Tools Articles by SEO Speedwagon
September 08, 2008
iWidgets Soon to Syndicate Full CBS Episodes Online 
iWidgets, a Social Syndication Platform has announced that it will soon be distributing its first major client's (CBS Interactive) video content tomorrow September 9th, 2008 at 3pm PST at the Sheraton Hotel in San Diego, CA. The demo will showcase iWidgets Social Syndication Platform that will enable CBS’ audience to watch full episodes of television programming directly within popular social networks, and to socially engage the viewers with engaging such features as sharing, polls, ratings, and contests. iWidgets Social Syndication Platform makes it easy for widget creators to build and syndicate their applications with ease in a user friendly widget environment. There are plenty of widget building Web sites (Sprout Builder) that offer site users a general ability to build widgets but rarely offer the customization features of iWidgets. Now that iWidgets has a large client like CBS Interactive to showcase its widget syndication services I wouldn't be surprised to see other major content providers take their system for a test drive.
iWidgets Soon to Syndicate Full CBS Episodes Online
Posted by brett at 10:37 AM
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July 14, 2008
Track Corporate Blog Activities Online
There are a variety of paid tools available to marketers regarding what bloggers are saying about their clients. For people looking for a free alternative to seeing what's being said about their clients in the blogging world I would recommend checking out Trendpedia. It is currently in Beta but offers some basic information to help marketers create a benchmark before they conduct social media marketing activities. Trendpedia is a good starting point if you don't have a large amount of money to put into social media monitoring services and need basic data related to your campaigns.
The only major downside to this site is that users can't download the data that's presented when search queries are conducted. Other than that I think this site can be a good resource for people who looking for a snapshot regarding their social media monitoring campaigns. This can be a good to tool to use initially while you are looking for a professional social media monitoring solution.
Track Corporate Blog Activities Online
Posted by brett at 10:18 AM
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July 01, 2008
Micro-blogging Submission Tool: Brabblr.com
Trying to keep up with friends across the myriad of micro-blogging communities can be quite difficult if you have many profiles created in this space. Rather than trying to go to each one on a daily basis to keep your followers updated wouldn't it be cool if you could log into one location and zip your messages to all of them. Well, Brabblr is now making that possible through its "Alpha" platform, where users can make submissions to the following micro-blogging communities with one submission:
- Twitter
- Pownce
- Jaiku
- tumblr
- Jabber
- Frazr
- Wamadu
- Mambler
- Boomloop
- Wevent
- gmail
- Roundhousekick
Brabblr calls itself a mashUp for the micro-services and looks like a promising solution for people who are on the go and have little time to keep their friends up to date with the changes taking place in their lives. Here's another interesting way to make sense of our busy lives!
Micro-blogging Submission Tool: Brabblr.com
Posted by brett at 11:34 AM
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March 05, 2008
If it Ain't Broke... 
Around here at the weekly staff meetings we have "Tool Time" where staff members discuss their favorite tools. While I do find my share of new online tools and gadgets to tinker with, I also go back in time a lot looking for old versions of software or utilities that "just worked."
Thankfully I found this great site the other day, OldVersion.com, that consolidates some of the best old software versions in one place. Need an older version of Firefox, or do you reminisce about Internet Explorer 1.0? You can get either of those programs here. It's fun to download Internet Explorer 1.0 and see the pop up that says: "Internet Explorer 1.0 requires Windows 95." Some people on the OldVersion.com forums are looking for Windows 3.11. Windows 3.11? I remember teaching some people a long time ago how to use that on an old computer, donated to our non-profit organization (c. 1997). That was back when people figured they should take classes to learn about PCs.
Some really useful stuff includes a number of IrfanView (simple image-viewer and editor) versions, and multiple old AIM versions; which can come in handy if your machine has trouble handling the newest AIM software.
While you're visiting the site, I highly recommend getting one new version of a program: Ad Aware. Ad Aware has been an old security standby for years. It's a quick download and is great for preventing malicious scripts and other malware from infecting your computer. Happy downloading.
If it Ain't Broke...
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February 08, 2008
Tracking Local Press Release Syndication Performance
If you are a PR professional and looking for a way to track your newly syndicated press releases across a local platform then you've got to check out "Google's News" new local search feature. Now you have the ability to look up your news via zip code, city, or state and see what's showing up in your local market. You can use this information to see how well your local PR campaigns are doing online and get a better feel for other places to possibly syndicate your news.
To check out the new Google News local search feature go to news.google.com and scroll down the page, look for the "Local News Category", and enter your pertinent information into the search box. You will then be presented with the latest local news that reflects whatever region you are searching for online.
Your news results will look like:
Then to monitor your local news with ease on a daily or weekly basis create a Google Alert with your local news preferences are you are good to go!
Tracking Local Press Release Syndication Performance
Posted by brett at 09:19 AM
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Predictive Search Merges into Consumer Apps 
This isn't breaking news, but in their recent versions, both Netflix and iTunes have integrated some very smart internal search utilities into their systems.
