As one of my many new year’s resolutions I was doing some house cleaning on my sites and stumbled upon this post I wrote back in 2007 about Google’s IP Exclusion tool.

I think it’s a topic that needs to be revisited. I’ve seen consistent increase in competition and CPC’s across my client base for the last several years and in order to be sure costs don’t increase as well, you need to be vigilant in stopping fraudulent clicks and spending on inefficient keywords.

I can’t tell you how to exactly do that because each account is unique but making sure you are on top of your analytics (bounce rate, conversion rate, CPC, cost per conversion, et al) along with proper geo-targetting and IP exclusion will go a long way staying ahead of the game.

check out my thoughts on IP exclusion

The informational website offers party-goers a one-stop shop for checking out all Raleigh has to offer for New Year’s Eve

(Raleigh) – Lisa Jeffries, owner of Raleighwood Media Group + Raleighwood Event Group and Evan Roberts, owner of local search marketing company, Search Sage have announced a joint venture aimed at bringing local party-goers an informational web guide to all that the Capital City and its surrounding areashave to offer this New Year’s Eve.

The site, http://www.RaleighNYE.com, goes above and beyond the traditional online event listing site to offer visitors a chance to narrow down their search by certain preferences like location, cover charge price ranges, dinner offerings, live music performances, and more. For each listing, contact information is provided for the host venue so that those who find their perfect New Year’s Eve fit can also make the next step in establishing contact, and if necessary, reservations or ticket purchases for the evening ahead of time. They can also share their favorites with their own contacts and social networks and check out maps for each destination
“Like a lot of great ideas, this one started during a conversation in a bar”, jokes Jeffries. “I was sitting at the new Isaac Hunter’s Oak City Tavern<
(http://www.HuntersOakCity.comwith one of the owners, Zack, and we were trying to figure out what everyone was doing for New Year’s. We both remembered being invited to parties here and there on facebook, but since that medium is becoming increasingly crowded; we hadn’t paid much attention to the details for each. That’s when I started keeping a list as to who (as in venues) were doing what.”

“It was when I had this conversation two more times – once with Evan (he asked for a recommendation for somewhere nice he could treat his girlfriend to on New Year’s Eve) and once with friends from out of town (who wanted to have a plan made before their arrival in Raleigh on the 31st) – that I knew there was a significant need for something like this. Something individuals and venue-owners alike could add to and benefit from. Before I knew it, Evan and I had this whole project online and we were ready to share it with everyone”, adds Jeffries.

“I’ve been frustrated with other local websites for some time, but trying to find New Year’s Eve information specifically was nearly impossible,” says Roberts. It reinforced the idea for me that Raleigh needed a website that was user-friendly enough to be helpful to people who are aren’t interested in combing twenty different websites to find what they’re looking for. RaleighNYE.com is just the tipping point, so I’m really excited for what we’ll be able to do after this!

In addition to listings for New Year’s Eve events, restaurants, bars, service providers, and the like can also place premium relevant advertisements on the site for as little as $10.00 a day. “We wanted to offer local businesses a really affordable way to add some extra impact to their New Year’s Eve marketing, on top of a basic listing. So many of them are locally-owned and add a lot of the economic prosperity of our area, it’s hard not to want to add a little something extra for them… but at a price that doesn’t require a year’s worth of investment”, notes Jeffries.

For more information, visit http://www.RaleighNYE.comor email Info@RaleighNYE.com

About RaleighNYE.com

RaleighNYE.com started as a joint venture between Lisa Jeffries, owner of Raleighwood Media Group + Raleighwood Event Group, and Evan Roberts, owner of Search Sage. In a casual conversation one day about the vast array of options that Raleigh has to offer for New Year’s Eve, we quickly realized there was not a “one-stop shop” for that information… or at least one where you could pick and choose your destination based on your preferences. So we set out to create RaleighNYE.com – the place for all of your Raleigh New Year’s Eve details! Visit http://www.RaleighNYE.com to check out all that our great area has to offer this December 31^st!

I have 20+ more Google Wave invites to give out. If you’re willing to offer a link you’ll get higher priority just be sure to fill out your email section in the comments and I’ll get in touch.

