Radium

A new year is upon us. Hopefully your internet marketing strategy for 2011 is already in place and that the new year brings you incredible returns.

If you’re still looking for ideas and recommendations it’s not too late. Here are 25 resolutions worth pursuing.

25 internet marketing resolutions for 2011

It still surprises me when I see bad web design being sold to clients. It’s almost 2011, there is no reason to put up with bad creative. To prove that, let’s debunk the most common excuses for poor website design.

Cost – “We don’t have money for a quality design.”
Sorry this isn’t a valid excuse. It’s true, some websites can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars…but most don’t. Most small and medium sized websites can be had for $5,000 – $15,000. Some cost much less but I think the majority would probably fall within that range.

If a few thousand is too much to spend there are thousands of website templates that can be bought and customized for less than a hundred dollars. Sure a template isn’t as good as an original design, but when budgets are extremely tight (or nonexistent) a little bit of customization can go along way.

Nature of the business – “We are in a boring industry, people expect our site to look like this.”
This is easily the most ridiculous excuse. If all of your competitors have crappy websites wouldn’t you want to stand out from them with a great site?

In cases like this the bar is so incredibly low, all you have to do is not suck. Craft a user experience and design that customers don’t expect. Make it easy for them to navigate your site and find what they need. Give them an experience they will remember.

CMS limitations – “Our system can’t do that.”
There is absolutely no reason to be stuck with a content management system that doesn’t deliver what you need. The options are almost endless and prices start at absolutely free. Technology should not be a limitation to good website design.

Are you the cause of bad web design?
Maybe you haven’t been tripped up by the excuses above but somehow you still ended up with a poorly designed website. Could over involvement be the cause?

Having finally gotten around to taking the new AdWords certification exams, I’ve been thinking a lot about the basics of paid search. The two required qualified partner exams, “Google Advertising Fundamentals Exam” and “Search Advertising Advanced Exam” should both be considered basic knowledge to anyone actively practicing AdWords paid search management (I hope).

To test this theory and have a little Halloween fun, I decided to see how many advertisers were practicing what I consider to be the 3 basic principles of paid search.

Basic principles of Google AdWords (paid search):

1. Targeted (related) thematic keyword groupings
2. Compelling ad text with relevant keyword inclusion
3. Relevant landing page content

I’m sure we could expand the list to include other basic elements like ad delivery, budgets, conversion tracking, etc. but I feel these 3 items are the basic core to a solid paid search strategy because they drive relevance.

My testing methodology is quite simple; enter in a search phrase and review the first page ads to determine if the advertiser is using relevant ad copy and directing the searcher to the most appropriate page on the site. Keyword groupings are difficult to assume with only a few tests, and, are therefore excluded from this analysis.

Since Halloween is right around the corner I used variations of Halloween costume related search phrases for the analysis.

Today it’s easier than ever to launch a blog. With so many free and easy to use blogging platforms available you can have a new site up and running in no time at all. Best of all, most of the functionality comes right out of the box. But with that standard functionality comes standard settings. And if you want your blog to stand out in a crowded space, you may want to rethink those defaults.

Here are 5 default blog settings worth changing.

1. Remove extraneous links
By default most blogs automatically link to categories, tags, comments, post dates and authors. Sometimes these links can be helpful to readers but many times they’re unnecessary and can create duplicate content issues for search engines. Every link on your website should add value for the reader. If you have links that don’t add value, remove them. Your readers will appreciate it and search engines will reward you.

Social media makes it possible for small businesses to compete with Fortune 500 companies. In the same way that David took on Goliath, you can compete with your largest competitor…and win. Social media has been hailed as the great leveler, but is it really that simple?

Before social media came along, advertising budgets often limited small business growth. Now, companies can reach thousands of potential customers for a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising. With social media costing nothing to use, the best offerings would rise to the top and easily be found by consumers.

So has social media leveled the field?
The assumption behind the argument is that social media removes media spend from the equation. And without media spend, the field is leveled.