They're using a type of search function that goes by several different names, including "predictive," "intuitive," or "suggestive" to offer users additional help during the internal search process. Here's an example of Netflix's system in action:
The Netflix system appears to list terms in alphabetical order, and the search term itself is always first in the list of suggestions. This is good intuitive search, but it's not as good as iTunes' method:
iTunes uses a pretty sophisticated algorithm that appears to rank by popularity (instead of alphabetical order) and perhaps more important, inserts the typed term anywhere in the query that makes sense -- not just as the first term in the string.
Why does predictive search matter? Because when users select the right artist, song, film, whatever -- that's a conversion. These intuitive search features shorten the click path between a user wanting something and getting something. Compare these two potential search paths:
Without intuitive search:
- User types terms at a search box
- User clicks "submit"
- Site (or app) returns search result
- User scans search results page
- User clicks result that matches his/her query
- Site (or app) delivers correct page
With intuitive search:
- User types terms at a search box
- Site (or app) displays potential queries immediately
- User clicks term from dropdown suggestion box
- Site (or app) delivers correct page
A click path is like plumbing with loose joints. The more twists, turns, and connections, the more cargo (visitors) you lose due to leakage. In the cases above, the addition of intuitive search reduces the plumbing overhead by a third.
Coincidentally, the respective features of Netflix and iTunes parallel those of Google Suggest and Yahoo Search Suggest, which I wrote about a few months ago.
Predictive Search Merges into Consumer Apps
Posted by erik at 07:02 AM
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October 19, 2007
Using Yahoo Search Assist for Keyword Research
In addition to using "typical" keyword research tools like WordTracker and Keyword Discovery, I frequently pop in to Google Suggest because I appreciate the quick interface and I like the "from the horse's mouth" approach to spotting keyword trends. While Google never really comes out and says it, I think it's defensible to suggest that the listings are ordered based on popularity. Here's a look at a Google Suggest query for [sports]:
A couple weeks ago, Yahoo announced Yahoo Search Assist, a tool similar to Google Suggest that helps refine and suggest queries based on what other people are searching for. Here is the resulting screen for a Yahoo Search Assist query for [sports]:
You should immediately see a critical difference in how the engines serve the suggestions. Google Suggest displays only those terms that begin with your search term.
Yahoo Search Assist shows terms and phrase that include your terms anywhere in the query. That's a huge improvement, and I hope Google Suggest takes a cue from that feature.
Both Google Suggest and Yahoo Search Assist contain a feature worth noting, and it can throw you if you're not paying attention. Typically, once you complete a word, that word disappears from the list of suggestions, because (I assume) the engine believes you're thinking beyond that single word. Here's a good example. At Yahoo, as you type the word vacation, you see the word vacations in the list of suggested queries:
But as soon as you completely type vacations, that term disappears from the list of suggestions:
As I said before, the same thing happens at Google. So if you typed too quickly, you might think the term "vacations" isn't popular. But nothing is further from the truth. So if you're doing quick, impromptu keyword research at either Google Suggest or Yahoo Search Assist, type slowly, because a lot can happen between keystrokes.
Using Yahoo Search Assist for Keyword Research
Posted by erik at 08:05 AM
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October 11, 2007
Keyword Research + Research on Keywords = Better ROI 
Most, if not all, Search Engine Marketers (SEM) will preach the importance of keyword research. If yours doesn’t, it’s probably past time to ask why not. When most people speak about keyword research they are referring to the work done at the beginning of an SEM campaign. This is unquestionably the backbone of an SEM campaign, however there are other interesting and important ways to do research on your keywords.
In the real world I actually find this step to be vital in trying to determine why in the world (pun intended) I’m not performing for a keyword that I think I should be. Take for example the phrase “ppc”. When I searched on Google Trends for “paid search, pay per click, ppc” these are the results that were returned.
As you can see “ppc” is far and away the traffic leader but as the bottom half points out there are quite a few different cultural groups that show up for “ppc”.
If we do a little digging we will find what we thought we would find, Pay Per Click results, but we will also find quite a few other results including Pocket PC, and even a Vietnamese power company.
Now, besides the obvious Geo-Targeting issues, some reasons for why I’m not performing the way I should for the keyword “ppc” have come into focus. Steps can now be taken to either Geo-Target, and/or change the way we advertise in the various marketplaces/cultures around the world.
The main thing to remember is that keyword research is a vitally important part of any SEM campaign, natural or paid, but research on your keywords can be just as important to your bottom line .
Keyword Research + Research on Keywords = Better ROI
Posted by brent at 11:12 AM
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August 08, 2007
Download all query stats for this site (including subfolders) 
I get the feeling that most people, even in our industry, using Google Webmaster Tools for themselves or a client aren't scrolling far enough on the Query Stats page to reach this link:
What you get if you click is rather unwieldy, sure, especially if you are dealing with a very large site, but the payoff is simply as large by the same degree. We are beginning to view it more and more here as a kind of matrix for how Google views your site architecturally, especially in light of GSI now having been moved to an undisclosed location. Actually, now that I've said it I'm a bit afraid it, too, will be taken away...
