Search Marketing
Lab Report
Issue 34, September 2009

1. Great news: You've Been Upgraded!
2. FEATURE: How to Block Irrelevant Visits from Google Analytics
3. Highlights from the Search Marketing Lab
4. Strategies from a Real-Life Success Story: www.Bills.com
5. Final thoughts

1. Great News -- You've Been Upgraded!

As of October 15 you're going to receive a free upgrade to our exclusive, members-only Internet Entrepreneur Club!

As an IEC member, you'll get access to our entire panel of Internet marketing experts, enabling you to get professional, one-on-one help and support for your entire business (not just your search marketing).

Here's what's happening. We have expanded our Internet Entrepreneur Club to cover search engine marketing in detail, so we will move Search Marketing Lab members over to IEC.

And you don't need to do a thing -- we'll automatically transfer your Search Marketing Lab membership over to the Internet Entrepreneur Club for you, so you won't miss a beat!

Then, as a member of the Internet Entrepreneur Club, not only will you continue to receive the same hands-on support you've come to count on in the Search Marketing Lab, you'll also enjoy:

• The online version of the Internet Profit Report (which will replace this Search Marketing Lab Report), complete with a special Search Engine Marketing section, plus MORE crucial information on upcoming industry changes, trends, and valuable resources that you can use to build, grow, and manage your online business!
  
  (To preview the September issue of the Internet Entrepreneur Club newsletter, click here.)
  
• The monthly Club Call, where we interview a renowned specialist in some aspect of doing business on the Internet.
  
• Access to the IEC Learning Center, where you'll find an archive of valuable newsletter articles and charts, PLUS a collection of in-depth audio interviews with the brightest minds in online marketing.
  
• The invaluable opportunity to network with more of your peers, and get even more help and advice from people who have walked in your shoes.

And the best part? Your monthly subscription fee remains unchanged! This is a special membership category for Search Marketing Lab members ONLY.

You'll continue to enjoy all of the search engine marketing help, plus receive additional benefits in the Internet Entrepreneur Club, all for the same low monthly investment!

We'll be in touch closer to October with specific details about this change in your membership. Meanwhile, if you'd like to read more about the benefits of membership in the Internet Entrepreneur Club, please click here.

But first, we have one last issue full of great SEO tips and the latest news for you. We look forward to delivering you even more essential tips and info each month as part of your membership in the Internet Entrepreneur Club.

Let's start off with a simple tip that shows you how to make sure your traffic stats are giving you the accurate information you need...

2. How to block irrelevant visits from showing up in Google Analytics

If you're like most of us here at the Internet Marketing Center, you check your website obsessively throughout the day.

From your home computer... from your work computer... from your spouse's computer... maybe even your hotel computer when you're on vacation in Mexico for a week.

... But have you ever thought about how your constant visits to your site could be messing with your traffic numbers in Google Analytics?

Not only that... if you have hired any third-party contractors to work on your site -- programmers, designers, SEO specialists -- their visits to your site could be skewing your traffic numbers as well.

Here's a quick one-two strategy you can use to block visits from different websites or computers and make sure the results you get in Google Analytics are always showing you the traffic that really counts: visitors who are coming to your site because they're interested in what you offer -- not because they're working for you (or ARE you):

1. Discover what your IP is

If you want to block your main computer or another one you use regularly, you need to know its IP address. This one's easy -- just go to www.whatsmyip.org and you'll see it right away.

2. Create a filter in Google Analytics

Go to your Google Analytics homepage and click on the "Analytics Settings" button in the upper left-hand corner:

Then click on the "Filter Manager" button in the lower right-hand corner:

At the far right side of the table on the next screen, you'll see the "Add Filter" button:

Next you'll be given a choice to exclude sites based on a domain or an IP address:

If you want to block sites from a specific computer -- say, your work computer -- choose IP and then enter the IP address you found at www.whatismyip.org

If you want to block sites from a specific domain -- say, from your contractor's business -- enter the domain name, e.g., www.contractorssite.com

... And that's it! Google Analytics will no longer count any visits from that computer or domain, ensuring that the stats you get are as "pure" as possible.

