One of my biggest pet peeves as an SEO provider is being kept in the dark by a client. I’m not sure if they think I’ll be mad at them because they are redesigning their site or what (for the record, I think most sites could stand a redesign every few years) but on more than one occasion in my 12+ year career in the world of SEO and online marketing, I’ve had a client launch a new site without telling me about it. Why does that bother me? Because more often than not they forget to redirect all their old inbound links to the new site! Years of link building and site trust go down the drain in an instant. There is no way to get it back except with time.

What is a 301 redirect?
Sites need to use a 301 redirect when they remove a page from their website. You don’t want to send the search engines or your visitors to a dead page, nor do you want inbound links pointing to that page to go to waste. A 301 redirect will reroute any links (and subsequent link juice) pointing to the dead page to a new page or existing page on your site.

If you are launching a brand new site with a new URL, it is crucial that you redirect all of the old pages and links to the new site! A huge ranking factor in SEO is the amount of trust the search engines have in your site and this trust is earned with age. A brand new site has ZERO trust with the search engines, meaning you’ll lose all of your online brand recognition, rankings and traffic if you don’t use a 301 redirect to pass the old site’s trust factor over to the new site.

I had a client once that launched a new site (without telling me first) and their traffic dropped from 15,000 unique visitors a month to barely 2,000! We are starting to see substantial visitor growth, but it isn’t anywhere near what the old site was getting.

What is a 302 redirect?
A 302 redirect is more of a temporary solution. Think of them like a “We’ll be back in 5 minutes” sign you might see in the window of a local convenience store. You would want to use a 302 redirect for a page that is temporarily unavailable, like if an e-commerce website ran out of stock for one product. You don’t want visitors trying to purchase a product that is unavailable, so you would use a 302 redirect to lead them somewhere else.

A 302 redirect is not as “SEO friendly” as a 301 redirect because it does not pass the link juice from one URL to another. This means the new page destination won’t benefit from the other page’s links. The search engines will also not remove any URL that has been 302 redirected from their index, meaning they will keep trying to crawl it.

Image courtesy of Elliance

I’ve spoken with more than a few e-commerce site owners who freely admit that more than half of their annual PPC budget is going to be spent in the next few weeks, as sites prepare for the onslaught of shoppers that begin with Cyber Monday and carry through to just before Christmas. Just like Black Friday is supposed to put brick and mortar retailers “back in the black” for their year, the Monday after Thanksgiving has become the same source of revenue for etailers. The profits that stand to be gained on Cyber Monday are astronomical, is your site’s SEO prepared to earn your piece of the pie?

Here are 3 quick things you can do to get your site ready for Cyber Monday:

1. Schedule out your social media messages.
Using the social media management tool of your choice, now is the time to schedule out your social media messages for the next month. What deals/specials/incentives do you want to make your social network aware of? One lone tweet isn’t going to make much of an impact. Schedule slight variations of your messages at different times each day to make sure they have a better chance of being seen by your target audience. The more times your message is seen by your target audience the better; it will help stick your brand in their minds when the time comes to do their online shopping. Just don’t forget to include links back to your site and specific product pages!

2. Target long-tail keywords.
Most shoppers aren’t going to find your e-commerce site by broad keywords like “shoes” or “blouse” or “suitcase.” If you want to effectively compete with the hundreds of other e-commerce sites this Cyber Monday, focus on the long-tail keywords your site can really own. People are looking to buy and they are looking to buy now, meaning they are done with the research phase of their buying cycle. You may not get as many visitors with the long-tail keywords but they are the ones ready to spend immediately. You should also incorporate model and product numbers into your pages so people looking for those specific items will land on your site.

3. Add call-to-actions to your site.
Once a visitor is on your site, you don’t want them leaving it and venturing over to a competitor’s! Get their attention and convince them to buy with your call-to-actions. Try incorporating different call-to-actions at different points on your website and through the checkout process. Are there any shipping incentives you can offer like “Buy today and get guaranteed delivery by December 23rd!” or “Spend $50 or more today and receive free shipping!” What call-to-actions can you use to up-sell your products? Are there any last minute ideas you can recommend to shoppers to make their carts just a little bit fuller?

Keep in mind that the older and more trusted your site is the more likely small changes are going to make an impact. If you only recently launched your e-commerce site you might not be able to make as big a splash this Cyber Monday as you will next year, when your site has had time to age and develop a strong link portfolio.

We have compiled the latest news and updates from the big three, Google, Bing and Yahoo as it relates to SEO and the search engines overall.

WHAT’S NEW THIS WEEK WITH GOOGLE:
Google+ Pages: connect with all the things you care about
Google+ has rolled out Pages worldwide so that users can build relationships with all of the things that they care about, including local businesses and global brands.

WHAT’S NEW THIS WEEK WITH YAHOO:
Yahoo! Search Trends: Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week
November 13 is the beginning of Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week and people are going online to learn about challenges Americans are facing in a post-recession economy and to get information on assistance programs.

