Some of you may remember that last year around this time (almost to the day) I published a 10 step guide here on the Klog which highlighted the process for setting up a Yahoo! Site Explorer account - a tool that provides valuable information about your website and shows just how it interacts with the Yahoo! Search crawler - for Yahoo! Store owners. While in a perfect world this guide would continue to help Yahoo! Store merchants for years to come, it appears that in less then a year my original guide has become slightly outdated. Not a problem though... I will address these changes and publish a newly revised version below.

I guess it doesn't surprise me all that much that this has happened. The Yahoo! Store development team has always put forth a huge effort to continually improve their platform, and to make building and marketing a Yahoo! Store headache-free... I mean why else would their team go through the trouble of taking an already simplified 10-step process and reduce it to a 9-step process.

Without further ado, here is my revised guide on how to setup up Yahoo! Site Explorer with a Yahoo! Store:

Step 1
First things first, open up a browser window, login into your Yahoo! Small Business account, and locate the "Store Control Panel" of your Yahoo! Store account. Click on the "Search Engines" text-link under the "Promote" section near the bottom-left-corner of your screen.

Step 2
Now on the "Promote Your Site on Search Engines" page, scroll down the page and find the "Yahoo! Site Explorer - View your Site's Online Presence" section. Click on the "Launch Yahoo! Site Explorer" text-link. This will automatically open the Yahoo! Site Explorer account in a new browser window.

Step 3
Now in the Yahoo! Site Explorer account, add your website. To do so, enter your website's URL in the specified section at the top of the screen, and click "Add My Site".

Step 4
After clicking "Add My Site" in the previous step, you'll find that your website has been added to Yahoo! Site Explorer and that it now appears in a table below. The next and final step in this process is to "Authenticate" your website. Authenticating a website will allow Yahoo! Site Explorer the ability to share additional information about your website that otherwise wouldn't be shared. To begin the authenticate process, click on the "Authenticate" tab under the "Status" column.

Step 5
Now on the "Authentication" page, you'll find that there are 2 different ways one can authenticate a website... via an HTML upload or by adding a special meta-tag to the homepage. In this guide, we'll be using the meta-tag option, as it is very easy for Yahoo! Store owners to do.

Using your mouse, highlight the meta-tag (it should start with "<" and end with ">"), and copy it (to copy hit "CTRL + C" on your keyboard). DO NOT CLICK "Ready to Authenticate". Instead, leave this page exactly as it is.

Step 6
Switch back over to the previous window where you should still be on the "Promote Your Site on Search Engines" page. Click on the "Done" button at the very top of the page to return back to the "Store Control Panel". Click on the "Store Editor" text-link to edit your Yahoo! Store.

Now in the store editor on your home page, click the "edit" button found on the editor's navigation bar.

Step 7
Now inside the edit screen, find the "head-tags" property and paste the meta-tag that you had copied in step 5 (to paste hit "CTRL + V" on your keyboard) inside its respective box. Should your store not already have a "head-tags" section on this page you'll have to overwrite your variables and include it – then again, you could always place this meta-tag in the "head-tags" section of your variables. When finished, click the "update" button at the very top or bottom of the page.

Step 8
Now back on your home page within the store editor, click the "publish" button found on the editor's navigation bar. Doing so will automatically publish your website as well as the newly added meta-tag needed to verify the authentication of your Yahoo! Site Explorer account.

Step 9
Return to your Yahoo! Site Explorer window where you should still be on the "Authentication" page. Click the "Ready to Authenticate" tab to complete the website authentication process. If all was done properly, you should now read "Your site is pending authentication" near the top-left of the page.

Congratulations! Yahoo! Site Explorer is now set-up. Give it a day or so to verify the authentication, and to retrieve data on your website. Soon you'll have all the information you need to understand how the Yahoo! search engine finds, crawls, reads, and indexes the pages on your website.

Labels: guides

While search marketing providers, analysts, and organizations continue to work together in educating the world on search and Internet marketing strategies, such as website optimization, pay per click advertising, and social network leveraging, I think it is fair to say that most businesses now have a somewhat basic understanding of what it takes to be successful online. Granted, there are still a lot of uneducated business owners out there, but I believe a great deal of them, compared to a few years ago, now have an understanding that there is a large amount of time, money, and effort needed in order to attract and convert website traffic. Those early days of being successful online simply because you were one of a few in your niche industry with a website are certainly long gone.