Download all query stats for this site (including subfolders)
Posted by john at 02:59 PM
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August 07, 2007
How To Search Google Like A CTU Agent
Jack Bauer: "Chloe I need to find out how where the terrorists are getting their information"
Chloe: "Jack, to do that I'd have to hack into the DoD subnet. I've been working on a program to decode their level 5 encryption for 3 months. I haven't figured it out yet. On top of that do you know how massive the database is that we're looking in? There's data in there for every known suspect for the last 15 years!"
Jack Bauer: "Chloe, thousands of people are going to die if I don't get me that information now!"
Chloe: "Okay Jack, let me open a secure subnet protocol and get back to you"
2 minutes pass...
Chloe: "Okay Jack, I'm in, where do you want me to send the information?"
If you're not a 24 fan then you won't find any humor in the above FICTIONAL scenario. If you are then you will recognize that script from numerous times its been used in the first 6 seasons. As corny as it sounds, the ability for the CTU agents to quickly and accurately locate any information is one of the big keys to their phenomenal, albeit unrealistic, success.
In SEO the ability to quickly and accurately find unique & specific information on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS) is integral to wrapping our brains around what the Search Engines are doing. I just came across a listing of some different search parameters that can be used to find various things in Google. I don't normally like to regurgitate information already posted in other blogs but this is too good to pass up. Try these out and you'll be searching Google like a CTU Agent in no time.
How To Search Google Like A CTU Agent
Posted by brent at 09:09 AM
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July 11, 2007
SEO Tools: SEO For Firefox 
One of the tools I'm using more often these days is the "SEO For Firefox" extension/add-on created by Aaron Wall. SEO For Firefox provides site information including:
* Google PageRank
* Google Cache Date (date Google last cached the page)
* Cached (number of pages indexed at Google)
* Yahoo Links (incoming links from other domains according to Yahoo)
* Google Supplemental (number of pages in Google's supplemental index - see Erik's last post for an update on GSI)
One way to use it in Firefox is by selecting Tools > SEO For Firefox > Lookup Tool and entering a URL. Here's what the result looks like (click thumbnail image):
I use SEO For Firefox more often when searching at Google or Yahoo. Under each site listed in the search results, site information appears directly below each search engine result. Here's what it looks like (click thumbnail image)::
Each of the individual site "info blocks" are clickable if you want to dive in deeper and each can be turned on or off via the Options Menu. I recommend only turning on the info blocks that you are most interested in analyzing or monitoring since the more you have turned on, the longer it takes the program to pull all this information for every search engine result.
Also, when you're not needing this comparative site data, you can click the button in the lower right corner of Firefox to turn the program off.
SEO Tools: SEO For Firefox
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November 07, 2006
I Love Alt-Q (Thunderbird QuickFile)
Do you use Thunderbird for email management? If Yes, this is post is just for you.
Since my back is officially “outa whack?, over the weekend, I spent some time on the couch catching up on some of my favorite blogs. While perusing through Lifehacker, I found a “Download of the Day? called QuickFile for Thunderbird.
When you mix a “sorting freak? like me with hundreds of incoming daily emails, you get a complex and elaborate set of folders and an always-bloated In Box. Even with a long list of filters, my In Box remains difficult to manage as many emails that come in simply don’t apply to my filtering rules.
Each Friday afternoon my PDA chimes, reminding me to clean out my In-Box. Yeah, like that’s going to happen.
So, I would guess 30 to 40 times a day, I have to manually find the correct folder, then drag emails from my In Box to the folder where they belong. I can’t stop doing this. The sorting freak must sort. Emails belong where they belong.
And this is why I am now officially am in love with Alt-Q.
The QuickFile extension allows you to press Alt-Q, enter a few characters in the folder name, and select the destination folder from a beautiful dropdown menu.
Life changing? I like to think so.
I Love Alt-Q (Thunderbird QuickFile)
Posted by doug at 06:19 PM
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October 19, 2006
Using Google Analytics Bounce Rates to Gauge Site Stickiness
Buried deep in the guts of Google Analytics is a report called "Entrance Bounce Rates." It's off the beaten path of "Referring Source" and "Total Visits," so it doesn't always get a lot of attention. But it offers valuable information about visitors' habits on your site. Here's how to access the report:
The Entrance Bounce Rates report shows you a list of "entrance" URLs for your site (those URLs that people used to enter the site, whether via a search engine, third-party link, etc.) and the percentage of visitors who left your site after viewing only that page. Thus, if your bounce rate for a page is 100%, that means each person who entered the site on that page viewed that page only, then left the site. Like golf, the lower the number, the better.
If you don't know what to look for, the numbers can be confusing, or worse, useless. But when you filter the data by content area, things begin to make sense. For instance, if we wanted to measure bounce rates on this site for articles written in 2005, we need only enter that folder in the filter box, hit the plus sign, and we have our data.
The filter button is a toggle. When you press the green plus sign once, it becomes a red minus sign. If you press this, it enables you to see the bounce rates for every page except those in the filtered directory:
So comparing the stickiness of the articles written in 2005 vs. those written in 2006 happens in only a few seconds. Use this method across multiple categories of your site to see the rates in your case studies, executive bios, pages within a certain product or service area, and so on. If people leave one area of the site more frequently than they do in others, why is that? Did you offer a call to action there? Did you give them further opportunity to find out more?
