Nine By Blue

What Can Google+ Do for Your Business?

Blair Brown — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:24:39 +0000

In 2011, Google launched Google+, its long-awaited answer to Facebook. Several months later, in November 2011, Google+ opened up brand pages for businesses to get on board too.

Read Vanessa’s article to find out how your business can use Google+ here at businessonmain.msn.com

Do As I Say, Not As I Do: A Look At Search Engines & SEO Best Practices

Todd Nemet — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:48:53 +0000

Nine By Blue’s Todd Nemet examines SEO best practices and how our favorite search engine sites are utilizing them in his latest article on Search Engine Land.

Check out the article here.

Ask Business On Main

Blair Brown — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 02:32:36 +0000

Vanessa answers the question: What are the most important things to have on a website to help attract more customers?

Read her response here: businessonmain.msn.com

Taking a Closer Look at the Google’s Panda 2.5 “Flux”

Vanessa Fox — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:35:43 +0000

On around September 27th, Google launched what’s being called 2.5 of its Panda algorithm. On October 5th, Google’s Matt Cutts tweeted:

“Weather report: expect some Panda-related flux in the next few weeks, but will have less impact than previous updates (~2%).”

Panda-related flux? Indeed, this seems to be the case, with site owners reporting Panda-related changes on at least October 3rd and October 13th. In several cases, I saw sites with Google organic traffic declines on 9/27, recovery on 10/3, and decline again on 10/13.

Read the entire article at Search Engine Land

October 19, 2011 Office Hours

Blair Brown — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 19:49:11 +0000

Today on Office Hours Vanessa discusses how people are both happy and unhappy with Google at the moment.

She offers a recap of Google Panda developments saying that they are using different algorithms to evaluate different websites. She describes this update as different from those of the past because instead of occurring once every 6 weeks there are 3 or 4 changes within a couple of weeks. Vanessa describes the bottom line of Panda as being focused on quality, content, usability of the site, and engagement.

Vanessa then goes on to describe the qualities of a good navigational path structure.

Articles and links mentioned during the show:

Google To Begin Encrypting Searches & Outbound Clicks By Default With SSL Search

Google Analytics Gains “Napoleon March” Flow Visualization Charts

Recording of this episode coming soon!

Measuring Your Business’ Success on the Web

Vanessa Fox — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:28:22 +0000

It’s not enough to just have a website for your business — you need to measure how well you’re reaching your customers or audience.

Once you invest in a website, you want to make sure it’s creating real business value. You don’t need expensive software or a degree in statistics to measure your site’s success, but with all the data available, it’s hard to know what to keep track of and what it all means.

Fortunately, all you need are simple (and free) tools that’ll help you focus on a few key data points.

The Clickthrough Rate Equation In Organic Search

Todd Nemet — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:59:29 +0000

When I was in middle school, my favorite book and my favorite TV show were both Cosmos by Carl Sagan. I must have read the book at least 10 times, and I watched the series every time it was on the local PBS station.

One of the most interesting parts of Cosmos that has stuck with me is the Drake equation:

The Drake equation is an attempt to estimate the current number of intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way by breaking it down into component parts (such as “f(p), the fraction of stars that have planets” and “f(l), the fraction of planets capable of sustaining life”) and then multiplying them all together.

Read the entire article at Search Engine Land.

September 28, 2011 Office Hours

Blair Brown — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:59:52 +0000

On this episode of Office Hours Vanessa opens the chat room to answer the question about important books on advertising in the age of Google then continues by talking about interesting integrations between journalism, search and social media.

Vanessa continues with discussion around the new updates with Google News. She sites the interesting fact that searchers click on news stories 4 billion times a month and from that 1 billion clicks come from Google News and 3 billion are from web search. How does this effect Facebook, WordPress and other content output?

Vanessa wraps up the conversation with talk of Google Plus which is currently at 43 million users while Facebook has 800 million the trend seems to be to add Google Plus in addition to Facebook rather than cancelling your Facebook account. What is the future of Google Plus? How will the launch of its business friendly adaptation effect its numbers.

Books Mentioned:
ZMOT by Jim Lacinski
Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer By Bryan Eisenberg
Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity
Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition

Articles Mentioned:
Google News Launches ‘Standout’ Tag for Feature Content
Amazon ‘Fire’ Android Tablet Undermines Google

Look for Vanessa’s second book due out April of 2012 with all new updated statistics, additional information on social media and a deeper dive into searcher personas and workflows.

Hear the podcast of this episode here.

Go Local on the Web

Vanessa Fox — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 01:18:42 +0000

More than 80 percent of us have searched online for businesses in our area and researched product information on the Web before buying locally. Twice as many of us use search engines as printed yellow pages when looking for local business information — and yet only 44 percent of local businesses have a website, according to a 2009 research brief from the Center for Media Research.

If you’re a locally driven business of any kind, creating a Web presence can help you connect with more of your customers and get a leg up on the competition. And it’s easier than you think.

Pew Internet: Diving Into How We Access Local News

Vanessa Fox — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:37:49 +0000

In studies of the evolution in how Americans seek out news, the trends tend to be that we use search and other online methods for staying informed. The consistent exception is how we access local news. Despite the proliferation of hyperlocal blogging (my own neighborhood’s West Seattle Blog being an excellent example of how hyperlocal blogs can provide both high-quality journalism and to-the-minute breaking news about every local happening), we turn to TV and print far more often than online news sources and search for local news.