However, one element - arguably the most important one - that I feel isn't being communicated as clear and as often as it certainly should be is the idea of repeat business - the process of marketing to a customer after the initial purchase. While I would agree that it is awfully nice to have a solid PPC campaign in motion - one capable of converting high volumes of traffic with a decent CPA - such a strategy does not even compare to the rewards offered via a repeat business campaign. In most cases, I'd have to say that very little is being done on the part of online business owners to reach out to past customers... resulting in a mass of missed sales and opportunity.

Why is repeat business so beneficial, and why should it be included in your company's overall online marketing efforts? Well, for two major reasons.

First of all, generating repeat business is without question so much easer to attain than that of a new customer. We all know how difficult it is to get a new customer - employing marketing strategies, maintaining a website, addressing customer problems and concerns, and so on. Unlike with generating new customers, repeat business strategies provide business owners with the ability to directly engage a large group of extremely targeted buyers - those who've not only shown an interest in your products and services, but have also opened up their wallets for you once already - without the use of a middle-man, such as a marketing firm, search engine listing, or a newspaper ad. Removing the middle man immediately makes marketing a hell of a lot cheaper... bringing me to my second point.

Second, attaining a repeat sale is not only going to be cheaper then when compared to the cost of generating a new sale, but it is also going to be more profitable because of it. It's not rocket science. Spend $10, $20, $100 to get that customer the first time, and spend close-to-nothing to engage with them forever.

The following are a few "repeat business" strategies that I personally feel are worthy of at least trying. Consider combining a few of these ideas, with a few of your own, to develop a long-term repeat business campaign.

Send a Business Card with Every Order
Let's face it... not every person who places an order with you will remember the name of your company or the URL of your website. While some online shoppers, when satisfied, may add your website to their favorites list, others will simply forget about you 10 minutes after receiving their order. It is for this reason you should consider giving them a little something to remember you by.

Business cards and business magnets are perfect for such an occasion. In addition to being relatively cheap to manufacture, a business card or a magnet will almost always end up on your customer's refrigerator where it will remain for all eternity. However, it will also be there for when your customer needs to remember your website in order to restock or purchase other like products or services. Don't believe me... have a look at your refrigerator and then try and call me a liar.

Send an Occasion Email Offer
Just so we're clear, I'm not talking about flooding the inboxes of unexpected random people. There is certainly a right way and a wrong way to send out promotional emails, and spamming people as such is definitely the wrong way to approach email marketing. Instead, I'm suggesting that you use email as a way to engage your past customers - those who've shared their email addresses with you - with helpful information about the products and services you provide, as well as the occasion promotional offer here and there.

In most cases, you'll be able to collect a new email address with each new order you receive. Simply add that email address to your list, and proceed to email them with monthly specials, promotions, and relevant and educational information. Doing so will not only help remind your past customers that you're still around and willing to help them, but a worthwhile promotion may also persuade them to place additional orders with your company.

Offer Gift Certificates with all Order Discrepancies
A time will inevitably come when you will make a mistake on an order. It's going to happen. The most common errors are shipping the wrong size or color of a product, or the wrong product altogether. How you proceed and correct your error will ultimately determine whether or not the customer will buy from you in the future.

In addition to correcting the problem, say refunding the buyer or shipping out the correct order, include a gift certificate that can be used with the customer's next purchase. This action proves that your company takes order discrepancies very seriously and is committed to ensuring that things are corrected. Also, by providing such an offer, you're giving your customers a reason to purchase again (hence repeat business), and yourself another chance to make a great impression by accurately completing their next order.

Include Free Samples with Every Order
The word "free" is very rarely said or meant in a world where everything now costs a pretty penny, and so offering free samples of your product is a great way to not only get people to buy from you, but to get them to continually come back and purchase again. In my opinion, it does not matter how large or small a sample is, just as long as it is somewhat relevant to the buyer.

In addition, offering a free sample often means introducing the customer to something new. If shoppers tend to only buy one variation of a product, than it is possible that they are unaware that another exists or are wary about trying something different. This is a perfect opportunity for online merchants to reach out to their customers and recommend a product by providing a free sample of it. This kind of customer/merchant interaction will most likely encourage customers to buy again, and should the products compliment each other well enough, it may even lead to the customer purchasing both options upon their next order.

