SEO Review

In June this year, Yahoo’s CEO Carol Bartz said the company sold its search business to Microsoft because, according to a New York Times report, “Yahoo could no longer continue to match the level of investment Google and Microsoft were making in searching“, and instead has plans to invest in the company’s display ad, content and mobile services technologies.

However, it is now praying for deliverance from the Justice Department that antitrust regulators approve the deal. There are also reports that the company’s executives are offloading their shares at a time when confidence in the company needs to be bolstered. But the big question is, what would happen to Yahoo if the deal were to be scotched?

Ms Bartz suggested in a bizarre interview that Yahoo isn’t a search engine company and denied it ever was one. She also said that she would have sold the company to Microsoft and, when asked what’s next for Yahoo, unbelievable as it may sound, she replied, “search isn’t what we’re after…I don’t wake up in the morning and say ‘Gosh, what am I going to search?’ That’s not what I do. I wake up and say, ‘What’s happening?’ And that’s really what Yahoo is. We really want to be the centre of peoples’ online lives.”

While it is understandable that Yahoo could no longer continue to fund search at the levels of Google and Microsoft, the Microsoft-Yahoo deal has stalled. According to Yahoo’s financial news site, US antitrust regulators have “requested more documents” in their probe of the Microsoft deal to provide search engine technology to Yahoo, with experts expecting it to get “close scrutiny from regulators”, but concluded it should eventually be approved but that it will take months.

Although these antitrust problems exist, Microsoft says that it is confident in its ability to persuade the regulators that more competition in the market is a good thing and that this deal will ensure that its race to catch up with Google has the “best interests of the market”.

Perhaps the deal is not so much in doubt, but what would happen if the antitrust regulators fail to approve the move? It would simply leave Yahoo, and particularly Ms Bartz, between a rock and a hard place with no alternative in place.

On the face of it, Justice Department interest in the deal is somewhat strange in that a merger of two companies’ technologies to compete with the market leader doesn’t really smack of antitrust. But perhaps the regulators just want to further the probe into the effects on advertisers? Anyway, some analysts believe the Justice Department will force both companies to put Yahoo’s search technology assets up for auction in order for the deal to go through.

Microsoft and Yahoo representatives have also said they were hopeful that the deal to challenge Google would close early next year, but with Google’s search market share as much as 65% of the US market and up to 90% internationally, and with Yahoo’s about 19% in the US, the deal has a long way to go yet before it makes any real impact.

The antitrust probe is not the only problem affecting the company: executives are also offloading shares. With the furore about antitrust and Yahoo’s business model, it is claimed that Carol Bartz and other Yahoo’s executives have sold out their shares. Ms Bartz sold $830,000 of Yahoo stock in March and a further $1.4m in June, or 46% of her share options, for almost $2 million.

All this comes on top of reports that Ms Bartz fired off an angry internal memo after it was disclosed that Yahoo shareholder Carl Icahn sold 12 million shares in the company. In the memo she told employees to “get out of the sugar low – we have work to do. Stop staring at our navels, stop arguing with each other. Stop debate, debate, debate, and let’s focus on the competition.”

And it’s not just Carol Bartz and Carl Icahn who are selling Yahoo shares. General Manager Mike Callahan also sold $1.35 million in shares the past year. As Yahoo investor Eric Jackson of Ironfire Capital remarked: “Two million already cashed out for Bartz is too much, too soon.” He added, “it doesn’t really fit with her ‘I didn’t need this job as I was retired’ image she portrays“.

Yahoo’s response was that Ms Bartz needed the money to pay a hefty tax bill. So, instead of building confidence in the company at this vital time and holding on to stock, Yahoo’s shareholders get to pay her taxes. But whatever rationale is attached to all this, it doesn’t exactly make Yahoo look like a very attractive investment at the moment.

The sale of these shares alone may well have left Yahoo’s investors wondering about Carol Bartz’s long-term loyalty and whether she still believes in the company. Maybe she cashed in her shares before the share price dips too low? Maybe other major shareholders will follow suit if Yahoo struggles and fails to turn its profitability around?

