Orange County SEO™ Blog

Semantic Searches Take on New Dimension

A “semantic search” is a term that has been in use for some time, but today’s semantic searches have different implications for SEO managers and webmasters.  This developing technology has a definite impact on targeted advertising, so it pays to brush up on your knowledge about the history and development of semantic technology as a part of your advertising strategy.

If you are interested in using semantic searches and other search engine optimization techniques, Orange County SEO can help with your goal.  We can help you utilize the very latest in strategies to make your web pages more marketable. Read More »

Second Tier Link Building

If you think that linking to pages that link to you is purely a spam concept, think again.  Second tier link building is a valid and useful concept if it is used correctly and you avoid the pitfalls that led so many websites to be punished for their “link wheel” approach when Google finally caught on to their tricks and decided to do something about link valuation.

In your Google Analytics, you should have a list of referrers that point back to your site.  Some are more valuable than others.  In fact, you could probably name a few that drive a great deal of business to your site.  We can call them “contributors” to distinguish them from websites that refer business to you only occasionally.

Your contributors have every right to send you business, and you have every right to capitalize on it.  How can you do this so that you do not trip alarms with the search engines that you are engaging in spam behavior? Read More »

Email Drives Sales, Not Social Media

With all the emphasis on social media marketing (SMM) and its place in the marketing world, there are those who will probably clutch their heads and howl if they are told that social media is not the driving force behind sales.  However, a new study from Forrester called “The Purchase Path of Online Buyers in 2012” says just that.  Instead of social media, the report found that the most effective tools driving sales are email marketing and search marketing.  Imagine the chaos that will ensue when this news hits the social media gurus!

This Can’t Be True, Can It?

There has been so much hype about social media that many people just will not believe this statement without hard numbers.  Forrester has thoughtfully put those together.

For repeat customers who bought with one touchpoint event, 13 percent were brought in by email marketing.  Another 20 percent were lured by direct website visits.  Even for two or more touchpoint visitors, 17 percent cited email as the originating factor of their visit.  For new customers, paid search mattered most in terms of initial draw.

You will notice that social media did not rank in the top of these numbers.  In fact, social media are not meaningful sales drivers according to the Forrester study. Read More »