Integrate a Login / Password Shopping Cart
For me personally, I hate online customer accounts simply because I hate having to remember login and password information for every website I order from. However, integrating a shopping cart with login and password functionality can easily increase the amount of repeat business your online store receives. To an online shopper, remembering and entering a login and password results in them not having to enter several lines of billing, shipping, or credit card information with each visit. This convenience ensures customers receive a head-ache free and speedy check-out process upon future visits, resulting in a great reason for any customer to come back.

Integrate an Automatic Re-Order Option
This tip only pertains to those companies that sell consumables, such as health and beauty products, tobacco products, medication-like products, and so forth, but is great for attaining repeat business.

The idea is to set up an "automatic re-order option", either manually or programmed in the back-end, to be included within the check-out process. Customers can then enroll into the program which will be set-up to automatically charge their credit card and resend them their "refill" at the time they've specified. Therefore, if a customer purchases a box of cigars every three months, rather than having to go to the website, locate the product, and place an order each time they want to refill their stock, the customer can simply have a box automatically charged and sent to them every three months.

Under this system, and in addition to bringing convenience to your customers, you are now promised repeat business that you weren't otherwise before. Also, by utilizing an automatic re-order option, you have reduced the chances of losing business on the account that your customer forgot to reorder, misplaced your company's web address, or found an alternative supplier with cheaper prices.

Labels: guides

In the first part of this 2-part post, I alluded to the idea that I wasn't getting as much in return - in terms of quality and relevant industry information - from the large amounts of blog / newsletter reading I do on a weekly basis... at least not to the point that I once was. After spending some time last week analyzing statistics on what I read, how I read, and for how long I read my feeds (courtesy of Google Reader), I decided that the best course of action for solving this problem was to essentially remove those blog / newsletter subscriptions that weren't doing much for me... a pretty simple solution if I do say so myself.

I spent the greater portion of this week "trimming the fat", if you will, from my Google reader account. I started this process off with 104 feeds and eventually ended up with a final count of 58. Now, that's a lot of fat! Anyone that manages feeds like this on a daily basis understands full-well how big of a cut 46 feeds is.

Well, now the question becomes how did I determine which of my 104 feeds to cut? As much as I would like to say that this was an easy step for me, it was actually quite the opposite. I started with removing my dormant feeds - these are the feeds that for whatever reason aren't being updated. Typically these are blogs in which the author has either given up on, or has become so preoccupied with work that he or she no longer has time to update them. Almost instantly, I was able to cut my list from 104 feeds down to 81. While this sizable cut didn't really help to solve my "time / quality" problem any, I felt that it was worth the effort just to "clean house" a little bit.

Next, I spent a little time reviewing over my Del.icio.us account. Why Del.icio.us? Well, in my opinion the two go hand-in-hand. Should I come across something of value in my reading, I immediately bookmark it using Del.icio.us for future use - as explained in a previous post. I found that by analyzing these bookmarks, I was able to better understand which feeds were worth keeping. Moving forward, I was able to cut feeds one-by-one until I was confident that I had a list of quality, relevant industry reading.

Here's a look at my Google Reader account now, 46 feeds skinnier:

The first screen-shot here is a snap-shot of my feed subscriptions. See how nice and organized they are. Previously, I had my search feeds broken up into 3 different folders: "Daily News", "Daily Reads", and "Weekly Reads". I used this system as a way to properly allocate my time when reading feeds, but needless to say it didn't work out. Now, as you can see, I've simplified my feeds and organized them by topics.

The second screen-shot is a snap-shot of my "cigar" feeds. Smoking cigars is a huge hobby of mine, and like all hobbies, I like to educate myself through reading.

The third screen-shot is a snap-shot of my "Yahoo! Store" feeds. Even though I mostly dabble in search marketing, I do try and keep up-to-date on any new Yahoo! Store announcements, advancements, and the like.

The forth screen-shot is a snap-shot of my "Search Marketing" feeds. These feeds are the meat and potatoes of my industry reading and these are the feeds in which I get nearly 100% of my industry information from.

In conclusion, I want to go on record and say that yes I understand that there are several hundred other industry related blogs and newsletters currently in circulation, many of which I'm sure offer a lot of value to their readers, but these are the blogs that I choose to read at this point in my career. Obviously, as my needs change and my thirst for more industry reading spanning different topics grows, I will be adjusting this list again. However, for now, I think I have everything just as I should.