3. Highlights from the Search Marketing Lab

New record: More than 100 billion searches in July 2009

Closer Google AdWords placement means 14% more click-throughs?

A recent test by Google suggests that when it comes to AdWords, it's all about location, location, location.

In early August, webmasters started noticing that Google was experimenting with the placement with its AdWords sponsored listings on its search results pages. Basically, they just pushed the sponsored listings column on the right an inch closer to the organic listings. And a lot of SEO experts have reported an increase in click-throughs since the change occurred.

In fact, the folks over at SearchViews claim they saw a 14% increase in clicks!



Do they look closer to you than normal? It just goes to show you -- even a tiny change can yield significant results.

So will the increase in PPC click-throughs result in a decrease in organic listings click-throughs? Our guess is no, not significantly. But with all the testing Google Adwords is conducting these days, it's more important than ever to keep on top of your PPC and SEO campaign results to see which is driving the most converting visitors your way.

Bing's Cashback Program Boosts Visits by 169%

According to the research analysts at Hitwise, Bing Shopping saw a 169% increase in visits from June to August, thanks to the new Cashback Program the Microsoft search engine recently introduced.

The Cashback program gives cash-back rewards to people who buy a product from a sponsored listing on Bing. And from the looks of it, some of the deals you can get are pretty sweet -- for example, 10% off an HP mini laptop computer or 19% off Stride Rite kids' shoes.

(And if you're ranked well with Bing and using adCenter sponsored search then all this extra traffic should mean more visitors for you as well.)

You can sign up for the program here and check out a list of participating online stores here.

So how popular is this program? Well, since June, Bing Shopping has climbed from 8th place to become the 4th most visited shopping comparison tool -- and analysts are pointing to the Cashback program as the main reason. (Thanks to all the commercials Mr. Gates has been running for the program!)

Here's a comparison of the 'Net's most popular shopping comparison tools:

That's a pretty steep climb for Bing Shopping. Should be interesting to see if it continues to grow. Microsoft is shelling out millions in TV advertising to make that happen -- but will Bing develop legs of its own? We'll have to wait and see...

Win $25,000 in TV advertising, courtesy of Google

Bing isn't the only one turning to the power of TV advertising in order to attract users to its media offerings. Google is too... only it's taking more of a "DIY" approach.

The online search giant has just announced its new "TV for All" contest featuring a prize of $25,000 worth of cable television advertising that will go to the lucky winner.

To enter the contest, all you need to do is create a 30- or 60-second television commercial. If you can't get your hands on professional video equipment, no worries; you can use Google partner Spotmixer's ad building software to create your ad for free.

Once you're done, upload your ad to the "TV for All" contest YouTube channel -- and hope that your ad spot gets lots of votes!

(You can tip the scales in your favor by getting everyone you know to vote for your ad.)

The deadline for submissions is October 5th. The contest's three lucky winners will be announced on October 30th.

Here's your chance to become a famous TV personality -- so check out SpotMixer and get creative!

4. Strategies from a Real-Life Success Story:
Bills.com.

Long before the financial crisis was dominating the news, financial pros Brad Stroh and Andrew Housser saw big problems on the horizon. Unpaid consumer debt was growing in leaps and bounds every year, and no one seemed to know how to address the mess.

Consumers were left with little hope and few resources to get their finances on the mend.

That's when Brad and Andrew decided to set their own high-level financial positions aside and get to work producing the kinds of resources that burdened consumers were crying out for -- and seven years later, they're getting more than 3 million visitors to their sites each year. As Brad and Andrew explain:

"Bills.com is a free one-stop portal where consumers can come to get solid information about complex personal finance issues and comparison shop for financial products and services including credit cards, debt relief assistance, insurance, mortgages and other loans.

"Every consumer has the right to become financially aware and empowered. That's why Bills.com is entirely free -- anyone with access to the Internet can gain the information they need to live debt-free. Financial advice is no longer reserved for the kind of private conversations you would have with a financial planner or broker.

"As the online portal to Freedom Financial Network, LLC, the company has served more than 50,000 customers nationwide since 2002, and managed more than $1 billion in consumer debt. We also saw $75 million in revenues last year."

