“What do you get when you mix social media and local search?” asks Stephan Spencer, President of Netconcepts. In this article, posted on C|Net’s Searchlight: an SEO Blog, Stephan talks about how Yahoo! has opened up new features to blend social interaction on a local level, and how it will affect local businesses. For more information on this interesting subject, click here to read the article.
Spread the word: 
Geolocation is bandied about quite a bit when discussing aspects of online marketing with location-specific components, but many are blurry as to how it works and how it’s being used, so I thought it’d be helpful to outline the basics of it, and to highlight some of the recent developments brought via the expansion of wifi and mobile device use that have improved its precision. Geolocation is coming into broader and broader usage in enhancing the user experience for local search and mobile applications, and it has quietly become a vital component to the policing of fraud—particularly for credit card validation and filtering of PPC advertising clicks.
Continue reading »Spread the word:
Sometimes Google’s announcements get lost in the shuffle. “Google today introduced a new experimental feature in their News - they’ve added story participant comments into their listings of stories.” In this article, Chris Smith talks about his thoughts and reactions to Google’s decision to allow comments on their news, and how it relates to other companies. Read more about Chris’ thoughts in the article here, and learn how comment-enabling might benefit your company.
Spread the word:
Ever wonder whether or not it’s possible to make money blogging? Well, this teen has made blogging for dollars a reality. Stephan covers his daughter Chloe’s presentation at the 2007 BlogHer conference in Chicago. In this popular article, featured on C|Net’s Searchlight: An SEO Blog, Stephan talks about Chloe’s experiences with WordPress, her love for Neopets, and what it takes to turn a blog into an asset. You can also watch the highlights from Chloe’s presentation in his article as well. To read more about how “SEO is not inaccessible; in fact, it’s so easy, that a child can do it!” click here.
Spread the word:
Have you accessed the new Google analytics package yet? Chris Smith gives us an inside look at usability in this article from the Natural Search Blog. Chris calls the new analytics “upgrade” as being “All glitz with little beneficial substance.” Read more about the updated Google Analytics from an SEO expert point-of-view.
Continue reading »Spread the word:
In Chinese society, “red envelope” refers to a monetary gift placed in a red packet because the color symbolizes good luck. That’s where Red Envelope got its name. Was the San Francisco-based gifts merchant lucky with the results of its Website critique? Well, while critiquers Amy Africa, president of Helena, VT-based Web consultancy Eight by Eight, and Stephan Spencer, founder/president of Madison, WI-based SEO-specialist agency Netconcepts, tried to handle Red Envelope’s site with care, they both found areas that need serious improvement. Africa reviewed the site’s content and functionality, and Spencer tested its search capability. Here’s what they had to say.
Continue reading »Spread the word:
All good fairy tales begin with the words, “Once upon a time…” In this fantasy-meets-reality tale, Patricia Fusco weaves a story about SEO from the perspective of Harry Potter. This is a high-level, historical overview of SEO that brings us up to the present. Whether you’re an SEO wizard or not, this article helps bring us to a new understanding of SEO by relating it to a part of “pop culture.”
To read, “If Harry Potter Did SEO,” click here.
Spread the word:
Chris writes that, “Google Maps team announced support of the hCard microformat today in map search results.” How will microformats benefit local search? Find out in this interesting article posted on the Natural Search Blog. You can read the full article here.
Spread the word:
Optimizing a website that has tens of thousands—or even hundreds of thousands—of dynamically generated pages, requires thinking differently. Old school SEO, where you assign each page a keyword theme based on keyword research and hand-craft a title tag, H1 tag and intro copy, then figure out the best internal links to send to the page, just doesn’t scale with big sites. Particularly when you’re talking about the magnitude that our Netconcepts clients are operating at—typically over 10,000 SKUs and over 100,000 indexed pages.
It’s essential that you focus your SEO efforts in such a way that the effects will cascade through your site.
Continue reading »Spread the word:
“The Dallas Kwik-E-Mart is one of the eleven created nationwide out of 7-Eleven stores, and it’s a simply fantastic piece of viral marketing, participatory marketing – and yes, linkbait,” writes Chris Smith in this article on the Natural Search Blog. Viral marketing and link bait are today’s buzzwords in search, and what better way to glean ideas for your business than to see a successful campaign in action? Find out what happens when TV-meets-reality in this interesting experiment, and what it could mean for you. You can read the article here.
Spread the word:
Ecommerce
Website Audits
Business Blogging
Link Building
online marketing
Usability
Keyword Research
RSS Marketing
social media
Blogs
HEADQUARTERS
2820 Walton Commons West, Suite 123
Madison, WI 53718 USA
Phone: (608) 285-6600
Toll-free: 888 207-1109
REGIONAL OFFICE
36 Anzac Rd., Browns Bay
Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: (+64) 9 476-4601
infodesk@netconcepts.com