Labels: guides

Every morning when I first enter my office, I sit down at my desk and begin to carry out what seems to be my morning routine. First I'll review over my phone messages, than I'll check and respond to email, and once I am in the clear I'll pop open my Google Reader and begin to digest the mountains upon mountains of blog subscriptions I manage... mainly industry related reading that provides its fair share of news, updates, and happenings.

However, over the past few months now I've noticed that the time I've allowed for such reading has increased, and well, the level of quality reading had decreased. Maybe you've experienced this as well? What does this mean exactly? Well, I think it means that while I am beginning to spend more of my overall valuable time reading blogs and other resources, I don't believe that I'm getting much, in terms of value, in return for that time... or at least to the extent that I once was. This is an obvious problem for me as I am one that values the time I put into my work, as well as my efforts with staying up-to-date in an industry as fast-paced as search marketing is.

Like with any problem, the first step to finding an appropriate solution is to first analyze the situation right down to the very core. Lucky for me, I use Google reader which just so happens to provide a series of statistical trends of the very information that I'll need in order to analyze my problem. Let's have a look, shall we:

The first screen-shot highlights the number of items (blogs and newsletters) read day by day over the past 30 days. According to this graph, of the 104 feeds that I am currently subscribed to, I was able to read just over 5,300 items. Amazing, isn't it! To think that I read through 5,300 different blog posts in 30 days is incredible. However, for the record, I must admit that I didn't completely read each of these 5,300 items as much of this "reading" is in fact title surfing - a process where I'll skim the titles of each item and determine whether or not to read. In any event, 5,300 is still a lot.

The second screen-shot highlights the number of items read by time of day. According to this graph, of the 5,300 items read over the past 30 days, 3,000 of them were read between the hours 8 - 9am... which is to be expected seeing how I purposely try and make reading my feeds apart of my everyday morning routine.

The third screen-shot highlights the number of items read by day of the week. According to this graph, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays are my heavy reading days... which again, is something to be expected. Mondays and Tuesdays are heavy due to the weekend, and Fridays are as well because bloggers tend to publish on Thursdays in order to get their information out before the weekend... much like my thought was with this post. :).

However, what does catch my eye is that this graph shows very little reading having taken place on Saturday and Sunday for the past 30 days. This is a tad misleading as I happen to do quite a bit of my reading on the weekends. Why the discrepancy? Well, it is most likely due to a completely separate web project that I have been spending my weekend hours working on... thus explaining the odd occurrence.

The forth screen-shot highlights the top 20 feeds (of my 104 subscriptions) according to the number of items I've been able to read from each source in the past 30 days. Personally, I find this to be key information which will help me to better understand how effectively my time is being spent. Using this list, as well as my understanding of the quality of information I am getting from my feeds, I will be able to determine how exactly to trim the fat, sort of speak, from my Google reader.

The firth screen-shot highlights the top 20 feeds (of my 104 subscriptions) according to the average number of items each feed produces daily. While this information alone doesn't provide me with much, it, combined with my understanding of the quality of information I am getting from my feeds, will also help to determine which of my subscriptions are a bust.

The last screen-shot highlights the top 20 feeds (of my 104 subscriptions) that have been inactive the longest. If nothing else, this list will serve as a starting point for where I can make my cuts... let's face it, 104 feeds is way too many for me to be managing.

And that's, that. After further analyzing the statistics and trends associated with my Google Reader account, I've concluded that I do have somewhat of a time / quality problem on my hands. It is very clear to me that I am spending too much of my valuable time reading industry stories, and getting very little in return for it - this is of course referring to the quality of new information I'm getting out of what I read - which brings me to my next step.

To solve my time / quality problem, I will spend the next week or so evaluating my subscriptions as well as determining which feeds still provide me with value, and which can be cut. I am hoping that with my next post, I will be able show you exactly how I was able to "trim the fat" from my 104 subscriptions and at the same time provide great value to future industry reading.

Until next time, peace.

Labels: guides

As common as these suggestions will sound, you'd be surprised to know how many PPC advertisers fail to understand even these few simple concepts. These suggestions may not apply well to every company, industry, or campaign, but I'm sure you'll find at least one to be useful in your Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing efforts.

• Don't Spread Your Budget Too Thin: Should your company have a small-to-medium sized PPC budget, it is best that you not divide it into too many parts... say Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Ask. Instead invest most, if not all, of your PPC budget into one search engine. Doing so will allow your company to adequately compete, in terms of getting top PPC positioning, in at least one front, as opposed to having borderline medium-level or poor positioning on all fronts.
  