Answering these questions requires some time and perhaps some tough content decisions, but it's an effective way to gauge the effectiveness of certain segments of your content - and in turn, create a more compelling, sticky, and (ideally) profitable site.
Using Google Analytics Bounce Rates to Gauge Site Stickiness
Posted by erik at 10:34 AM
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September 12, 2006
Google Webmaster Tools Uncovers Missed Site Opportunities
We have many clients whom we’ve helped create and submit sitemaps to Google through Google Webmaster Tools.
Simply put, a Google sitemap is a special file that resides on your server that enables you to tell Google what pages are present on your site. Once this is done, you can login to Google’s Webmaster Tools console and manage your sitemap as well as view statistics and error information about your site.
Some of the most valuable data provided by Google is under the Statistics and Query Stats tab.
Here you’ll find:
Top Search Queries – this data shows the top search queries for your site within Google’s placement results. In other words, the most popular queries where you have some presence at Google. These are highly searched-for keywords and phrases where your site shows up in Google’s natural search results. Think of this as a VISIBILITY indicator.
Top Search Query Clicks – this data shows the top search queries that sent traffic to your site. In other words, these are the most popular queries for which people actually clicked over to your site. Your site is getting clicks from these specific keywords and phrases. Think of this as a TRAFFIC indicator.
Along with the data above, Google also provides the Average Top Position of your site which is the highest position any page from your site ranked for that particular query.
While this data took us a while to digest and analyze, over the last few months we’ve been able to create some very helpful reports for clients. The secret to this data is not necessarily the data within the two groups of data above, but rather in comparing both sets of data.
For example, if a search query appears in both groups, this means the search query is both highly searched and found at Google (visibility of your site is good) AND the query is also getting clicked on (traffic is flowing from Google to your site). You may find that these queries are very important queries to your site, while others may not be. A few of our clients have been surprised by some unexpected search queries that their site is highly visible for and is also getting traffic from! The ideal situation, and a good indicator of SEO performance, in this example is to find some or all of your major keywords and phrases in this group. For us at Intrapromote, this would allow us to meet our first and second goals in an SEO and Link Building campaign: Placements (visibility) and Clickthroughs (traffic).
Perhaps the most “SEO-affecting? comparison of the two data sets is where search queries are highly visible (they are a Top Search Query) but they are not getting clicks (they are not a Top Search Query Click). We see these as potential missed opportunities IF the search query is highly relevant to your site.
For search queries where this occurs, you should ask yourself a few questions:
A. Is the keyword/phrase/query not ranking high enough on page #1 at Google to get clicks?
B. Why is the page returned by Google not getting clicks?
1. Is the page title and/or description on Google unappealing?
2. Are there on-page factors blocking higher placement?
3. What else can be done to push the page higher on page #1?
Google Webmaster Tools Uncovers Missed Site Opportunities
Posted by doug at 03:43 PM
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June 16, 2006
Wasted Time
One of my favorite things in life is Microsoft Excel. It has continually helped me eliminate wasted time since I keep finding ways to mold it to my purposes that it has become one the indispensable tools. I’ve recently found some great ways to use Excel in manipulating large amounts of text with keywords and key phrases and I thought I’d share the wealth.
Have you ever…wanted to compare two lists of data (in my case keywords)? Here is a great link to a formula and some formatting that will compare two lists in a snap.
Have you ever…wanted to break apart key phrases into separate words? Try the “Text to Columns? tool located under the “Data? menu in Excel.
Have you ever… wanted to put the words back together in a different order or with some added tags? For example if you wanted to combine two cells with a # sign between them here how it’s done. [=A1&?#?&A2] This is wonderful for creating dynamic tracking url’s.
On another train of though here’s some recent news from the paid search world….
Google is now offering “Ad Scheduling?. My comment, it’s about time.
MSN AdCenter has finally cut the cord with serving up Yahoo paid search listings. Apparently they switched over to MSN exclusively on 6/1/06. This is from our Yahoo ad representative and some of the numbers I'm seeing would seem to back up this shift.
We are all still holding our breath to see the new version of Yahoo Search Marketing…I’ll keep you posted.
Unrelated, meaningless, and just for fun… And finally, a link to an OkGo’s music video “Do What You Want?. They are a great band with an awesome sound and live show. I highly recommend them!
Have a great weekend!
Wasted Time
Posted by brent at 11:09 AM
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June 07, 2006
Google Analytics Data Blackout
Google Analytics appears to have missed about five hours' worth of data from yesterday. The following shot shows a representative picture that appears for all my clients who utilize GA's statistics. The outage was from 1pm through 5pm, or might be different depending on your time zone.
No one's saying much about this yet. We'll have to wait to see whether the data is merely not there yet or whether it's gone for good.
Google Analytics Data Blackout
Posted by erik at 10:17 AM
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June 02, 2006
Children Of The Sun
(Instead of writing a big long article on one topic I’ve decided to accumulate and share any news, tools, and of course oddities (who doesn’t like to go to the freak show at the circus) that I’ve come across on the web in the past two weeks.)
Spicy Spam Kabobs Anyone…..
I confess that I use Gmail for my personal email accounts and generally I find that it is a pretty good interface. I have to laugh though whenever I check or clean out my spam folder. You see I have Gmail web clips turned “on? and here is a sampling of what pops up every time I go into that folder….