When you take a look at Yahoo’s finances, they are not looking that great. The Guardian recently published: ” In its latest financial results, the company said that revenue for the past three months was down 13% from the same period last year to $1.5bn, while profit rose slightly to $141m … Bartz’s influence appears to have had little impact on the company’s bottom line so far… “

But doesn’t this sound all too familiar? With the banks now back to the bonus culture, thestreet.com commented on Yahoo’s executives, “…Every director and officer there seems to have a congenital affliction that is forcing them to withdraw as much compensation as they can from the shareholders…As a casual observer, I’m simply galled at this pigs-at-the-trough behaviour.”

All this negative press must have Google ready to roll out the tanks if Yahoo shows any further signs of tripping over its own bootlaces. Unlikely, but should this merger be blocked, what would become of the search engine company that doesn’t do search?

About The Author

John Sylvester is the media director of V9 Design & Build and an expert in search engine optimization and web marketing strategies.

Obtaining one-way quality links is often cited as the “Holy Grail” of online success. Especially if you take the SEO route for getting high rankings for all your profitable keywords in the search engines. It’s no wonder then, achieving top spots for valuable and popular keywords should be the ultimate goal of any webmaster or online marketer.

How well you do in this “link quest” will largely determine the success or failure of your site or online business. Assuming of course, you’re going after free organic traffic from the search engines and not using Pay Per Click or other means of succeeding online.

Benefits:

1. Improves, doesn’t replace. You keep your existing accounts and payment setups.
2. Works with most popular ad networks: Google AdSense, Yahoo, ValueClick, Advertising.com, Tribal Fusion, BlueLithium, and more!
3. Easy, one-time setup. Don’t muck around with code every time you want to change something.
4. Consolidated reporting gives you insight into traffic and monetization patterns that are making you money.
5. Used by hundreds of well-known sites. Now open to publishers of all sizes.

Link building and achieving top placements in the search engines (especially Google) has been my main objective for over ten years of online marketíng. Over the years, I have tried hundreds, if not thousands of link building methods in order to get those links. I would like to discuss briefly some of those methods and then explain in full detail my four favorite and most effective proven ways to get quality one-way links.

First, some general tips on how you should approach your link building from the get-go. You must realize the web is based on content; web surfers/users are looking for quality content. If you can supply valuable content that surfers want, you will build your links naturally. People will see your content and want to link to it. This process is often referred to as link baiting – you make your content/offer so irresistible, they will not only want it but they will go out of their way to tell others about your fantastic content.

Be careful not to link to “spammy” link farms and it’s probably a good idea to always check the Gooogle PageRank (PR) of any site or page you link to on the web. Many cautious webmasters/marketers won’t link to anything less than a PR3 page but use your best judgment here.

There are numerous ways of getting quality links:

• place your links in directories – free and paid
• join online forums and place your links
• do recommendations and testimonials
• viral videos with your embedded links
• join social media sites like MySpace, Facebook, etc.
• use hub traffic sites like Squidoo and Hubpages
• use Google sites like Google News, Google Docs, Google Knol
• use Wikipedia to build links
• use Yahoo Answers and those types of sites
• use eBay and sites like Craigslist
• use viral ebooks and software programs

Now, I have used all of the above link building methods and many more over the years but I would like to explain to you my most effective link building techniques – these are the proven methods that have worked for me. No doubt you may have heard of many of these link building methods before… but here goes:

Article Marketing

This is still one of the most effective ways to build good one-way links to your site. I know this is “old school” but it still works. There are rumors Google is cracking down on article links but for now links in your article resource boxes are still very effective.

From my own experience, article marketing is my most effective technique at building links. My sites and my onlíne marketing were going nowhere until I started writing articles. Now I do aggressive article marketing using all the major online article directories…

The Top 5 I Use Are: EzineArticles, GoArticles, Isnare, Ideamarketers, and Buzzle.

Now just look at my stats from EzineArticles alone and you will know why I use them.

Account Statistics

Articles Views: 421,327

Profile Views: 2,573

Articles Published: 4,787

URL Clicks: 49,480

Emailed: 115

Live Articles: 203

I have roughly 200 articles which have been viewed over 400,000 times which has sent around 50,000 visitors to my sites. Plus, I have around 5,000 places where my articles are published. And this is only for one online article directory – I have my articles in hundreds of them.