  
• Advertise Where It Makes Sense: It's quite common to know that advertising specific industries on certain search engines may actually work better than others. Take for instance the finance industry (stocks, taxes, banking, and investing). Because of the sheer nature of the MSN audience, these companies are better suited to advertise on Microsoft's PPC platform as opposed to Yahoo's or Google's platform. And vise versa depending on other industries. I suggest that you review your advertising options thoroughly and determine which PPC providers provide the best return for your specific industry... then simply allocate your budget accordingly.
  
  
• Hit 'em High, and then Hit 'em Low: If your company's products or services happen to revolve around specific seasons or other set time frames, I recommend minimizing your PPC spend during "off-season" months while increasing spend just before and during "in-season" months. Dividing your budget as so for each of your campaigns (across all PPC platforms) will ensure that you have the necessary funding available for when advertising becomes the most profitable.

I open the floor to you readers. If you have an additional tip or suggestion that is easy to integrate and will help others in budgeting for multiple campaigns, I ask that you please share it with us. My "comments" feature is open and very easy to use.

Labels: guides, paid-search

Happy Friday to all of you out there in Klog Land... welcome to another edition of "open letter to the n00bs". In today's post, I will address some of the major concerns surrounding keyword research, as well as highlight methods for selecting the "right keywords" for your search engine optimization campaigns.

Before I begin, I want to take a second to mention that this is in fact the third installment in my "open letter to n00bs" campaign, and that you can view my two previous posts titled "How a Search Engine Works" and "How Search Engine Optimization Works" should you feel the need. And as before, I want to make mention that I use the term "n00bs" with the up-most respect to those of you whom are new or unfamiliar with the search marketing industry... this post is for you.

Choosing the right keywords for your search engine optimization campaign isn't as easy as it sounds. In fact, it's quite the opposite... a very challenging task. There are so many details to consider and making even the slightest mistake could cause some really long-term headaches... not to mention profits. Yep... it's that important!

When deciding on which keywords to choose, you may find yourself asking such questions as these: "do I use the singular form of my keyword, the plural form, or does it even matter?", "do I include common misspellings?", "do I use brand-specific keywords or do I stick with more generalized options?", "how many keywords do I optimize per each page?.

These are all in fact very valid questions. However, like most things in the world of search marketing, there are no really easy answers that I can share. The truth is that answers will vary depending on the industry you're in as well as the type of goals you've set out to achieve with your SEO promotion. With that said, I've put together these few tidbits to help you:

Once you've got a grasp on those ideas, it's time to move on to the actual steps leading to the selecting of keywords. The following are some very simple steps that you can follow to help you in your keyword research efforts:

And that's that... a simple 3-step process for finding quality keywords for your search engine optimization campaigns. Please keep in mind that this is not the end all solution; rather one I believe will prove beneficial to those do-it-yourselfers, n00bs, and anyone else with limited resources.

Labels: guides

This is yet another "open letter" to all you n00bs out there in Klog Land (I published my first open letter a week ago) in which I will define what search engine optimization is as well as the basics for how we marketers get a website to rank. However, before I jump right in, I do want mention once again that I do use the term "n00bs" with the up-most respect to those of you whom are new or unfamiliar with the search marketing industry... this post is for you.

Search Engine Optimization (often abbreviated as SEO) is the process of getting one's website to rank highly among the search engine's free organic listings. To do so, search marketers such as myself, will implement specific elements into a website's code, template structure, and content (in addition to a few off-site techniques and strategies) in hopes of creating a site that is not only "search engine friendly", but also one that appears relevant for the keywords chosen.

The ultimate goal behind search engine optimization is to rank the optimized website highly in the search results so that it may attain traffic from specifically those people interested in learning about or purchasing the products and services the site sells.

Now, without getting too in-depth and discussing the many strategies and techniques we search marketers utilize in our SEO efforts, I'll stick to the basic key ideas. When it comes to basic on-page SEO, there are 2 simplistic goals:

And there you have it... "How Search Engine Optimization Works" in a nutshell. Obviously, I didn't dive as deep into this as I could have, but again, I wanted to keep this as simplistic and easy-to-understand as possible. This is in fact an open letter to the n00bs... not to the advanced.

