A lot of excitement these last 2 days as Google Webmaster Tools got supercharged with the long wished-for Organic Search impression numbers.

Google Webmaster Tools - Organic Search Impressions/volume and CTR

What it means is that you can gain insights on:

• The clickthrough rate difference for different organic search rankings on the keyword you are targeting. This may be very different for each keyword types: brand, generic, product-specific as well as different product types.
  

  CTR distribution by organic search rankings

• Analyse why your #1 ranked listing does not get the CTR that you are hoping for (i.e., unattractive Meta description and Title?)
• Search volume spikes around certain events and/or marketing (TV ads, print ads, campaigns, etc)
• Confidently analyse the real search volume for different keywords (if you are ranked within the top 10) and concentrate your SEO on the best-searched keywords.

However, further use of the tools revealed the following weaknesses (but since the tool is provided for free, I could not complain):

• Data only available back to 15 March (a month ago). Further backdating could not be done. Is it because the data recording on Google only started on that date, or is it because GWT only retains data for the last 30 days?
• No CTR graph available.
• No data-by-day export is available. I was hoping that I could export the search volume and clicks on a by-day basis and plot my CTR graph manually, but unfortunately this could not be done.
• Data is aggregated across any Google search. It does not separate searches on Google.com, local Google (e.g., Google.co.nz) and local search (e.g., Google.co.nz NZ-sites-only). As a result, you would most-likely get a variety of rankings for each keyword. However, the CTR is marked independently for each rankings as well as an average value provided. But it would be nice if you are able to just focus your investigation on certain Google domain.

OK, it’s not a cheat. But for now, it feels almost like it :)

Long Tail Keywords

Long tail is a term first coined by Chris Anderson (Wired Magazine, 2004). Typically long tail keywords may account for a large portion of the organic search visits, and can exhibit higher conversion rate by up to 200%. But how large is this ‘portion‘?

Interestingly, it has been proven a number of times that search does not exactly follow the Pareto principle 80:20 distribution (i.e., “80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers) – (Chris Anderson, Erik Brynjolfsson, Yu (Jeffrey) Hu, and Duncan Simester).

Instead, in a long tail distribution, typically the most frequently-occurring 20% of items represent only less than 50% of occurrences. In other words, the least-frequently-occurring 80% of items are more important as a proportion of the total population. In the graph below, the tail becomes bigger and longer in new markets (depicted in red) such as Internet retail. In other words, whereas traditional retailers have focused on the area to the left of the chart, online bookstores derive more sales from the area to the right.

Traditional vs. Long Tail

An interesting insight by Alan Mitchell on PPC long tail:

The Performance of Search Phrase by Number of Word

Due to the volume of keywords, targeting long tail keywords require a hollistic sitewide approach. Rather than manually targeting different search phrases on different pages, an example of smarter and cost-effective long tail keyword SEO on a template level is shown by WordPress by serving server-generated virtual pages via permalinks for every important phrase (e.g., tags, article titles, etc). Recording the performed site searches by your users also provide you with intelligence on what content/phrases are deemed important without you having to perform a manual keyword research.

There are other variations of targeting the long tail keywords. But the principles are the same:

1. knowing what your users want.
2. actively generating content on that topic/phrase using the easiest way possible, be it automated and/or manual.
3. ensuring such contents get indexed.
4. SEO on the content template.

As the search technology evolves, I personally expect targeting long tail keywords will get even easier. In fact, long tail keywords are probably the real future of search.

Further to my post before:News Ltd John Hartigan lashes out at bloggers

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt has told a group of editors that he is confident that newspapers will find new ways to make money online by harnessing the vast reach of the internet.

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Recently I noticed that my last 3 post was suddenly attributed to an unknown user (El****less77). I know this was abnormal since I am the only one currently posting on this blog.

I checked my user list and Administrator list, and could not find anything relating to that user ID.

