The tragedy that has hit Haiti brought a number of marketing initiatives to the forefront that would otherwise remain in obscurity. For example, not everyone uses or even knows about the micro-blogging platform 'Twitter'. To those who are early adopters of technology, and even the early majority, it's seems silly to even talk about Twitter as if it didn't exist. Same could be said about text messaging. More people have cell phones, the vast majority are aware of txt msging, and slightly less participate in the activity.

But how are these tools being used to mobilize networks into action?

To those who have not participated in social media and new media technologies, Haiti has revealed a whole new world. Read the rest of this entry »

Did you know you can work 1 on 1 with a representative from Distinct SEO Inc? If you're in the Calgary area you chances of sitting down with our experts is even higher!

Distinct SEO has long offered an introductory SEO Training program that is conducted primarily over the phone in a two hour session. We can teach you the foundational elements on how to build a successful web site according to the latest SEO standards.

If you live in the Calgary area then you have the opportunity to enroll in our training program and at no extra cost we can connect at your place of business, a coffee shop near you, or in a space provided by Distinct SEO.

Take advantage of our training program and learn the foundational elements of SEO and how you can propel your business to the next level of sales and exposure.

Corporate clients are not left out of the dark either, Distinct SEO is capable of training a your IT and/or marketing department with the necessary tools to propel your brand and web site to prominence in your target market. Get in touch for details on our program and topics covered. Read the rest of this entry »

We're happy to say we've finally created a Distinct SEO Twitter account. I've personally used it for a while and enjoy its functions, but we've never created an account specifically for Distinct SEO Inc. That's changed now, you can find us @distinctseo where you'll get the latest information on our blog posts, some interesting SEO tweets, and RT on the marketing industry as a whole. Look forward to meeting you on Twitter!

-B

Since about January 2009 we've offered a faith-based organization some consulting time on ranking their web site for some basic local terms. The organization itself is quite small, the web site has a presence far beyond their stature. What I means is the reach for the org is far greater online than it is currently within their city (which will hopefully switch around in the future). What we've discovered through our limited help is the relative ease to outrank, in this case, churches that have been in the 'market' online for years upon years.

This tiny faith based organization called calgarychurch.ca wanted to rank for some basic terms like 'calgary church'. Makes sense. We did a few things and they did their part to write frequently. What we've seen in results is pretty encouraging. Without any web marketing budget, just through writing and some local links, the site is now 2nd (as of Dec 18th, 2009) behind the city web site on local churches.

Not bad. What does this highlight about faith based markets? Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to on-page SEO - tweaking your web site for BOTH users and search engines - what is the single most important contributing factor to your ranking success? I believe it has to do with titles.

The Title Element (<title></title>) should be unique, concise, and include keyword data about the ensuing page for users and search engines alike. That is the single most important factor that you can do to your web site to help it rank higher in the search engines.

It also helps users comprehend what the content is on your web site quickly. But that's not all, if you have quality titles, you should also have quality header/titles WITHIN the web site as well. That means insert headers that are clear, concise, and enticing for users in the actual content of the page as well. Read the rest of this entry »

Seth Godin has spearheaded another free offering of ideas with a conglomeration of thoughts and tidbits from a variety of voices all compiled into one free ebook called, "What Matters Now". Download it to muse about what [might] matters now.

There is an emerging trend, (perhaps not so emerging and more intertwined), in our markets today. People would much rather be courted rather than sold to. Entice someone through story or movements and you have a lifelong customer. Try to manipulate and sell through shows and events and you have a one time fling.

Take, for example, conventional churches. Most are in the business of purveying spiritual goods. They try to entice new entrants by putting on the best 'show' every Sunday and having the best events throughout the week. Generally churches grow by stealing existing 'customers' from other church products that don't measure up to consumerist standards. What you typically don't experience are the grassroots movements that are drawing in people who've never been to church before.

Marketing is similar. We can put on the best 'show' or event, but in reality the widely successful, and sometimes cheapest, marketing campaigns involve creating movements that take time to convert people into participants rather than consumers. Read the rest of this entry »

I was checking out a client web site and noticed that one of the main keywords for the index page was misspelled. I noticed the error after a Yahoo ranking dropped when I ran a ranking report. However, the Google rank for the exact same keyword increased all the way to the top page. What does this lead me to believe? Well it suggests in this example that Yahoo considers/processes the title element faster than Google, or puts more weight for the title element in their ranking score than Google.

Google on the other hand appears to value the anchor text of internal links more than the title element. Or, they are slow in considering errors in the title element. There is a third scenario for Google, and that's they're smart enough to figure out spelling errors and will rank close equivalents. That would make sense if they're looking for the 'best' web sites to show in the index and your market is particularly scarce on good resources (low competition). Read the rest of this entry »