Charlie Cook's MArketing for Success Insider's Club

Search Engines

Is Your Website Past Due For This Fix?

By Tanya Beaudoin   |   August 1, 2012

On the web you have a few seconds at best to impress your prospects when they visit your website. If it’s boring, out of date and doesn’t work to generate a lead, you’re past due.

Let’s be honest with each other… Read More »


What Google Wants From Your Web Marketing…

By Charlie Cook   |   July 31, 2012

Type your business name on Google search. Are you listed on the first page of those results?

If not, the very people who want to hire you, buy your great products, the ones who have money to spend… Read More »


The Biggest Lie You Were Told About SEO

By Charlie Cook   |   May 8, 2012

The truth is we’re all lazy! Me too!

If I could take a pill and instantly be as strong as superman, and avoid having to spend hours working out at the gym each week and could avoid curtailing my urges to eat cookies all day long and still stay svelte and healthy, hey I’d go for it… Read More »


4 Ways To Get Traffic-Boosting Reciprocal Links

By Charlie Cook   |   January 3, 2011

Reciprocal linking is exactly what it sounds like – linking to someone’s website and having them link back to yours in return. Although reciprocal links don’t rank as high on search engines as one-way links, you’ll still notice an increase of traffic from having your link in various places.

Read More »


8 Local Search Links That Will Get You Traffic

By Charlie Cook   |   December 27, 2010

Here’s the good news about local search: If someone is new to your town (i.e. recently relocated or visiting, for example) they have no idea who your competitors are. The yellow pages are a thing of the past – consumers now go to the internet to find new resources in a city.  Read More »


The Key To Becoming An SEO Matchmaker

By Susan Rice Lincoln   |   December 17, 2010

Keywords– The Ultimate Matchmaker
When all is said and done, online marketing is really about matchmaking.
On the one side of the relationship is YOU.  Very simply, you run a small business and you are trying to find qualified prospects who are interested in your services.  On the other side of the matchmaking equation are your potential clients.  And, while most small business owners don’t think about this, it is important to emphasize that there are hundreds—if not thousands of people—looking RIGHT NOW for you to help them solve their problems!
So how to connect?  Who does the matchmaking?
A large part of the ‘connection’ happens through the humble keyword.  An optimal keyword is a word or phrase which describes precisely the service or benefit you provide.
So, if you are a graphic designer in Toronto, your prospect will be typing in something like ‘graphic designer Toronto’ or ‘graphic designers in Toronto’.  And you want to be absolutely sure that when they type in that term that YOUR name pops us first (and not the name of your biggest competitor!)
Keywords matter.  Big time. They are paramount to online gold.
But not all keywords are created equally.  Your goal is to find keywords that have the following qualities:
the maximum possible searches
the lowest possible competition
high commercial viability (in other words, when people type that term in they are ready to buy rather than just ‘seeking information’
So how do you figure out which keywords you need to grow your business?
One of the best tools out there to find keywords is a piece of software called Market Samurai.
Market Samurai will not just help you find the right keywords, it will show you how competitive they are, how often they are being searched, their commercial viability as well as which sites currently rank for them.  It is a comprehensive and easy-to-use tool.
Focusing on keywords is an absolute essential first step in successful online marketing.  Go to http://www.marketsamurai.com/ (this is NOT an affiliate link) and grab a free trial of Market Samurai today and get going!
Here’s to your blogging success,

When all is said and done, online marketing is really about matchmaking.

On the one side of the relationship is YOU.  Very simply, you run a small business and you are trying to find qualified prospects who are interested in your services.  On the other side of the matchmaking equation are Read More »


How Google Local Marketing Helped Me…

By Charlie Cook   |   December 16, 2010

It’s 1:30 in the morning and I can’t sleep. There’s this loud chewing noise coming from over my head and it’s keeping me awake.

What is it? Watch the video below. Read More »


