Top 10 ActiveEdge Blog Posts of 2010

ActiveEdge wrote about a lot of interesting topics this year, but we wanted to find out exactly which stories most caught the attention of our blog readers in 2010?

To do that, we reviewed our handy dandy analytic software to determine the most popular blog articles of 2010.  Here’s what we found.

Overall, readers were most drawn to our digital and social media related topics. In fact 9 of the top 10 articles focused on digital marketing and social media themes with only two articles being traditional marketing subject matters.

Following is a list the top 10 stories that ActiveEdge blog readers agreed were the most noteworthy.

1. Organic Search vs. Paid Search
2. Social Media Breakfast New Hampshire Revisits Nashua
3. 3 Ways to Increase Your Company’s Presence without Starting a Blog
4. Build a Business Brand with Brand Standards
5. 140 Conference Comes to Boston
6. 3 Good Reasons to Update Your Logo and One Good Reason Not To
7. Managing Social Media’s Information Overload
8. PodCamp Boston – Preparing for the Future
9. ActiveEdge Helps Nashua Businesses Become Social Media Savvy
10. 3 Things You Can Do Now to Boost Your 2011 Social Media Strategy

Which are your favorites? What else would you like to see us write about?

How SEO Is Like An Old Phone Book

Search engine optimization is much like an old phone book

Ahhh, phone books. You do remember phone books, don’t you? You know, those big fat books with super thin pages bound in torn and tattered yellow covers.

They got used for pretty much everything including booster seats, door stops, and as proof by body builders that they were strong. I still don’t know how they tore them up into pieces. Oh yeah, and people used them (regularly) to look up phone numbers to contact you or your business. Inside those well worn yellow covers you could find anything or anyone.

Phone books were pretty useful. It was how people and business got found. Everyone used them and even if you didn’t want to advertise, you still had to be listed. It was the price of doing business.

Well, today’s Search Engine Optimization is kind of like an old phone book. You may not like the idea of having to go through the trouble of optimizing your website, but it is today’s cost of doing business, and it’s what you have to do to ‘get listed’ on search engines.

Just like the yellow pages though, you have to optimize your site, and then keep doing it again at regular intervals to stay current. You couldn’t just pay for a yellow pages advertisement once and then get it listed forever, right?

If you’re just starting out with search engine optimization, think of it like the yellow pages in those old phone books. You weren’t listed under every category out there, just the ones that best described your company in general. For instance Al’s Masonry would be listed under Masonry. That same approach works for search engine optimization.

General phrases can work best for the home page. For the interior pages, use product lines or service categories to help people find the things you carry, or what you do. That’s the equivalent of paying for extra listings to be printed under multiple categories.

Although it sounds a bit more complicated than the old phone books, it’s worth it. Find and work with an SEO consultant that you know and trust. They’ll use the right SEO tools and offer a number of different SEO packages to suit your needs.

After all, if you’re not listed, you can’t be found.

What’s New in Marketing? Just About Everything.

Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz – the impact of Google Instant on Search Engines

On October 6 – 7^th, ActiveEdge was fortunate enough to attend the Inbound Marketing Summit 2010 held at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA. It was two full days of jam-packed sessions featuring every notable marketer imaginable. Nationally and Internationally recognized thought leaders, published authors, researchers, statisticians, and online marketing practitioners drew huge crowds to their presentations.

Hundreds of attendees learned about the newest marketing best practices and soaked up insight on the most current trends from experts in content management, search engine optimization, video, email and other niche topics.

The video clip above captures well-known search engine optimization expert, Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz.org sharing his thoughts on how the new Google Instant search tool impacts search engine marketing. According to Rand, who backed up his thoughts with hard data, Google Instant has had a significantly less dramatic impact on search engines than most people predicted. Good news for small businesses who were worried about how their modest SEO efforts may be adversely affected.

This is the 4^th time the event has come to Boston, which is considered a hub many world class inbound marketing leaders.  It is also home to Inbound Marketing Summit founder, Chris Brogan.

If you attended the Summit, follow us on Twitter or Facebook to connect after the event. If you didn’t have an opportunity to be part of it all, follow us anyway or subscribe to our blog, where we’ll be adding new content from the event as well as other great sources of marketing genius.