Both partners credit solid search engine optimization strategy as a big part of their online success. Once they had a wealth of great content, their next goal was to ensure that content was easily found by anyone searching for that information. That's why top search engine results were their top goal:

"Search engine placement and optimization is the backbone of all marketing. It has the highest emphasis in everything we do. We implement a wide range of strategies to increase our ranking in the search engines, and direct traffic back to our site.

"Optimizing for the right keywords is our first step -- every single page of the site features our top terms.

"In addition, all our outbound communications (to the news media, to clients, etc.) use those same keywords consistently."

This comprehensive keyword strategy gives them the search engine mojo they need to get top rankings:

"All of our keyword-rich news releases are then posted to a major online news release distribution site as well as distributed individually to targeted media -- which in turn ensures that our ownership of those terms in the search engines is strong. We also those same keywords in all of the free content we provide for our visitors and customers."

And speaking of content, providing a wealth of free information is their next major SEO focus:

"We offer resources that no one else does, from our weekly tips and releases to the advice and answers we provide on a regular basis to people working through their financial issues and concerns. And we update frequently, which is a definite magnet for search engine spiders.

"Through our 'Ask Bill' feature, we have addressed thousands of consumer finance questions for free, posting responses on the site for anyone to see and learn from. This leads to lots of 'How to' or 'How do I...' traffic, which is how people often search for the answers they need online.

"Finally, we offer free personal finance tools (e.g., rate calculators and our unique BillsIQ personal finance IQ finder) on the site.

"These tools help drive more traffic to the site because they are incredibly in demand. Once people arrive, they find everything they need -- and they keep coming back for more."

While most companies would be satisfied to put top-notch keyword and content strategies to work on their site -- and consider the job done! -- Brad and Andrew are using social media too:

"Social networking sites such as MySpace, Wikipedia, Facebook, and YouTube support our Web-focused strategy. We have our own YouTube channel, actually.

"We work with a social media marketing firm to ensure we have continued, updated presence in these and other sites to generate viral buzz and quality inbound links for Bills.com.

"We've also created widgets for users on these sites. A widget is better than a traditional advertisement, because it provides value for the user, instead of just offering them a pitch.

"That's why people pass them around and snag them off their friends' websites and profiles -- which is good news for us!

"Social media SEO strategies are still pretty new, but why not use all the tools at your disposal? You never know what might take you to the next level."

One of the biggest mistakes many online business owners make is putting all their eggs in one basket.

After all, if you find a SEO strategy that works well for you, why waste time and effort (and maybe even cash!) trying out other techniques to promote your website?

Here's why:

1. That "perfect" strategy might not work for you forever. The landscape of Internet marketing changes ALL the time. What brings great traffic today might not bring a single person to your pages in a couple of months, including the keywords you choose to optimize for.

2. Something else might do twice as well:. You never know what might perform unless you give it a chance to bring visitors to your door.

3. A combination of solid strategies ALWAYS works best. This way, you manage the ebb and flow of your strategies' success by always having a backup.

Andrew and Brad have done a great job of using all the fundamental strategies that SEO is built on, including intensive keyword research and frequently updated keyword-rich content. But they've also taken the time to test the waters with newer SEO techniques on social network sites and media-sharing sites -- including cutting-edge options like widgets!

What matters most to them is that they are always on top of the strategies that will perform best -- and that no stone goes unturned when it comes to improving their search engine ranking.

We suggest that you make a habit of trying out a new strategy every couple of months to keep your marketing plan fresh -- and don't forget to regularly revisit your keyword research, too

5. Final thoughts

As always, thanks for reading!

While we are sad to come to the end of our last Search Marketing Lab Report, we are thrilled to welcome you to the Internet Entrepreneur Club and we're confident you will be blown away by all the information and one-on-one advice you'll get as part of your upgraded membership.

If you'd like to get a preview of the wealth of information and resources you'll get as part of your new Internet Entrepreneur Club membership, check out the latest issue of our Internet Profit Report.

... That's just a small sample of the real-world advice you'll be getting in the months to come!

As always, please let us know what you think. You can contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call us at: 1-800-595-9855.

To Your Online Success,
The Internet Marketing Center Team