Spam Swiss Pie - Bake 45-55 minutes or until eggs are set
Ginger Spam Salad - Serves 1, refrigerate overnight
Spicy Spam Kabobs - Serve with hot cooked rice
Spam Fajitas - Serves 8, add extra salsa if desired
Creamy Spam Broccoli Casserole - Makes 8 servings
Vineyard Spam Salad - Combine grapes, spam, peapods and onions in large bowl
Spam Vegetable Strudel - Bake 20 minutes or until golden, serve with soy sauce
Mmmmmmmmm, they sound delicious! I’m not sure if this is a joke by the crew at Google or if it’s just a consequence of contextual search robots, but either way it’s pretty funny and good for a laugh every day.
Google Bot’s To Search Landing Pages….
They been talking about the importance of this for some time, I’m glad to see that they are going to back it up with action. There’s a lot of moaning about this in the industry but I welcome it as something that will only help those of us doing it the right way.
Sick Of The Stupid Travelocity Gnome….
Good site that gave accurate results quickly. Make sure to check the rates though as the lowest available maybe for seniors or veterans etc.
Yahoo To FINALLY Change It’s Interface
I’ve received two voice messages from Yahoo in the past week telling me of the impending doom errrrrrrrr changes that will be taking place in the Yahoo Search Marketing interface. I do anticipate glitches, who of us have ever changed anything without some kind of glitch, but I am crossing my fingers and hoping the changes actually take place. The current interface is slow and cumbersome, and I for one can’t wait for the new interface. FYI, they are telling me to anticipate these changes in 3rd quarter of 2006.
How Do I Get Him On My Linked-In List?
Just When You Thought You’d Seen It All…..
Doggie bag anyone? After I finished laughing I wondered if/why PETA hasn’t been all over this.
Oh, and if you’re wondering where I came up with the title, I heard the song for the first time in years today and thought I would remind us all of a great old classic (go to the audio section to find the track).
Well, that’s all for today. Have a great weekend and have fun on the web!
Children Of The Sun
Posted by brent at 03:11 PM
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March 14, 2006
Pithy Comments About SEO Tools
There are a lot of SEO Tools available to both “in-house? SEOers as well as agencies like ours that specialize in SEO. There are tools for nearly everything – from keyword research tools all the way to Google vs. Yahoo SERP comparison tools. We’ve even created our own helpful tools to assist us in directing client campaigns.
The success of some very good SEO tools has been a catalyst for a plethora of SEO tools being created and made available online. Some of these are unique and useful, many are simply “me too / jump on the bandwagon? applications, and some are really not tools at all but rather experimentations. The latter group are the ones that you say “Cool!? when you see them, followed by “What exactly is that?", then you never visit them ever again.
Here’s my pithy comments about SEO tools...
If you are going to throw an SEO tool out to the public, please make sure it works. And if it’s broken, at least put up a notice on your site that it’s temporarily unavailable.
I visited two of the most popular online SEO tools this week and both of them had major problems. One didn’t work at all and the other gave incorrect results.
Crippled SEO tools reflect poorly on your company and our industry. If you are doing SEO in-house, make sure to verify some of the results provided by your frequently visited SEO tools.
Pithy Comments About SEO Tools
Posted by doug at 11:56 AM
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February 24, 2006
Cool Web Tools: Writely Online Word Processing
I was tipped off several months ago that there was a neat new product in beta testing that could prove very useful in my virtual work world. Always being one who is game to try a new product out, especially for free, I was on the Writely website in a matter of minutes to check out the new product.
While not new in concept, an online, collaborative word processor is something that would be very useful assuming that it 1) worked well, and 2) stayed around longer than some recent TV shows ala, Love Monkey, which in my opinion was a great new show. Anyway, I decided to try Writely and can tell you that I have fallen in love with it. It’s easy to use, has lot’s of features, and most importantly, is still around.
I’ve been able to use it in various ways to keep “on the same page? quite literally with co-workers, and clients. Nothing is ever perfect, and Writely does have room for improvement, but it’s good features and benefits far outweigh it’s shortcomings.
Overall, I’d give it a thumbs up and recommend that you try it out.
Cool Web Tools: Writely Online Word Processing
Posted by brent at 04:02 PM
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October 19, 2005
Firefox Tricks: Quick Searches for Maps, News, and Blog Search Engines
A few weeks ago, I wrote about some Firefox search tricks - how to turn your Firefox browser's address field into a search box for Yahoo, MSN, and Google. This post gives data for several more quick searches, focusing on news, blog search, and maps.
For the background of the Firefox Quick Search and instructions about how to create a Quick Search bookmark, see my previous post. If you're ready to add more quick searches, following are several good ones. Note that in each case, you must use a keyword, but the keyword you use is your choice. Just make sure it's intuitive for you, so that you'll instinctively use it and won't have to waste time trying to remember what it is.
In the following examples, I also added the Sample query line to show how an example query will look when you're done. You do not need to input this data anywhere.