Whether you’re just a webmaster or into marketing online you must realize all this stuff is a “numbers” game. The more content you have out there, the more links you have on the web – the more traffíc and visitors you get coming to your site. It’s not rocket science, it’s simple math. The more links you have, the higher probability someone will click them and come to your site.

The same goes for high rankings in the search engines, the more good quality links you have, the higher your rankings. Article marketing will give you highly targeted keyword links to your web pages. I also use SubmitYourArticle which will automatically submít my articles for me to many dífferent article directories. I use this service to save time, but you can hand-submit your articles.

One last point about article marketing – you’re not just using articles to build links, you’re also using articles to “pre-sell” yourself, your site and/or your product. It’s a very effective way of funneling interested visitors/buyers to your site. Many of my sales are already made before visitors reach my site.

Add This Bookmark

Now I am not really into the “social media” sites but that has not stopped me from using them to my advantage. And it would be a BIG mistake not to use these social media sites for your link building.

Sites like MySpace, FaceBook, YouTube, Twitter, Digg, Linkedin… and thousands of others are very important for link building. They are becoming even more important as Google moves away from articles and focuses on the “real interactions” taking place on these sites.

Couple of years ago, I added the free AddThis Bookmark to all my sites. This is a simple code which lets your visitors bookmark your site or content in any or all of the major social media sites.

What actually happens is that your visitors are building your links for you. I have gotten hundreds of links from these sites just by placing this simple bookmark on my sites. Truth be told, I nearly laughed at this idea at first – sure visitors to my sites would automatically bookmark and build links for me? No way that would happen?

Wrong again!

This really works, so if you want this simple way of building links, just use the Addthis.com bookmark to your site or pages.

Google Alerts Link Building

This method of building good quality one-way links does take a little more work, but it is extremely effective, especially for getting high rankings in Google.

Here’s how it works:

You sign-up for Google Alerts for your major keywords that you’re promoting. Google will send you email alerts whenever a new page/site/link is created containing your keywords. You then go to those newly created pages to make a comment and add your link.

Many of these new pages will be on blogs so you can easily add your comment and link. The trick is to add valuable comments/content which the site moderator will approve because it adds to his/her site’s value. Many will also approve your link because your link is related to their site and this is just good SEO practice.

The key here is to put yourself and your site in the whole discussion of related blogs, sites and forums relevant to your content. You want your site in the whole mix of things so that relevant links will flow naturally from the discussion. Now all your links won’t be accepted, but you can easily add 2 or 3 links each day with very little time spent on this. Great way to build links, hope you can give it a try.

Press Releases

I am just starting this method of link building, but what I have seen so far tells me this is a very effective way to build links. It’s not cheap, I use PRWeb and I believe it’s $200 for a release. You can get a cheaper price at around $80 but you don’t get the full benefits at this lower price.

Press releases are very effective because you can embed your links with your “anchor text” into the body of your press release. Other sites pick up your release and place it on their site with your keywords/links embedded. This seems more like natural link-building which the search engines love, especially Google.

Again, depending on your marketing budget, press releases can be a very effective way of building links. I have noticed sites going from a PR0 to PR4 in less than 6 months using this method and also getting top 5 rankings in Google in the process. Keep in mind, sites displaying press releases are usually already highly ranked in Google so some of their PR juice is passed on to your site.

I hope this article has given you some fresh ways of building your one-way links. Consistently build these links to your site over an extended period of months or even years and you will succeed online.

About The Author

The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous websites. For the latest web marketing tools try: BizwareMagic.com .

If you liked the article above, why not try this Free 7 Day Traffic Course at: MarketingToolGuide.com . 2009 Titus Hoskins.

In baseball, it’s said that you know an umpire is top-notch when you never notice his presence. If he’s doing his job, he won’t call attention to himself in any way. It’s much the same for the writer of a press release. When the recipient of a press release focuses only on its content — and not on its creation — the writer has succeeded. With that in mind, here’s how to develop a style that can help give you a big edge in placing your press releases.

1) Master News Style By Reading News Stories

The folks who write wire copy for the Associated Press are masters at presenting information without calling attention to themselves. Read all the AP wire copy you can and get a sense of the rhythm and flow of their writing. Examine their choice of words and sentence structure (typically, they choose the simplest way of saying things) and their overall tone of solid objectivity. This is the style to which you should aspire.

