TwentySix2 Marketing Blog

Forums are these wonderful little creations that open up all sorts of topics to anyone with a question or just gathering information. They are usually niche-oriented because a forum that catered to all the questions anyone needed answered would be called the “Chaos forum.”

SEO is one of those industries that you can’t really learn everything about because it is constantly changing. I began my job a while ago and I still struggle to keep up with all the new lingo, tips and tactics that SEOers come up with daily. So, I go to a forum to check out latest news and happenings.

Do not be afraid of them! Forums are a way for everyone to advance their knowledge of a subject. If you ask a question and let current users know you are new, they will most always be kind to you and offer some REALLY great advice (just make sure your post is original. Sometimes they get a little miffed at repeated questions, which is understandable).

So without further ado, here are my top picks for SEO forums to get started in:

Guaranteed, any question you have has already been asked in one of these places, so do a little digging, read the posts and comments and you’ll probably come out of the forum way more educated than you were going in and good luck! –>

A new Google Apps tool has been released that is designed for small- to medium-sized businesses, and now you can have a Google search box on your website that allows visitors to access search results from the website, or websites, that you choose. It is called Google Custom Search Business Edition, and it provides an alternative between the “already existing Custom Search Engine, a free, ad-supported service, and Google Appliance, a hardware device selling for prices starting around $2,000 which customers manages on themselves”. Since your website does NOT have to be running Google ads to use the Business Edition application, you have the ability to turn off the ads produced by the Custom Search Engine service, and you can also customize what your visitors are looking at, similar to Google Appliance.
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Having a website entitles you to no privacy, leaving every company on the Internet equally vulnerable to their enemies. Now, this sounds like a bad thing, but there is an advantage to this openness and I have already said it. EVERY company is equally open to scrutiny, meaning you have the same chance as everyone else to spy on the competition.
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“Try a little tenderness”

These words from the great voice of Otis Redding describe perfectly what a relationship should be between a website and its owner. Websites should be coddled, loved and spoiled. Remember that websites work for you 24/7, they represent you and everything your company stands for 100% of the time, so they need to be maintained.

But without any site traffic, the love you give your site won’t be apparent to anyone but yourself. Maybe you get some traffic on occasion, but it trickles off. So what can you do to your site to keep visitors interested and give others a reason to view it as well?

Get out the fly paper because we’re going to make your site sticky.
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Abraham Lincoln once said “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” In the business of online marketing, the best way to sharpen the tool is to find a better tool. As online marketers, we are always on the lookout for better tools for our clients.

Here is a list of 100 Web Applications for Small Business.

Some of our favorite tools are:

• Omniture
• Keyword Discovery
• Quickbase
• KeywordSpy

Keyword spy was brought to our attention by Rob a 262 blog reader. Thanks for the addition Rob!

There have been several things lately on the Internet that have just exploded with popularity like blogs, MySpace, YouTube and even email. Mention one of the aforementioned items to most people today, and they could tell you a little bit about each. More than likely they also subscribe to at least one of those services. But there’s a new gadget in town that may be added to the likes of Internet must-haves, the widget.
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There are a couple of great e-commerce tools we recommend to all of our e-commerce website clients. These tools let customers participate in live chat.

Each of these tools is a little different, but they’re all relatively inexpensive. Live chat tools help online visitors send quick instant messages to you so they can find what they need quickly and efficiently. Otherwise, they may get frustrated and leave your site because what they want to find is buried somewhere.

Some of these tools will allow you to track visitor activity on your website in real time, monitor PPC campaigns, view web analytics reports, and get real time page error alerts.

Live Chat Tools

• Live Person
• BoldChat
• Who’s On

Having an avenue to communicate with clients is really important for e-commerce sites. These live chat tools allow you to do that without breaking the bank.