The concept of Short URLs is wonderful. Instead of very long, multi foldered URLs that can be hard to remember, type in and break in emails, how about a URL with few characters that can be generated in seconds, pasted wherever needed and redirects to the page you want readers to go to. All this and great tracking capabilities to boot. Perfect for today’s world with social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, and the ever increasing effectiveness of email marketing.

But the fact that thousands of sites can be linked to by the same main URL domain can lead to a trust issue. How do you know if the link will lead to a safe site that really matches the copy that surrounds it? Is it possible that the link is a spam link, and the enticing copy surrounding it is only there to trick you into clicking on it? Does the fact that you don’t know make you more or less likely to click on it?

Even though the majority of Short URLs you come across will indeed be safe and link to a good page, the truth is that it is tough to be 100% sure that what you are clicking on is safe, and will lead directly to where you want to go. And we all know that one bad click can sometimes ruin a good day. So, what are some tips to keep in mind when you come across Short URLs:

• If you trust the sender or poster (like someone you follow on Twitter), you should be okay. But be wary, as some accounts can get hacked and those hackers may spam people associated with those accounts.
• If you think the link may be spam, don’t click on it. If the marketing message entices you, you can probably find out what is being referenced by searching that website.
• Preview the linked page if possible (TinyURL offers this option – http://tinyurl.com/preview.php).

I believe that the need for a service like Short URLs will always be there, but the exact form the future versions of this service will take is yet to be determined. Do you have ideas of what it will look like? Do you have alternatives to Short URLs? Have you run into any huge problems? Let us know.

When marketers get a job with a new company, they tend to know at least a little bit about the new employer, but not everything. They may know who the VPs are, but they may not know which ones can get things done. They may know the local restaurants, but they may not know which ones have the best happy hour. They may know the products and services offered, but they may not know which ones make the most profit for the company.

And of course, they probably have seen the website and have half an idea of what they think about it. But what they may not know until they get involved with it, is what shape the website is in (specifically with regards to the search engines). And some times what they find isn’t pretty. (more…)

Bingo…I mean Bing is the latest edition claimed to be the newest, greatest…next best search engine to rival the undeniable king, Google. Bing.com is on scheduled to replace Live.

Have you checked this new search engine out yet? Do you like it? Let us know what you think of this latest search platform. I was pleasantly surprised, actually, and plan on investigating it further. Bing offers us searchers categorized listings and if you hover over certain links, you will see ‘more info’. Streamlined and quite nice! (more…)

The Google Ten Pack is considered “prime real estate”. But what is it that those ten sites have that your site might not have? Today we’ll explore some simple changes that will help catapult your site into this section. If these simple changes don’t do the trick, give us a call and we can provide a deeper analysis for you.

In this image, you can see where the Ten Pack is located on the Google Search Results Page. If your site is not listed, it is worth the effort to make some adjustments to your Google Local account to try to get it there. (more…)

If you’ve been keeping up on our blog you’ve probably heard of Universal Search by now, where on the search engine results page (SERP) you’ll find pictures, videos and other vertical search results where once only web page listings resided (if you are not familiar with Universal Search, here is a good article on what it is). This feature within the search engines is meant to enhance the searchers experience by providing the most relevant results to their search, no matter what form of ‘rich media’ it comes in (whether an article, video, photo or something else – read a previous post discussing why to keep up with Universal Search).

We think this is great for search engine users – providing a greater pool for which to pull relevant results is fantastic. The drawback? Website owners and marketers may find it difficult to keep pace with this change, having to keep finding ways to include rich media on their website in order to be at the top of the SERPs. Recently we came across another significant bump in the road for website marketers when it comes to Universal Search – its impact on PPC advertising.

Yes – we said that Universal Search has an impact in PPC. How can that be? (more…)