Technorati (Blog Search):
Name: Technorati Blog Search
Location: http://www.technorati.com/search/%s
Keyword: tblog
Sample query: tblog supreme court
Technorati (Tag Search):
Name: Technorati Tag Search
Location: http://www.technorati.com/search/tag/%s
Keyword: ttag
Sample query: ttag supreme court
Google Blog Search:
Name: Google Blog Search
Location: http://www.google.com/blogsearch?q=%s
Keyword: gblog
Sample query: gblog supreme court
Yahoo Blog Search:
Name: Yahoo Blog Search
Location: http://blog.news.search.yahoo.com/blog/search?p=%s
Keyword: yblog
Sample query: yblog supreme court
Google Maps/Local:
Name: Google Maps Search
Location: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=%s
Keyword: gmaps
Sample query: gmaps iowa city ia
Sample query: gmaps restaurants near lax
Note that all of the typical Google Local search queries work here.
Google News:
Name: Google News Search
Location: http://news.google.com/news?q=%s
Keyword: gnews
Sample query: gnews hurricane wilma
Yahoo News:
Name: Yahoo News Search
Location: http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=%s
Keyword: ynews
Sample query: ynews hurricane wilma
MSN News:
Name: MSN News Search
Location: http://search.msn.com/news/results.aspx?q=%s
Keyword: mnews
Sample query: mnews hurricane wilma
Because of the URL output structure of Yahoo Maps, I couldn't find a universal URL that would work with Firefox Quick Searches. If you can derive one, let me know.
Firefox Tricks: Quick Searches for Maps, News, and Blog Search Engines
Posted by erik at 11:25 PM
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September 29, 2005
Happy Birthday Google SMS
Next week, it's the first birthday of Google SMS (Short Message Service), but chances are, you haven't used it yet. While Google Mobile's Web Search is the hot young quarterback of mobile search, Google SMS is its offensive lineman, quietly getting the query jobs done, content without the column-inches of its flashy, backfield brother.
And because more than a few of us still haven't upgraded to a browser-enabled phone, it's all we have.
Google SMS is a fast, efficient way to find information about location-specific weather, businesses, phone numbers, movies, and stock quotes (remember when that was cool?). Simply type your query text and send it to 46645 (get it? GOOGL), and in less than a minute, you'll receive your query results back in the form of one or more text messages sent to your phone.
Weather. To find the current weather and four-day forcast for any US location, you can use either a ZIP code or city name. Be specific and use a state abbreviation. Type a query such as [weather las vegas nv] or [weather 90048] (don't use brackets for any of these queries).
Movies. Can't remember exactly what time the show starts, or where it's playing? Type the movie name followed by city & state, or ZIP code. For example, [serenity 10048] or [corpse bride iowa city ia] (in some cases, like the latter, using an abbreviated title still works - the entire title is "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride").
Many more. Following is a list of additional queries that work, along with relevant notes.
- [define cronyism] (Use define + term to get a definition.)
- [tractor parts lincoln ne] (A product or service, followed by a city/state combo or ZIP code searches Google Local.)
- [616] (Type an unfamiliar area code [or ZIP code] to find its location.)
- [yhoo] (Type a stock symbol to find out its current quote and trade volume.)
Airlines? Curious about what else Google SMS could do, I recently checked on the status of my own flight, using something like [northwest 645] as a query. The reply :
Looking for the flight status of Northwest Airlines 645? Sorry, flight information is not yet available.
implies that while it doesn't work right now, flight info might someday be a feature of the service.
Here's a great online demo of SMS features, and a handy wallet-sized reference card (.pdf) you can print out and keep with you.
Happy Birthday Google SMS
Posted by erik at 10:35 AM
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September 21, 2005
Faster Searching with Firefox
Statistics show that if you're reading this blog, you're more likely to be a Firefox Web Browser user than typical web surfers. Over 35% of our readers use Firefox or its Mozilla counterpart, while at the Intrapromote site, the number is less than 7%. Chances are you're very search-oriented, so I wanted to share some Firefox tricks that make my searching much more efficient.
I love toolbars, but I'm not crazy about the amount of screen real estate they consume. And even with Firefox's multiple tabs, I don't like always having one or more tabs devoted to search. I was poking around the Firefox docs and was happy to learn that the browser comes with built-in search capabilities, and additional capabilities that enable you to configure further searches.
The Address Bar in your browser (the field at the top of the browser that shows the URL of the site you're visiting) can become a de facto Google Search box simply by typing the term google, followed by your actual search query. The following graphic shows a query on everyone's mind:
Hit Return, and you'll get a Google page with query results for [britney spears baby], just as if you'd typed the query from the Google site.
But why do I have to type the entire word "google"? Couldn't we improve that a bit?
Turns out we can. This feature is based on one of Firefox's "Quick Searches" bookmarks. If you came of age with Microsoft products, it's unlikely you know about these, because in my opinion, they're much better labeled as tools or macros than bookmarks, and I until now, the coolest thing ever found while poking around a list of pre-installed browser bookmarks was 10,000 free hours of AOL.
I wanted to query Google simply by typing g followed by the query terms. To do so, follow these steps.