After a long search in the Internet, I found a crude way to solve it thanks to http://www.journeyetc.com/uncategorized/wordpress-permalink-rss-problems/

(continue reading…)

Telling it like it is. How hard is it?
I wish our newspapers are this transparent – Not Safe for Work. Open it at home!

Looking for example of good cv/resume?

I think this guy knows how to write a good cv!

Example of good cv/resume

If you happen to know the original website for this, please let me know so I can credit it on here.

Inserting Google AdSense into the Wordpress post content area, as opposed to the sidebar, gives it a more contextual appearance.

This is good because it allows the readers to see any relevant offers that may benefit them.

This website has the instruction needed to insert the Google AdSense ad unit into the Wordpress Post Content page.

Tripartite Skills

The success of a consultancy depends on three skills:

1. Smart = identify opportunity, recommendations; The dream
2. Passion/Aggression = push through, suggest, seek approval; The Drive
3. Discipline = action; The Reality

(continue reading…)

First Rate announces exclusive New Zealand and Australian partnership with SearchIgnite.

New Zealand Online Marketing scene just about to get a bit busier.

How do we apply ethics to business, especially in making sure the staff can function as best as they can?

Let’s start with three different outlooks:

• Consequentialism: derives the rightness or wrongness of an act from the consequences. “The ends justify the means”. How you do things is not as important as why you do it.
• Deontology: derives the rightness or wrongness of an act from the character of the act itself rather than the outcomes of the action. You are right or wrong based on how you do things.
• Virtue Ethics: focuses on the character of the agent/person rather than on the nature or consequences of the individual actions themselves.

What do these all mean? Consider the act of telling a lie. Each of the concepts above would have a different interpretation on the rightness or wrongness of telling a lie:

• Consequentialism: telling a lie is wrong, but sometimes it is required for a greater good. For example, to protect a person from torture by saying “No, I have not seen him”.
• Deontology: telling a lie is wrong and is a sin from a religious point of view, regardless of the reason.
• Virtue Ethics: emphasises less on the rightness or wrongness of the lie, but looks more into the character of the person. The outcome may be different between a priest and a murderer.

How would these affect your business leadership?

Take for example your staff selection. Different types of people may suit different staff position. Let’s imagine a decision maker (CEO; or judge, marketing strategists, etc):

• Consequentialist: Would emphasis on results. A frivolous person may simply set long term goals and hope they are achieved. A wise person may break the goals down to milestones and monitor the milestones. Staff will most likely be relatively free to do their jobs. If there are no parametric rules (e.g., boundaries), system abuses may happen. Staff of creative/strong-leadership/effective-slacker background may highlight themselves with achievements. Industrious/highly-technical/heads-down type of staff may be slightly lost in directions at times due to the relaxed control. Key to success: milestones and periodic evaluations.
   
• Deontologist: Would emphasis on how things are done based on his value of right/wrong. The person may choose to closely monitor activity progress, and insist on things done in his/her way. At times, focusing too much on how things are supposed to be done may result in forgeting why things are done. Also, rigid framework may limit creativity and becomes a barrier to business evolution/growth. Staff of creative/strong-leadership/effective-slacker background may struggle with this type of leadership and relationship may be marred with conflicts. Industrious/highly-technical/heads-down type of staff will be very productive according to the leader’s master plan. Key to success: never forget the purpose of every action, have an external team to recommend creativity and evolution, careful staff selection.
   
• Virtue Ethicist: Would emphasis on staff characters. The person would spend a large effort in making sure the staff are as trustworthy as possible. Usually very trusting nature to the staff, and some which may become an ‘inner-circle’. In the extremes, a “my guy can’t be wrong” view may develop and become a fertile breeding ground for cliques and favouritisms, something that is very counterproductive to teamwork. Key to success: advisory roles filled with honest/trustworthy and impartial people to balance the very-subjective nature of virtue ethicist, continuous introspection to ensure the virtues are upheld uncorrupted.