If you are familiar at all with search engine optimization, you probably know that the last couple of years have brought some major changes to the industry. Google has not only accelerated their updates to their algorithms, but they are also making bigger splashes with them as well. This recent, as of yet unknown, algorithm update on December 17th, 2013 is no different.
As the head of the SEO department here at Foremost Media I often find myself seeing these changes the very day they...
4:31 PM
Jon Ballard
Friday, December 20, 2013
There are a lot of folks out there that say Google+ can't compete against established social media giants like Facebook and Twitter and at first glance that appears to be true. But I'm here to tell you that Google+ is here to stay and now is the time to start using it. As a busy marketer you may not like the idea of yet another social media network to update but below are 2 reasons I think you...
11:29 AM
Unknown
Thursday, October 3, 2013
The latest buzz in the online marketing industry has been around Google's announcement last month that they had changed their algorithm to "Hummingbird".
What is Google's Algorithm?
Google, as well as other search engines, have a code and a list of things they look for to determine which sites should rank for which terms. Robots crawl sites to determine how well they fit into the requirements. There are over 400 different criteria that are looked for to determine where a site ranks for a...
8:56 AM
Unknown
Monday, September 23, 2013
CEO of Pinterest, Ben Silbermann, announced the other day that Pinterest is going to start promoting paid pins in the future. Last week, Silbermann put up a blog post and sent emails to all Pinterest users informing them that Pinterest is going to begin using "promoted pins". They are not accepting payment for advertisements yet, but simply testing the waters first to see what will work best and what the user response is. These promoted pins will begin appearing in search results and...
3:01 PM
Unknown
Friday, September 20, 2013
If you do a lot of web surfing, you probably have seen Microsoft's Ads that say "Don't get Scroogled". "Scroogled", of course, being a derogatory term for "Google". Naturally, Microsoft is trying to gain market share in the search business, but I am starting to think they are on to something. Google has made a move recently that they are pushing as "good things" to the general public, but I suspect are anything but.
If you have been advertising in Google Adwords, you probably...
10:19 AM
Jon Ballard
Monday, July 29, 2013
A business blog should strike the right balance between information and promotion. Blogs should answer questions, be interesting, discuss trends – the good and the bad – and dispense tidbits about your company and what you can do.
It should be an extension of your marketing strategy and it needs to pack enough pizzazz to keep readers coming back. And, it should be a done on a regular basis.
...
2:49 PM
Jon Ballard
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Email marketing is simply the most cost-effective digital marketing channel for your business.
That's not really news to us, but we always like to see data to back it up. Wired has a nice look at some new data released by Custora, a predictive analytics platform.
The report shows that while social channels get all the hype, "it’s a relatively antique tech that appears to be far more important for selling stuff online. . . Over the past four years, online retailers have quadrupled...
9:27 AM
Jon Ballard
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
"A client asked me the other day about duplicate content and how it would related to the SEO of their site. Duplicate content refers to content on your website being found to be very similar to content on another page, either on or off the site, and then penalized for it by the search engines. The client was concerned about the percentage of duplicate content on their site, as it related to...
8:08 AM
Jon Ballard
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
1. Good quality, in depth content
You hear it again and again that “content is king”. The truth is that content is the most influential part of helping your website rank well. Well written, interesting content will keep viewers engaged and increase the time they spend on your page. How long visitors stay on your page influences your rankings in the search engines. The more your content is...
2:31 PM
Jon Ballard
Thursday, May 30, 2013
The Foremost Media Data Center In Omaha Nebraska
One of the common questions I get from new customer is why does your hosting cost more then many of your competitors?
Below is a bit of information on how our hosting works:
All of our sites are hosted on a cloud server configuration which in non technical terms means that your site is actually sitting on more then one sever. If a server...
11:55 AM
Jon Ballard
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Since search engine optimization began there have been many changes in the approaches people use to rank well. Over time it has become more and more difficult to rank well quickly. Since the search engines are constantly making new rules, each of the following strategies (or lack thereof) listed below are now outdated.
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1. Putting text that is the same color as the background
In the past this...
10:12 AM
Jon Ballard
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
1. Set Up A Business Page
If your page is not already a business page it is important to change it to one. It does not appear any differently to the consumers but you will get several benefits including:
The ability to add more detailed information about your company.
The option to group your business into a category which will make it appear in more searches.
Access to analytics...
2:44 PM
Jon Ballard
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
HTTP, Hypertext Transfer Protocol, is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web. Day to day activity on the Internet extensively uses HTTP request codes, telling the user-client (ie. your browser) how to react to the information being sent. Usually this happens behind closed doors, but occasionally something goes wrong, door opens, and your confronted by the dreaded 404 - "Page...
3:51 PM
Jon Ballard
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Email marketing is becoming more and more popular as the price of direct mail continues to climb. With the proper planning a email marketing blast can motivate your customers to make a purchase or persuade new customers to use your product or services.1. Get a plan Stan- Behind every great email marketing campaign is a plan. A plan gets you where you want to go, sets objectives for your campaign andmaps out ways to meet the objectives. Much like a map, with out a good plan you will have know...
1:35 PM
Jon Ballard
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
One of the questions we often receive from clients is how online shopping carts handle credit card processing. The main E-Commerce platform that we use can be setup two ways when it comes to processing credit card payments.
Authorization only: This state means that the credit card of the customer has been verified, but payment has not been processed yet. The capture button must be clicked in order for payment to be collected. Until you click the Capture button in the admin...
9:25 AM
Jon Ballard
Monday, January 7, 2013
Here is a common questions we receive from new clients regarding SEO and launching their websites:
QUESTION: In your experience, how long does it take before a new site starts showing up in Google and the other search engines? I realize it probably varies, but I’m just curious about what kind of average to expect.
ANSWER: Regarding your question, there are a couple answers. Search...