence to your actual location.

Local customers are looking for your services online and The Net Impact can help you be found in search engines. Our services provide local businesses and professionals a presence on popular search engines that, when setup properly, will lead to top of search result placement. Contact The Net Impact today to boost your local business!

Sundeep Kapur hosted a session that gave us some great insights on how to create content that is worth reading.

*Create content you can use for interaction.
Publishing content with no intent to create conversation will leave your online presence stale.

* Keep it authentic.
Your computer is a machine, you’re not – the interaction should be real.

* Only push your content to channels that are relevant to your target market.
Don’t just throw spaghetti at the wall to see if it sticks; place your message where your target market is.

* Give your readers simple nuggets of information that they can share.
A tweet is 140 characters, make sure your information is re-tweetable.

*Do not tell people to “Follow You” or “Like You”
Give them a reason to want to.

*When creating print collateral, think of sending readers on an online scavenger hunt.
Direct them to your “hub” with an offer.

*When posting content on Facebook, consider what you would share with your friends.
If you wouldn’t – don’t post it.

Stay tuned for more updates on SES Chicago 2010!

What effective tactics has your company used when creating and posting content?

E is for EBay, G is for Google …

Google’s never-ending mission to continuously improve overall user experience and increase search result speed, has resulted in Wednesday’s launch of Google Instant, a faster than the speed of typing  game-changer for online search engines. Your enter key is all but useless when using the new search interface with predictions from A-Z.

As Marissa Mayer Google’s vice president of user experience described in  a press conference in San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art: “Google Instant searches as you type, not after you type.”

Google Instant uses new caching systems and JavaScript to shorten the time it takes for users to find what they’re looking for by showing search results as you type (If you are  logged in to Google, your search results will be personalized based on previous searches).  Google may be feeling some heat from competitors as they continue to appear to be trying very hard to differentiate themselves from Bing, which is running a distant second in the search market share, even after recently combining operations with Yahoo.

Aside from saving information seekers two to five seconds, Google’s new search tool may be creating a whole different climate for businesses, especially for those involved in e-commerce and Internet marketing. There has been a great deal of debate circling the blogosphere since Google unveiled Google Instant regarding the impact on Search Engine Optimization. By effectively compressing the time of each individual search and allowing users to edit searches in real time, Google Instant has the potential to significantly alter the current mechanics of search and the visibiltiy of sites.

PR pro Steve Rubel, wrote on his blog, “Google Instant means no one will see the same Web anymore, making optimizing it virtually impossible. Real-time feedback will change and personalize people’s search behaviors.”

Furthermore, Instant could have a big impact on Adwords, with the numbers of impressions your links receive going up as people correct or make mistakes as they type. There may also be more opportunity to try and grab someone’s attention midway through typing a long-tail query using image results or something. Currently, businesses purchase web ads that target specific queries. But since Google users are getting results quicker than ever, they may never get to more complex queries. The result could be less business, especially for smaller businesses that can’t afford to advertise against simpler, more popular search terms.

It remains to be seen how much of an impact the preference towards brands and the change in impressions will have on marketers ability to leverage Google  in new ways.  Some marketers have already published tips on how to track Google Instant using web analytics, which will assist in developing insights on what has impact and will be instrumental in learning what to refine.

According to Mayer, “it’s too early to determine how the new feature will affect the company’s bottom line and she believes there will only be a “small change for the SEO community.”

When Google’s Matt Cutts was asked, ‘Does Google Instant kill search engine optimization (SEO)? He replied:  “No!  I think over time it might. The ability to explore the query space and find out new things will inevitably lead to changes for SEO.”

Google Instant is also heading to mobile devices later this year, and it will also be added to the desktop version of Google’s Chrome web browser, which features an integrated web search feature.

What do you think of Google Instant?  Do you think it will impact SEO?

If you think online social networking is solely for the younger demographic, think again. Thanks to new social networking sites that enable professionals in a wide variety of industries, such as marketing, finance and even medicine, to build meaningful business relationships, social media is now flourishing in the business world.

The Institute for Corporate Productivity recently held a survey and found 65% of business professionals are connecting to social networking websites. Business executives also have turned to online forums, email lists and message boards to sound off on information related to their industries. Of those respondents who do not currently utilize social networks, the top reason (37%) is simply that they don’t know what networks to use. The majority of respondents (59%) said they would likely use social networks if they knew that such use would assist their professional development (31% say they already do), and a full 77% would welcome using them if they though the networks could aid organizational efficiency.

Millions of professionals already turn to broad-based networking sites like LinkedIn to swap job details and contact information, often for job seeking purposes. Recently, LinkedIn reached 43 million active users, with the average age of its members being 41 years. With the growing use of social networking by business professionals, there is a growing number of social networking sites popping up that focus on business users and meeting their needs, that go beyond the broad-based networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn. There are also many niche social networking sites for specific industries, such as legal and medical.

For example: When radiation oncologist Michael Tomblyn recently saw a 21-year-old patient whose eye was protruding from its socket, he turned to his fellow physicians for help. Dozens of doctors offered suggestions, HIV-associated lymphoma or a cocaine-associated sinus problem, eventually steering him toward the correct answer: rhabdomyosarcoma, a fast-growing cancer most often observed in young children. Surprisingly, this diagnosis didn’t take place in a doctor’s lounge. It happened on Sermo.com, the largest online physician community in the US, where practicing US physicians collaborate on difficult cases and exchange observations about drugs, devices and clinical issues., which Dr. Tomblyn and 25,000 doctors like him visit regularly to consult with colleagues specializing in areas from dermatology to psychiatry.

Sermo.com is just one of many targeted social networking sites for professionals. Another example is, Nexly.com, a web-based community designed for the B2B marketplace that provides access to tools and information businesses need in order to better connect. While community tools, like LinkedIn are useful for recruiting purposes, Tom Carlock, CEO of Nexly saw the need for a community created specifically for finding service providers. Nexly.com was created to simplify the process in finding qualified outsourcing services that will results in better buying results.

Nexly is currently in the Beta testing process, and on February 16, 2010, they held a focus group at The Net Impact’s office, in order to validate assumptions and biases in the Beta phase.Check out TNI’s Interview with CEO of Nexly.com, Tim Carlock, on TNI’s YouTube Channel!

Even in the midst of the social media revolution, the behaviors and networking needs of business professionals have not changed, the media simply has. In other words, business professionals are meeting age-old networking needs in new ways. Given the new functions, features and real-time access of social media, social networks have transformed the way  professionals establish and maintain their business relationships.

As more and more business professionals turn to social networks to meet their business objectives, we can only expect to see more targeted social networking sites for professionals continue to pop up on the web. While nothing replaces the quality of face-to-face meetings, social media is a new way to initiate and build relationships and thus, continue to grow one’s professional network.

Do you have any other social networking sites for business that you use?

Which one has worked the best for your business?