I’m re-gurga-blogging today and just throwing up some interesting links from around the web via my Google Reader (and some I’ve had open meaning to talk about).

http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/021231.html – WebmasterWorld forum users are trying to put a list together of all 200 Google Ranking factors….GOOD LUCK!

http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/021229.html – Google dropping the ban-hammer on Adwords accounts and not letting up

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/new-search-ad-formats.html – Google blog explains their new ad formats, pretty sweet! One of those is the new Product Ads which Big G explains to us on the Adwords Blog here

http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/021225.html – 85% needed to pass the Google Advertising PE exam, which for $50 is a rip.  Google needs to offer out some more Adwords Exam promo codes!

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Analytics/thread?tid=060bf519a42f367d&hl=en – Ever see an Analytics Keyword report showing 0 visits for a keyword, I have, here is why:

This is likely due to visitors to your site visited your site via two different methods in the same session.  For example if a visitor originally reached your site from “keyword A”, navigated back to the search engine, performed another search and clicked on “keyword B” and came to your site again, you would see one visit for “keyword A” in your report and 0 visits for “keyword B”.

https://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?answer=144317&hl=en_US – -Custom Alerts, you NEED to be using them, here is what they are and how you can set’em up..

http://adwords.blogspot.com/2009/09/announcing-view-through-conversion.html this is an old one but after using it I need to give Google some big props. This can dramatically change the way you value the content network.  If your content ad shows to a user and they eventually convert on your site, you’ll know!  The old marketing adage “a customer must see your ad 12 times before they remember you” now has a way to measure!  I’m excited. More on it here

Google offers a help session via Picturs on Picasa. Here and here

That is all for now, I’ve got to go cook Thanksgiving dinner, happy bidding!

If you’re interested in a Google Wave invite, leave me a message why you think PPC Lab is the bomb and I’ll send one your way. Ok you don’t have to lie, you can just tell me why you deserve a Google Wave invite. I’ve got a “whole mess” of them to give out.

Twitter is blowing up, that’s no secret, but use SEOs are still trying to come up with creative ways to use it to our benefit.  I had an idea while talking to a client over a premium-lager about searching for  people looking for or using a product similar to the one they are trying to push.  By doing this you are able to converse with this people and develop a connection, after all we know (or should know by now) that social media is a conversation.  Don’t try to sell on twitter, just try and connect.  I found this video by Will Reynolds who does a good job explaining a similar concept on how to use twitter for link building.  Check it out

I must be special, at least Twitter says so. I’m part of a new twitter beta that is removing the “RT” in favor of a cute little icon.

I am h0tn3ss. See below.

With the holiday seasons coming up I hope everyone has their campaigns in order but one of the most overlooked portion of a lot of campaigns I see is the landing page.  Tim Ash presented a Google Website Optimizer Webinar (which they’ve now posted on their YouTube Channel here) which talked about the ‘Seven Deadly Sins of Landing Page Design’.  Overall the video was really well done but pretty long, over an hour, so I took out the 7 sins and Tim’s recommended fixes and posted them below.  I also included links to the direct time in the video where he talks about each one. 

Seven Deadly Sins:
-Unclear Call to Actions – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erdEZvOq6wo#7m36s
    -should be clear and draw the eye
    -placement of CTA should be above the fold
    -de-emphasize competing CTAs

-Too Many Choices – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erdEZvOq6wo#14m20s
    -don’t present detail too early in the process
    -group choice into small number of categories
    -visual shortcuts to reduce reading

-Asking for too much Information – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erdEZvOq6wo#17m10s
    -ask only for absolutely-requred information
    -collect the rest at a later date

-Too Much Text – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erdEZvOq6wo#21m28s
    -Use clear headlines and headings
    -put important stuff first – “inverted pyramid” style
    -do not write in complete sentences
    -Edit and shorten text

-Not Keeping Your Promises – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erdEZvOq6wo#25m05s
    - Repeat the ad-test or keywords on your page
    -Provide clear access to information from the ad

-Visual Distractions “Make It More Boring” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erdEZvOq6wo#29m40s
    -Don’t compete with the call-to-action
    -Remove colorful page elements and animation/motion
    -Replace generic photos with specific relevant images

-Lack of Credibility & Trust – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erdEZvOq6wo#34m14s
    -Feature well-known trust symbols prominently
    -Use client logos/brands/media coverages as badges on the site
    -Remove anxiety with generous policies & guarantees

Mistah F.A.B., a rapper from the west coast has went and put out a song specifically about Twitter and it’s actually pretty entertaining.

source Raindrophustla

according to SERoundtable you can view the story here

Thanks Google