WHAT’S NEW THIS WEEK WITH BING:
Bing Webmaster Tools Fall Updates
Bing has announced updates to Webmaster Tools that focus on three areas: To share more data, to increase transparency and to bring you more useful tools.

So there you have it, the latest news in search from Google, Bing and Yahoo. We will be bringing you more exciting updates and news related to SEO and the world of search engine optimization each week, so check back often!

You know what they say when you assume something? It makes a [expletive] of U and ME. The old saying holds true in a lot of situations, including B2B SEO. As marketing professionals, it’s never a good idea to assume you understand your target audience perfectly, assume you know everything your competition is doing or assume you aren’t missing the mark in some way.

Here are 3 B2B SEO assumptions that could potentially ruin you SEO campaign:

Last click = conversion source
A huge part of any B2B SEO campaign is proving ROI; determining what tactics worked well and which ones didn’t. Obviously tactics that seemingly lead to more conversions can be considered more valuable, and therefore deserve more time/budget/attention and so forth. But here is where it gets tricky—the B2B sales cycle is so long term that you can’t just assume that that new customer’s last action/click was the thing that drove them to convert.

For instance, let’s say someone clicked through to your site via a PPC ad. How did they come across that ad? Maybe they did a branded search in Google, specifically looking for your company. But how did they find out about your company? Maybe the read an article you published on an industry blog. Or maybe they came across your booth at an industry tradeshow and signed up for the company newsletter. Any one of those touch points could be credited with being the conversion source. Don’t just assume their last click was the driving force behind their conversion.

Analytics holds all the answers
Ok, so maybe analytics DOES hold all the answers, but only if you interpret the raw data the right way. Analytics are really just numbers and we as B2B marketers interpret them as best as we can. That’s our job; to take numbers and assign some sort of value to them. Sometimes we make the data fit a preconceived notion because that’s what we are expecting to see. Other times we miss valuable insights because we get so far bogged down in the data that we forget to apply it to the business environment our company is operating in. It’s very easy to misread your analytics if you don’t know how to properly interpret it.

B2B content marketing is boring
First off, if you think your industry is boring I have one question for you, why are you in that industry?! Secondly, B2B content is only as boring as B2B content writers make it. Oftentimes we get so comfortable to the ins and out of our given industry, as well as our company, that we forget our customers aren’t privy to the same insider knowledge. Just because it’s old hat for you that doesn’t mean your target audience won’t find it interesting!

Don’t be afraid to interject some humor and personality into your B2B content marketing. You don’t have to stick with static blocks of text either. Branch out into videos, podcasts, infographics, webinars and more! Never settle for boring, no matter how you feel about your industry.

While links are arguably one of the most important ranking factors around, not all links are created equal. There are millions of sites you could potentially get an inbound link from, but should you? Not every website is going to give you a link that provides real SEO value for your site.

Here are three questions you should ask yourself when trying to understand the potential SEO value of a link:

1. Is this a site where my target audience hangs out?
Links are valuable for two main reasons. First off, the more quality links a site has pointing towards it the more valuable it becomes in the eyes of the search engines. Secondly, every inbound links serves as a potential doorway to your site. You want to get links on sites that your target audience routinely visits because you are more likely to drive a targeted visitor through to your site. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many links your site has if all your traffic bounces out (meaning they aren’t your target market) as soon as they land.

2. Is this a trusted/respected site?
While having a large link portfolio is important, real link value relates to the site you are getting that link from. Each site has a certain amount of trust with the search engines. They pass a tiny piece of that trust (aka link juice) along to each site they link to via the link. It’s is much more valuable in the long run to accrue fewer links from large, well-respected and trusted sites than it is to get hundreds of links for spam blogs or link farms. You also want to stick to US based sites as much as possible.

The search engines are smart and they know that spammers and black hat SEO practitioners are trying to game the algorithms. Sites that rely too heavily on low quality, spammy links could find themselves penalized and removed from the search engines entirely!

3. Can I build a relationship with this site that goes beyond the link?
If you play your cards right, there is much more long term value to be had than just getting one more inbound link. Let’s say you are leaving a comment on an industry blog. Can you become a regular commenter so the blog owner starts to remember your name? Can you have conversations with them in the comment field? Can you approach them to write a guest blog post or ask them to review your latest whitepaper? Think big with your link building!

Attention all Boston-area B2B marketers! There is still time to register for the 2011 Boston B2B Summit. The event will be hosted at The Westin Waltham Boston Hotel from September 26th-28th. The program will feature 4 tactical training sessions, 5 attendee activities and expert panels

The revamped B2B Summit is taking a more hands-on approach to B2B marketing than ever before. Go beyond just hearing about great B2B marketing ideas and learn how implement proven strategies for your own business immediately! You’ll expand your own B2B knowledge and expertise with hands-on-training, panel discussions and workshops from Dr. Flint McGlaughlin, Brian Carroll, Jeffrey Rice and Jen Doyle from the MECLABS team, as well as more than 20 other B2B marketing experts.

Whether you’re looking for intense how-to training, interactive panel discussions or real-life case studies, B2B Marketing Summit 2011 has it all.