Labels: guides

This is an open letter to the n00bs (one of many to come)... and for the record; I use the term "n00bs" with the up-most respect to those of you whom are new or unfamiliar with the search marketing industry. This post is for you.

It's quite common for our clients to question how search engines work... and that's completely "ok" with me. This is our industry, not theirs, and they certainly don't have the time to put in the extra hours needed each week to learn a new trade. If they did... they certainly wouldn't need us now would they. Instead... clients call on us for search marketing services and guidance.

Today, I wanted to take a few moments to address the question of "how search engines work". However, instead of diving deep into every segment of the search engine process, I've decided to highlight only the few key areas... doing so will better assist those of you readers whom are in fact clients, potential clients, or the DIY kind of folks.

So how does a search engine work? Well, in the most basic form, there are 3 major parts to a search engine: the crawl, the index, and the serving of content.

The Crawl: Search engines have technology commonly referred to as "spiders". This technology "crawls" the Internet (through the use of links) and searches for new or updated versions of web pages. As apart of the process, "spiders" will record a single copy of each page that it crawls, known as a cache copy, and will store it within the search engine's database... also known as the index.

The Index: Search engines maintain a tremendously large index... billions upon billions of web pages. With the use of filtering and cataloging technology, search engines decipher through their index (rather quickly mind you) and determine what each page is about. Each page is then labeled and cataloged accordingly.

The Serving of Content: Each search engine will employ its very own unique algorithmic formula for when determining which web pages show up in their results. When a user types a keyword or phrase into a search engine's search box, that engine instantly begins reviewing its index for web pages that best represent what the user has searched for and serves up its findings.

And that's that... "how a search engine works" in a nutshell. Again, I didn't dive in to this as deep as I could have; rather I just wanted to provide a short, easy-to-follow explanation to help those of you whom were absolutely clueless to it.

Labels: guides

In my last post, I outlined a 12 step guide to help Yahoo! Store owners with setting up a Google Sitemap for their websites. Today, I would like continue my efforts of assisting fellow Yahoo! Store designers and owners and outline the necessary steps for setting up Yahoo! SiteExplorer, Yahoo's version of a Sitemaps program, with your Yahoo! Store.

Yahoo! Site Explorer is a tool that lets you access the information that Yahoo! has about a site's online presence. You can see which sites and sub-pages are indexed by Yahoo! Search, track sites that link to your pages, and view the most popular pages from any site. As was the case with Google Sitemaps, there is a lot of information to be harvested from setting up Yahoo! SiteExplorer, and it's certainly in the best interest of webmasters and site owners to do so.

Thanks to the Yahoo! Store development team and all their efforts in making their platform easy-to-use and easy-to-integrate with other online platforms, setting up Yahoo! SiteExplorer with a Yahoo! Store is a very easy 2-step process (essentially, there are 10 steps, but only 2 tasks that need to be completed).

Here are those 10 steps for setting up Yahoo! SiteExplorer with a Yahoo! Store:

[ Download / Print PDF Version ]

Step 1
First things first, open up two browser windows. One window should be logged into your Yahoo! SiteExplorer account (if you don't have one, create one), and the other should be logged into the "Store Control Panel" of your Yahoo! Store account. Throughout this process, we'll be switching back and forth from one screen to the other so it's best to keep both readily available.

Step 2
On the Yahoo! SiteExplorer screen, add your website. To do so, enter your website's URL in the specified section at the top of the screen, and click "Add My Site".

Step 3
After clicking "Add My Site" in the previous step, you'll find that your website has been added to Yahoo! SiteExplorer and that it now appears in a table below. The next and final step in this process is to "Authenticate" your website. Authenticating a website will allow Yahoo! SiteExplorer the ability to share additional information about your website that otherwise wouldn't be shared. To begin the authenticate process, click on the "Authenticate" tab under the "Status" column.

Step 4
Now on the "Authentication" page, you'll find that there are 2 different ways one can authenticate a website... via an HTML upload or by adding a special meta-tag to the homepage. In this guide, we'll be using the HTML upload option, as it is very easy for Yahoo! Store owners to do.

You should see 3 steps highlighted on the page. In step 1, ignore downloading the "authentication key" as stated. Instead locate the two bolded file names (just below the "download" tab). Using your mouse, highlight the first file name (it should end in ".html"), and copy it (to copy hit "CTRL + C" on your keyboard). DO NOT CLICK "Ready to Authenticate". Instead, leave this page exactly as it is.

