ElementsDaily

Ok, so I’m not actually a mad scientist bent on ruling the world, but the title of the article intrigued you enough to read this far, right? Well, that was the whole point of the title. If you follow the cool kids in the SEO game then you already know that one of the best ways to increase your rank in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) is by getting as many offsite links pointing to your website as possible. That increases your perceived popularity which is a major determining factor in your rankings. Those SEO cool kids use linkbait to draw in as many inbound links as possible, but very few of them will tell you exactly what linkbait is and why it is so important to their website’s success.  Most likely they don’t want anymore competition than they already have.

Quite simply, linkbait is content placed on a website that will offers something worth linking to. A few excellent examples of linkbaits are super-nifty flash games like Radioactive Teddy Bear Zombies, something controversial like KFC Sells “Cancer-Linked Food” to Fight Breast Cancer or something inane and humorous like Britney Spears’ Father Mandates Bra on Public Outings…and you thought my title was a bit overboard?  Ok, but each example linkbait web page was built to draw in those precious links, and look at that it worked because I linked to them in this article just now.

But how many of you actually read the full article or played the flash game on the websites in question?  Here’s the thing, it doesn’t really matter.  Those websites could get linked to by their titles alone.  Content may be king, but titles draw links, which lead to more traffic pointing to that indexed content; and as I pointed out, they don’t have to be great titles at all just titillating.

What I’m trying to get at here is that titles are an important form of linkbait because they can bring in links and thereby increase your website’s search engine rankings.  For more information on title creation check out Jeremy LaDuque’s 5 Tips for Effective Titles.

That space underneath your name in LinkIn is your “Professional Headline”. If you’re like most people who simply put their job title and company in that space, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to pitch yourself and the company you represent. Your “Professional Headline” is one of the most important pieces of information on your profile because it shows up whenever people search for you and after any discussion you participate in. Use this space to include a much abbreviated version of your elevator speech or to include your company’s tagline .

When it comes purchasing domain names, I’ve seen a lot of my colleagues purchase hyphenated domains because the non-hyphenated versions were already taken by someone else. I don’t really think that’s a wise practice because most type-ins (surfers who type in a domain name rather than landing on a website via a search engine) will type in the name without the hyphens. In that case I just recommend spending a little bit of time and getting a bit creative to come up with a unique domain name.

But if you dismiss the type-in traffic, can a hyphenated name really hurt you? Not so according to Bing’s program manager, Brett Yount and Google software engineer Matt Cutts whose blog has become the voice of Google’s best practices for SEO. Both have publicly stated that hyphens in a URL act as keyword separators.

Retailers who are actively involved in marketing their products and/or services using Facebook may have a distinct advantage over their competitors, according to the latest Morpace Omnibus study.

Businesses are using Facebook as a means to offer and receive product recommendations. The study concentrates on three key areas: which consumer segments are most likely to use Facebook and how frequently; how often consumers search for or share product/company opinions or information, and which demographics are most likely to use the social media website.

“The results show us that Facebook is a tool for retailers to directly communicate with their target market,” said Morpace Retail Vice President Kirsten Denyes. “Retailers can offer consumers product information and exclusive coupons and discounts to create viral product buzz among Facebook consumers”, Denyes added.

Among the primary reasons consumers join a Facebook fan page are: “To let my friends know what products I support,” (41 percent) and “To receive

We are pleased to introduce Internet Marketing Specialist, Russ Lubin, who recently joined our team. Russ’ role at Elements will be helping our clients with Traffic procurement, SEO strategies and Social Media Marketing. After receiving a Bachelors degree from UC Santa Cruz, Russ started a web-design and hosting reselling business in 1997. Over the years, his focus gradually evolved into performing online affiliate marketing strategies for a variety of industries.

Russ started his new role at Elements last Monday. “My plan is to take my years of online marketing experience to help create successful traffic procurement strategies that