2) Write a Great Lead

The lead paragraph in a press release should, theoretically, be able to stand alone as a news item. A standard news lead answers the Five W’s — Who? What? Where? When? Why? Successfully answer those five questions in one paragraph and you’ve summarized everything beautifully.

Bad lead:

The new Acme X100 is drawing raves from customers, who call it the best thing to happen to the flanging industry since the X99.

Good lead:

Philadelphia, August 15, 2007– Calling it a "milestone day for our industry", the Acme Company unveiled the first flanger capable of creating widgets using only solar power. According to Acme President Joe Blow, the X100 is expected to find wide use in the developing world, where access to traditional electric power is unreliable.

The Five W’s are answered! Who: the Acme Company. What: theintroduction of the solar-powered X100. Where: in Philadelphia (the headquarters for our fictional company). When: August 15. And, most important, Why: for use in the developing world.

Remember this: in almost every release that’s successful, what put it over the top was the answer to "Why?". You must make plain the significance of your news by answering that question succinctly and without hype!

3) Write in Third Person

Perhaps it’s a silly convention, but press releases really should be written as if they’re coming from an objective outsider to your company, not from within your business. Of course, the journalist knows better, but nonetheless, they expect releases to be written in the third person. In short, here’s the difference between first person and third person:

=> First person: We’ve developed the Acme X100.It’s our most advanced model ever.

=> Third person: Acme Industries has developed the X100, which a company spokesperson called its "most advanced ever"

4) Attribute All Opinions

Never flatly state an opinion. If you want to state an opinion or, as in the above example, make a claim, always attribute it to a representative of the company (which very well may end up to be you!). Anything apart from entirely factual info (dates, store availability, product features, biographical information, etc.) should be attributed. Again, the best way to get a feel for this is to read wire copy. Start sorting out the things a reporter feels comfortable with, including without attribution and things for which he uses a named source.

5) Use the Inverted Pyramid

On the first day of Journalism 101, aspiring scribes learn about the Inverted Pyramid. Basically, it’s way of organizing information so that the most important information is at the top — the widest part of the Inverted Pyramid — and, as you funnel down to the narrowest point, the information becomes less and less vital. There’s a good reason for this: if a reporter’s 10 paragraph story gets cut to 6 paragraphs because of space considerations, the reader will still be informed of the most important news. What’s cut will be background, quotes and other nonessential material. When writing a press release, the Inverted Pyramid is equally important. First, it’s the style the journalist is comfortable with and second, it assures that even if a rushed reporter can only read the first couple of paragraphs, she’ll get enough info to decide whether to use the release or not. If you bury the best part of your release in the fourth paragraph, the recipient may never make it that far.

6) Remove all "Stoppers"

A "stopper" is something that will stop a journalist in her tracks and distract her attention. Once that happens, your release is toast. The point of your press release: to present information in the least obtrusive way possible. Consider it this way: the journalist isn’t dumb — she knows full well that you’ve sent her the press release for purely commercial reasons, hoping to get publicity that will make you more money. She can live with that as long as [a] there’s something in it for her (a good story) and [b] she’s not reminded of your commercial desires too often. A "stopper" breaks the suspension of disbelief needed for this little dance to be successful. It’s the boom mike showing up in the frame of a movie — once you’ve seen it, it’s hard to convince yourself that you’re really experiencing something that happened during, say, the Middle Ages. Here are some "stoppers" to avoid:

=> Clunky language. Journalists keep their language pretty simple. Long words, compound sentences and lofty, pretentious phrases are no-no’s. Keep your sentences short. Don’t try to present more than one idea in a paragraph. Avoid words you wouldn’t use in everyday circumstances.

=> Hype and puffery. The ultimate "stopper". Confusing press release copy with advertising copy is a pervasive problem with businesspeople. Don’t call yourself the greatest, the hottest, the coolest, the most unique or anything of the sort. If you must make a claim of superiority for your product, service or company, attribute it. Acme President Joe Blow said the X100 "has the opportunity to revolutionize the industry" is much better than The revolutionary Acme X100 is the greatest industrial advance since the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk.

=> Trademark Symbols. Including TM or copyright symbols that scream, "hey, check me out! I’m a press release! I come from a business! The legal department made me include this stuff!"