Attendees will receive benchmarks and analysis from MarketingSherpa’s B2B Marketing Benchmark Report and B2B Marketing Advanced Practices Handbook, as well as 10 how-to case studies and 6 moderated case studies.

This year’s Boston B2B Summit is designed to equip attendees with proven tools, tips and strategies to conquer the 7 most common B2B marketing challenges including:
• Generating high quality leads
• Marketing to a lengthening sales cycle
• Competing in lead generation across multiple media
• Marketing to a growing number of people involved in the buying process

Learn how to engage your ideal customer with relevant content, generate high-quality leads, successfully integrate social media in your leads program and much more!

Scheduled workshops and seminars include:
• How to Improve B2B Email Performance by Increasing Relevance
• Quick Hit Tactics to Boost Your Lead Gen
• Using Data to Boost B2B Marketing Results
• Destroying the 7 Myths of B2B Social Media
• and much more!

Check out this video invitation from keynote speaker Dr. Flint McGlaughlin!

Other speakers at this year’s Boston B2B marketing summit include:
• Dr. Cheemin Bo-Linn, Chief Marketing Officer at Netline
• Marjorie Madfis, Digital Marketing Manager at IBM
• Bryan Brown, Director of Product Strategy at Silverpop

One of the most valuable features of this year’s 2011 Boston B2B Summit. is our one-to-one coaching clinics. This is your chance to get one-to-one advice about your marketing automation program, your lead generation efforts, your content production plan, and more. These clinics are designed to address your challenges and leave you with actionable ways to improve your marketing efforts. You won’t hear any sales pitches about companies or the services they provide – just the information you need to succeed.

One-to-one coaching clinics are conducted in half-hour sessions on a first-come, first- served basis. Consultation clinics include: marketing automation, content creation, social marketing, conversion optimization and more!

Stay connected with all the other attendees via Twitter with #B2BSummit!

On Wednesday, September 28th, the Boston B2B Summit 2011 will feature a post-summit B2B certification workshop, which will teach you how to overcome the top challenges facing B2B marketers, implement B2B best tactics in content development, create and use buyer personas to target your ideal customers and take steps to create an effective webinar strategy . Once you have taken and passed the final exam, you will be designated as a Certified Professional in B2B Marketing!

There is still time to register for this year’s MarketingSherpa Boston B2B Summit 2011. Act now!

When most SEO companies/experts/guides talk about link building, they are referring to the ongoing practice of developing links on 3rd party sites that point back towards your site. The goal is to create as many quality, diverse inbound links as possible to boost your trust factor in the eyes of the search engines. But off-site link building isn’t the only thing a site owner should be thinking about when they start their SEO campaign. You also have to decide on what kind of outbound links you want to create. Some SEO professionals recommend keeping outbound links to a minimum to maintain site integrity; others say it’s a great way to build relationships with other sites.

Here are a few of the pros and cons of outbound link building:

Pro: Gets your site connected
It’s called the “Web” for a reason. By linking to other sites, especially if you site is brand new, you are helping solidify your position in that web. No site can survive on its own. The entire structure of the Internet is based on interconnectivity. Having a few outbound links to reputable, related sites helps tie you in.

Con: You can’t control other sites
When you link to another site, you are passing some of your site’s trust factor along to them via link juice. Essentially, you are putting your stamp of approval on that site. The problem is that you have zero control over what that site does with its own Internet marketing. If that site owner decides to engage in black hat SEO, you can’t stop them. All you can do is to delete your outbound link before any penalties that other site may incur ripple back and affect you.

Pro: Builds relationships
Everyone is looking for a great link opportunity. By creating outbound links from your sites to other related, reputable sites, you taking the first step in building a rapport with that site owner. While link exchanges (I give you a link and you give me one) between two unrelated sites is black hat in the eyes of the search engines, linking between two similar sites is expected and acceptable.

Con: Might lose traffic
Every outbound link on your site should be treated like a giant Exit sign. Any visitor to your site could potentially leave your site through one of those links and not come back. Even if you are linking to other sites that your traffic might find useful, you don’t want to encourage them to leave. Chances are your site lives and dies by how well it converts traffic. It’s pretty hard to convert someone after they leave.

Have you done any outbound link building on your site? What results have you seen by doing so?

We have compiled the latest news and updates from the big three, Google, Bing and Yahoo as it relates to SEO and the search engines overall.

WHAT’S NEW THIS WEEK WITH GOOGLE:
A fall spring-clean
Google will be shutting down a number of products and merging others into existing products as features in the next few months in order to make things much simpler for its users.

WHAT’S NEW THIS WEEK WITH YAHOO:
Yahoo! Search Trends: Top Online Political Searches
Yahoo shares information on searches related to political material that has been popular lately.

WHAT’S NEW THIS WEEK WITH BING:
Affordable Fall Weekend Getaways
Since the months between summer and the holiday season are less popular with travelers, some cheap deals can be found and Bing provides information on five affordable fall weekend getaways.

So there you have it, the latest news in search from Google, Bing and Yahoo. We will be bringing you more exciting updates and news related to SEO and the world of search engine optimization each week, so check back often!