1. Open the Bookmarks Manager by clicking Bookmarks -> Manage Bookmarks...
2. Click the + sign to open up the Quick Searches folder.
3. Right-click "Google Quicksearch" and select "Properties"
4. In the "Keyword" field of the Properties box, replace google with g, as shown in the following graphic:
5. Hit "OK", then close the Bookmarks Manager.
That's all there is to it. Now just type g and your search terms into the Address Bar, hit Return, and you're instantly searching Google. But what about Yahoo and MSN? You'll have to create two new bookmarks in the Quick Searches folder. To create a new bookmark, right-click the Google Quicksearch page within the Quick Searches folder, and select New Bookmark.... In the resulting properties window, use the following code to create Quick Searches for Yahoo and MSN:
For Yahoo:
Name: Yahoo Quick Search
Location: http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=%s
Keyword: y
For MSN:
Name: MSN Quick Search
Location: http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=%s
Keyword: m
After you've created these Quick Searches, your current browser tab is a fast gateway to any major search engine. Just type g, y, or m, followed by your search terms, to query Google, Yahoo, or MSN, respectively.
Another helpful (and existing!) Quick Search is for Wikipedia. Use the letters wp, followed by your search terms, to query Wikipedia.
Faster Searching with Firefox
Posted by erik at 01:15 PM
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September 19, 2005
What's the word, Thunderbird
What's the word, Thunderbird. How’s it sold, free!
(For those of you not ummmmm ‘cultured’ enough to recognize the above as the jingle for the Thunderbird “wine? you can skip past this history link (bumwine.com) and right to the heart of this post)
For the past several weeks now we have been giving Mozilla's email client, called Thunderbird a try. And so far I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars. Nothing is perfect, unless of course you're a Mac fan in which case everything Mac does is perfection personified, but this is a pretty nice program. I won't go into detail about all that it offers, as they do a pretty good job of that on their web site (Mozilla-Thunderbird). But I would like to blog briefly about why I like it and hopefully it will give you some insight into it, and whether or not you'd like to try it out. 
First and foremost I like the fact that it's not Microsoft. Now I am not a "hater", but rather someone who doesn't like having limited choices and always hearing about the latest security issue for my Microsoft program. This coupled with the fact that Thunderbird is opensource gives me a sense that this program will be smiled upon by the internet powers that be. Or at least not hacked as much as the Microsoft haters out there.
Secondly, I love all of the extensions that you can add onto the program. My personal favorite is the one called QuoteColors that allows you to view responses to your email in heirarchial view, coded by color and indentation. This makes it much easier to follow email conversations.
Last, but not least, I like how easy it is to learn and use. It was very easy to install and get running. It automatically imported my address book and all of my emails from my prior email client. Granted I had to re-sort them all, but it was a great excuse to clean house and get rid of all those buy.com coupons I never used.
Overall, I've been pleased with Thunderbird. It's not perfect, but it does what I want without a lot of fluff and fanfare. That's my bottom line. Keep it simple!
V5
If you have any cool tools and/or sites that you would like to submit for possible blog publishing please send it to me, or simply leave a comment.
What's the word, Thunderbird
Posted by brent at 09:16 AM
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September 12, 2005
ROI for Search Engine Marketing
Return On Investment (ROI) has been a key measurement of success ever since, dare I say, there has been commerce. ROI can be calculated many different ways, but the basis for every determination is the definition.
Whether you are the business owner or an e-marketing manager, correctly defining ROI for your campaign will help you to decide if you are meeting your goals. So, how should you define ROI for your campaign?
As stated earlier, ROI can be calculated many different ways. There are also many definitions for it ranging from technical accounting definitions to (in my view) simpler and more applicable investment definitions. One of my favorites, which captures the simplicity and essence of what most people identify with when they mention ROI, is this:
“The percentage of profit made on an investment.? (quoted from Cnet News.com Investor)
With this definition in mind, here are some basic guidelines for effectively using ROI as a measuring stick for the success of your campaigns.
1. Clarity:
I’m an accountant by trade. One of the things that I find that can cause confusion, disappointment, and even anger is when two (or more) people involved with the same investment have different measures of success. A quick example would be a campaign where one person’s view of a successful campaign might be site visitors who go past the landing page, while another’s view of success is how many site visitors see the landing page. This difference in goals can have a big impact on the focus and overall effectiveness of the campaign. The lesson here is to communicate, communicate, communicate. Don’t worry about clarifying or “over-communicating? your definition of success. Make sure everyone is on the same page. It is a good practice to actually list the definition of success along with the results of a campaign so that all can be clear about the definition.
2. Keep it simple:
When trying to calculate the success of a campaign, there will be lots of numbers and percentages. These are very important, but if not taken in doses, they can be overwhelming. Be careful to keep your definition of ROI handy when looking at all of these because they can divert your attention from your original goal and focus. Also, if your ROI calculation has too many variables, it could either point you in the wrong direction or simply be a waste of time. Try to trim down your calculation of ROI and see if there is a simpler, or shorter, way to come up with it. One final note, when looking for a shorter way to calculate ROI, keep in mind your margin for perfection, i.e., if you can get to within a certain % of your ROI number, and cut out 5 steps, or an hour of calculation time, it may be worth it. It’s also a good idea to re-visit #1 and keep everyone on the same page.