14 SEO Tools That Will Get You Better Rankings

By Charlie Cook   |   December 13, 2010

Keyword Optimization
What do marketing and advertising have in common? In the land of keyword optimization, absolutely nothing! If you don’t know what words your potential clients are using to search for your service, they can’t reach you. And if they can’t reach you…well you know what happens then. Absolutely nothing! Save yourself time and money by getting keyword optimization down and prevent your other initiatives from falling flat.
The Free Dictionary
www.thefreedictionary.com
I consider this to be one of the most valuable resources out there for keyword optimization. In addition to just showing you the meaning of a word, the dictionary also shows words of the same root and thesaurus entries. Use it to approach your keywords from more than one angle.
Google Trends
www.trends.google.com
Google tends to make software that is easy to use, extremely helpful and best of all, completely free! Their Google Trends service is no exception. It analyzes Google search data and shows you how popular that search is over a period of time. and while they don’t claim to be 100% accurate, having a general idea of the popularity of your search terms will help you whittle down your SEO terms.
Google Blog
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
Add this blog to your regular blog roll now and thank me later!. These masters of SEO clearly know a thing or two about search. Learn tips, tricks and go behind the scenes with the geniuses behind the service that has taken the world by storm.
Keyword Discovery
www.keyworddiscovery.com
This service is on the expensive side, but has some decently priced plans. If you need help with optimizing meta tags, beating out the competition or maximizing your PPC campaigns, Keyword Discovery can help.
Keyword Mutation Detector
http://adlab.msn.com/Keyword-Mutation-Detection/Default.aspx
Did you know people often misspell San Francisco as San Fransisco, San Franscisco, and even San Francsico. Don’t miss out on results because of searchers’ spelling errors. Microsoft’s Ad Lab is a helpful tool that shows you the most common misspellings for search phrases by mining actual searches so you can boost your SEO practices even further.
Keyword Research FlowChart
http://www.seobook.com/keyword-research-strategy-flowchart
Ever wonder how to determine if your SEO efforts will pay off. Use this flow chart to help navigate the SEO waters with easy to follow instructions each step of the way. Larger version and downloadable PDF available on the site.
Keyword Typo Generator
http://www.selfseo.com/keyword_typo_generator.php
Enter your keyword of choice and then enter the type of error you want to search. Wrong key? Missed Characters? Double Characters? This keyword Typo Generator has them all covered.
Meta Glossary
www.metaglossary.com/
Stop searching for your dusty physical copy of the Dictionary and start using MetaGlossary. They scour the internet to provide you with current definitions for any word you can imagine.
Ranks
www.ranks.nl
From a company with 10 years of solid SEO experience, comes a great keyword density tool. Check to see what keywords your competitors are using and use the results to boost your business. This is a great resource!
SEO Workers Analysis Tool
www.seoworkers.com/tools/analyzer.html
Don’t know the ranking potential of your web page? This tool is a great one because it provides you with keywords, all urls located in the page, keywords found in anchor tags and more! And it analyzes not only meta tags but the same places internet spiders check as well to ensure all bases are covered.
SEO Tool Set
http://www.seotoolset.com/tools/free_tools.html
Multiple useful tools in one place make this site a go-to for anything SEM. From a SEM tool bar, a server checker (that lets you know if something in your server is erroneous) and competition research, you’ll find yourself using the resources on this site regularly.
Similpedia
http://similpedia.org/
As its name suggests, this site helps you find similar content on…you guessed it – Wikpedia. Just enter a URL or paragraph of 100 words and you’re given all of the wikipedia articles that are related to that content.
Tip of My Tongue
http://chir.ag/projects/tip-of-my-tongue/
What was that word? It starts with Q and has an I in it…and an R, I think… No more guessing! Tip of My Tongue  Enter partial words, letters or meanings to get that word off the tip of your tongue and into your keyword cache.
Traffic Travis
www.traffictravis.com
Besides the fact that Traffic Travis was highly rated by CNET (4.5 stars), this program combines a bunch of useful tools: keyword and competition searches, your site’s ranking amongst the top four search engines, and a point-and-click advertisement tracker. Add all this to the fact that the layout is simple and the program is easy to use and Traffic Travis is an online marketer’s dream come true.
WordTracker
www.wordtracker.com
Has a free keyword suggestion tool. Known as the Grandfather of SEO sites, but they also have linkbuilder and strategizer tools. Perfect if you need continuous (versus sporadic) access, high level details about a niche, and a few projects at a time.

What do marketing and advertising have in common? In the land of keyword optimization, absolutely nothing! If you don’t know what words your potential clients are using to search for your service, they can’t find you. And if they can’t find you… Read More »


The Key To Making Money Off Of Google Maps

By Charlie Cook   |   December 8, 2010

If your business is a local brick & mortar shop, you should pay attention to this.

There’s a finite window of opportunity right now for getting free organic listings – absolutely premium real estate on Google Maps.?? This listing is actually superior to a regular #1 organic listing. Or an AdWords ad, for that matter.

At this point in time, these are fairly straightforward to get if you follow… Read More »


7 Real-Time SEO Links That Will Boost Your Web Traffic

By Charlie Cook   |   December 6, 2010

Real time searches are becoming increasingly popular – you’ve got Twitter feeds showing up in Google searches seconds after they’re posted.

With real-time feeds from Twitter and Facebook and other social media platforms showing up in search results, every link and mention of your website or blog is directing people to your site so utilize these to the fullest!

Read More »