The bottom line: write like a journalist, avoid the stoppers and answer the Five W’s and you’ll succeed!

About The Author
Bill Stoller, the "Publicity Insider", has spent two decades as one of America’s top publicists. Now, through his website, eZine and subscription newsletter, Free Publicity: The Newsletter for PR-Hungry Businesses he’s sharing — for the very first time — his secrets of scoring big publicity. For free articles, including our no-cost report, "Press Release Secrets", go to: PublicityInsider.com.

Did you know that publicity is supposedly seven times more effective than advertising? And it is free – that is if you do it yourself. If you know the elements of writing a good media release to capture the attention of journalists, you can benefit from free editorial coverage. Here’s a few tips to help you write a media release.

The Beginning

The first and most important thing is to have something interesting to say. Consider your USP – just like in sales. It’s your unique selling proposition. After all publicity is "selling". You are selling a story idea to the media. I like to call it the unique shining point. It really needs to stand out, shine, be compelling – not an advertisement, not a boring product plug.

Another element that will really hook the journalist in is to consider the ESP the emotional selling point. Often it is the human element in the story that will capture the reader’s attention therefore the attention of the media. Think about what your story is. What is your background? Have you overcome any obstacles to get where you are today? Any achievements or milestones? Where is the human interest?

What’s more compelling? An announcement about a wedding limousine service, or the 30th anniversary both in marriage and business of the couple who run the service? This is a story I helped someone uncover in a seminar I conducted. The couple later went on to get a full page colour photo and editorial story in a wedding supplement in their local paper – for free, just by working out the human element of interest to readers.

WIFM

What’s in it for me? Or what is in it for them. How does your product or service help others? Your media release needs to state that key element. How will the reader benefit?

It’s uninteresting to just say, "Jones & Smith Accountants today announced the launch of their revolutionary new accountancy software package… Better to state – small businesses now have a better way to measure, monitor and manage the costs involved in running their business, thanks to Jones & Smith’s new online measurement & analysis accounting system.

The Heading

Write a catchy headline with a short, punchy phrase. Observe how headings are written in newspapers and magazines. You need to grab the reader’s attention. Of course that is if you are planning to post your media release snail mail with your product sample or full media kit. But most releases these days are emailed. However, the same principles apply. Use a compelling subject heading or the journalist will simply hit delete. Make it provocative.

The Content

Have a bright opening; start with your strongest point first. Instead of the conventional "today announced that" lead, you should make your release stand out from the crowd with a strong, compelling lead paragraph. Since editors and journalists get so many releases every day, you only have seconds to grab their attention. The first paragraph is where your important information goes, but it needs to be written in an exciting, creative, interesting way.

Consider the 5 W’s – Who, What, When, Where, Why; This is an easy formula to remember when writing your release but it is still not enough without some "zing" or compelling elements to "hook" the reader in.
Again – how does it help? Remember the benefit to the reader and perhaps include some "how to" tips on whatever your product or service is.

Use memorable quotes; either of you or someone well-known who can endorse your product. Quotes are often used by the media as they make the story more "real" or personal. A good quote can include why you’ve started this business or developed your product or how it helps your target audience.

The Format

Title it "Media Release" and always include the date. Include your contact details of telephone, mobile, email and website address. Use letterhead and keep the content to one page – any more and you will löse the journalists’ attention. When using email, cut and paste into the body of the email – don’t send an attachment.

The Contact

Send your release to the appropriate person – be sure to do your research. Chëck that the "food editor" is still just that and not now the "finance editor". Find out the name of the person and their direct email.
Always follow up with a telephone call or email and keep your media liaison consistent. If you provide good information you are not a nuisance, you are providing a service. Journalists and editors need our information to fill their newspapers, magazines and radio shows.

Supply a creative photo or suggest a photo opportuníty that will add to the impact of having your information publicised.

Gaining publicity in the media will help you become known as an expert in your business field; it will enhance your image and reputation and help you to grow your business.

About The Author

Sue Currie, the director of Shine Communications Consultancy and author of Apprentice to Business Ace – your inside-out guide to personal branding, is a business educator and speaker on personal branding through image and media. Sign up for free monthly tips on personal and professional PR at ShineComms.com.au and learn more about how you can achieve recognition, enhance your image and shine.