3. Try different measurements:
Perspective is an often overlooked and much maligned term. It is used a lot in this context: “to put it in perspective, we lost 5% more last period in this category as well?. If you try thinking of perspective like an artist who looks at things from more than one perspective, you may gather different understandings of the same thing. For example, I once was able to attend a professional basketball game and was privileged to sit in the second row. I had been to games before, but I was always much further away from the court and players. While in the “cheap seats?, I was in awe of how they moved and how they played, it seemed graceful and effortless. When I sat in the second row I was still in awe, but for different reasons. Now I could see how big the players actually are. From the cheap seats they were all together so they didn’t look any different than the people around them, but when I got up close I couldn’t believe how big they actually were. Needless to say, it squashed all of my fantasies in which I would imagine that “I could hang with them?. Not to say that they weren’t graceful, but suddenly they didn’t seem quite as graceful, nor did it seem effortless either. What changed? My perspective. In reviewing your campaign ROI, don’t be afraid to look at it from different perspectives. Be careful to make sure that your perspective matches your goal, or else you may end up with very incongruous results. By doing this, you may find benefits from the campaign that you never knew were there.
Finally, let me say the ROI can be a very effective, bottom-line, type of measurement for your campaign. Make sure due diligence is performed when determining how you are going to measure ROI before starting, and while planning, your campaign. This will help everyone involved to work together for the success of your campaign.
ROI for Search Engine Marketing
Posted by brent at 12:45 PM
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August 25, 2005
Local SEO/PPC
From the SES tradeshow, we saw how the large search companies are moving into local search. So, to keep up, I upgraded my cellphone yesterday to one that has a built-in web browser. I'll start working with the various versions of Google for wireless devices to learn how to build PPC campaigns that can be found by mobile users. A year ago, even three months ago, I would not have thought of Verizon as a significant player in the PPC market. But with the push to take over the Yellow Pages and local marketing, Verizon has a good chance to get a large market.
Local SEO/PPC
Posted by brett at 12:44 PM
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August 22, 2005
Web Search Tools and High Gas Prices
Happy Monday! Gas is $2.75 a gallon! Yippee!!!!
Nope, still doesn’t make paying high gas prices feel any better. Well, like everyone else I’m feeling the pinch of high gas prices. Lucky for me I bought a 15 mpg SUV last winter. I just love filling it up nowadays. Man!, even sarcasm doesn’t help. The only thing that would help is better gas prices.
Well I haven’t found a web tool that changes gas prices, that would be WAY COOL, and I’d either be in jail or a billionaire, not sure which way that one would go. But I digress, I have found a Cool Web Tool called GasBuddy which helps all of us poor saps try to find the best price for gas in our local area. Now, It doesn’t cover every area, but it hits the major, and some minor, metropolitan areas.
Well, at least now I can calculate if its worth the drive to get the cheaper gas. If nothing else I get the satisfaction of knowing that I’m paying a fair, no……reasonable, no……….well at least I have the feeling of being in control of what I pay for gas. And if that’s all I can get, I guess I’ll have to take it.
If you have any cool tools and/or sites that you would like to submit for possible blog publishing please send it to me, or simply leave a comment.
Web Search Tools and High Gas Prices
Posted by brent at 09:47 AM
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August 15, 2005
Cool Web Tools
Ahhhhh, childhood games. What fond memories. I’m not sure if is has to do with my recent delay in an airport and all the time it gave me to think, or the free drinks they gave away on the plane when we finally departed, but nonetheless my memories have been jogged lately with the discovery of 20 Questions online.
The simple game that mercifully passed away the hours in the car on the proverbial family vacation, or drove you insane on said trip, is back and with a vengeance.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about this particular game is that it is a learning game. It compiles all of our attempts to fool it and it “learns? from them. This basic attempt at artificial intelligence is very intriguing as well as confounding. (It guessed my first attempts at it in 16 questions).
Well whether it’s a game or the beginning of the end for us all as depicted in the 1983 classic movie WarGames I’ll let you be the judge. As for me I’m still just trying to stump the computer.
If you have any cool tools and/or sites that you would like to submit for possible blog publishing please send it to me, or simply leave a comment.
Cool Web Tools
Posted by brent at 09:00 AM
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August 08, 2005
Cool Web Tools
As the lone “non-SEO expert? on staff, I pondered what I could contribute to our blog subscribers. I quickly realized that if I were not apart of Intrapromote I would be curious as to what cool tools and/or sites they come across? So I decided to dedicate the majority of my posts to giving you an insider's view of Intrapromote and what we find during our daily combing of the web.
Side by Side Search Results:
Have you ever found yourself toggling back and forth between search results for Google and Yahoo to see how your results look? Well, as you might imagine we are constantly looking at results from both engines and have found a little tool that helps us immensely. The tool is called Twingine, and proves immensely useful by providing side by side search results from Google and Yahoo.
Well, I hope you enjoy this little tool that we’ve come across and I look forward to sharing more with you in the coming weeks!
If you have any cool tools and/or sites that you would like to submit for possible blog publishing please send it to me, or simply leave a comment.
Cool Web Tools
Posted by brent at 10:25 AM
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