Step 5
Switch over to your Yahoo! Store window. You should already be logged in and within the "Store Control Panel". Click on the "Search Engines" link under the "Promote" section near the bottom-left-corner of your screen.

Step 6
Now on the "Promote your Site on Search Engines" page, scroll down and locate the "Authenticate with Yahoo! Site Explorer" section. Within this section there are two tasks which must be completed. First, click inside the "filename" box and paste the file name that you had copied in step 4 (to paste hit "CTRL + V" on your keyboard). When doing so, make sure there are no extra spaces before or after the file.

Step 7
Leave this page as it is and switch back over to the Yahoo! SiteExplorer page. Copy the second of the two file names. Again, DO NOT CLICK "Ready to Authenticate". Instead, leave this page exactly as it is.

Step 8
Return back to the Yahoo Store window. Click inside the "file contents" box and paste the file that you had just copied in step 7. When doing so, make sure there are no extra spaces before or after the file.

When finished, click "Done".

Step 9
Enter your Yahoo! Store editor and publish / republish your website. Doing so will automatically create and host the authentication file that is needed. (Note: It's very important that you publish your Yahoo! Store now. If your Yahoo! Store states that it is already "published", you'll need to force it to publish by updating something on your website and then clicking the "publish" button.)

Step 10
Return to your Yahoo! SiteExplorer window where you should still be on the "Authentication" page. Click the "Ready to Authenticate" tab to complete the website authentication process. If all was done properly, you should now read "Your site is pending authentication" near the top-left of the page.

Congratulations! Yahoo! SiteExplorer is now set-up. Give it a day or so to verify the authentication, and to retrieve data on your website. Soon you'll have all the information you need to understand how the Yahoo! search engine finds, crawls, reads, and indexes the pages on your website.

Labels: guides, yahoo-store

One of the reasons why I absolutely enjoy working with the Yahoo! Store platform as much as I do is because it seems to play well with others... well for the most part anyway. Today's Yahoo! Store and shopping cart can be integrated with so many different brands, tools, and online platforms to create an easy and seamless user-experience. Some of these include: PayPal, PaymentTech, UPS Online Tools, UPS World Ship, Yahoo! Search Marketing, Yahoo! SiteExplorer, and the basis for today's post Google's Webmaster Tools... aka Google Sitemaps.

Google Sitemaps is a free and easy-to-use tool that provides detailed information on how to make a website more "Google-friendly". Through the use of this tool, one can see first-hand how Google crawls and indexes the pages on a website and learn about specific problems Google is having with the site. One can also learn which queries are driving traffic, and see how search-users are arriving on a website. Point being... there is a lot of information that can be gained from setting up a Google Sitemap, and it's in a webmaster's or site owner's best interest to do so.

Having an understanding of this, the Yahoo! Store development team has done what they always do and made setting up a Google Sitemap with a Yahoo! Store less of a hassle. In what would normally be a multiple-step process of having to understand the Google Sitemap protocol in order to correctly build out an XML file with all of your store's URLs implemented, the Yahoo! Store platform can compliment a Google Sitemap in 3 easy steps (essentially, there are actually 12 steps, but only 3 real tasks that need to be completed).

Here are those 12 steps for setting up a Google Sitemap with a Yahoo! Store:

[ Download / Print PDF Version ]

Step 1
First things first, open up two browser windows. One window should be logged into your Google Sitemaps account (if you don't have one, create one), and the other should be logged into the "Store Control Panel" of your Yahoo! Store account. Throughout this process, we'll be switching back and forth from one screen to the other so it's best to keep both readily available.

Step 2
On the Google Sitemaps screen, add your website. To do so, enter your website's URL in the specified section at the top of the screen, and click "OK".

Step 3
After clicking "OK" in the previous step, you'll be redirected to the "Summary" page. This page highlights some key information, such as the last time Google has crawled your website and a report on what your current index status is. If you're setting up a new website, don't worry about not seeing such information... all this means is that Google has not yet found/crawled your website.

For now, you're going to want to ignore this page and navigate back to the "Dashboard" page (via a breadcrumb link near the top of the page or by clicking on the "Google" logo on the top left of the page).

Step 4
Now on the "Dashboard" page again, you should see that your website has been added. You should also see two other sections titled "Sitemap" and "Site Verified" and underneath them respectively you'll see two links titled "Add a Sitemap" and "Verify". Adding a Sitemap and verifying your website are the last two steps in this process. Let's start with verifying your website (Note: it doesn't matter which is done first, but we eliminate 2 steps by doing the verification first). Click "Verify"

Step 5
Now on the "Verify Site Ownership" page, you'll need to start the verification process (but not finish it). To do so, click on the drop-down menu provided and select "Upload an HTML file". An option does exist to verify your website via a Meta-Tag option (which is what I'd suggest for most websites); however it is much easier for Yahoo! Store owners to do so via an HTML upload. Google will now generate and display a "Google Sitemap Verification File". Using your mouse, highlight the file name, and copy it (to copy hit "CTRL + C" on your keyboard). DO NOT CLICK VERIFY. Instead, leave this page exactly as it is.

Step 6

Switch over to your Yahoo! Store window. You should already be logged in and within the "Store Control Panel". Click on the "Search Engines" link under the "Promote" section near the bottom-left-corner of your screen.

Step 7
Now on the "Promote your Site on Search Engines" page, scroll down and locate the "Create a Sitemap for Your Store" section. Within this section there are two tasks which must be completed. First click on the "enabled" radio-button. This will create and activate an XML Sitemap that is already formatted to work with Google's Sitemap protocol. After you've done that, click inside the designated box and paste the "Google Sitemap Verification File" that you had copied in step 5 (to paste hit "CTRL + V" on your keyboard). When doing so, make sure there are no extra spaces before or after the file.

We're going to go ahead and do some forward planning. While we're in this screen, it is best to copy the URL for your soon to be sitemap. In the same area, you should see something like: "View: http://www.yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml". Highlight this link with your mouse and copy it (to copy hit "CTRL + C" on your keyboard).

When finished, click "Done".

Step 8
Enter your Yahoo! Store editor and publish / republish your website. Doing so will automatically create an XML sitemap and the required Google Sitemap Verification File, and host them on your website. (Note: It's very important that you publish your Yahoo! Store now. If your Yahoo! Store states that it is already "published", you'll need to force it to publish by updating something on your website and then clicking the "publish" button.)

Step 9
Return to your Google Sitemaps window where you should still be on the "Verify Site Ownership" page. Click the "Verify" tab to complete the website verification process. If all was done properly, you should be taken back to the "Dashboard" page where you'll now see a green check mark under the "Site Verified" column.

Step 10
Now it's time to add your sitemap. Click the "Add a Sitemap" link under the "Sitemap" column to start this process.

Step 11

Now on the "Add a Sitemap" page, add a Sitemap. To do so, click on the drop-down menu and select "Add General Web Sitemap". An option does exist to add a sitemap for a mobile website (such as those used for cell phones and PDAs); however most of you will want to select the general web sitemap option. Google will now ask for the URL to your website's sitemap. Click inside the designated box and paste the Sitemap URL that you had copied in step 7 (to paste hit "CTRL + V" on your keyboard). Click the "Add Web Sitemap" tab to finish adding a sitemap.

Step 12

If all was done properly, you should be taken back to the "Dashboard" page where you'll now see a number 1 under the "Sitemap" column.

Congratulations! Google Sitemaps is now set-up. Give it a day or so to retrieve some data on your website, and then you'll have all the information you need to understand how the Google search engine finds, crawls, reads, and indexes the pages on your website.

Labels: guides, yahoo-store

In light of Lee Odden's monster post of "Search Marketing Blogs" a few weeks back (Side Note: The Klog Blog was not "cool" enough to make the list... what gives Lee?), I've decided to throw out my own personal list of Search Marketing Blogs that I tune into daily, and explain a little bit about how I read and decipher through the landfill of information that sits in my reader each and every day.

First of all, it's obvious to anyone that works in this industry (with the exception of "The Lisa" who seems to live, eat, and sleep Blogs / Blogging) that reading 150+ active blogs each day is near impossible... that is if you intend to get anything else done. I, as most of you, am in the front lines when it comes to search marketing. I'm involved with several SEO and PPC projects daily, and have very little time left in my work day to be reading everybody's views and opinions on all things search. With that said, I'm very particular on which Blogs / authors I follow, and basically those that I feel are worthy... I make time for.

Today, I'm subscribed to nearly 90 search-marketing Blogs, which is either a lot or a little pending on your position in this industry and what your particular needs are. I certainly don't feel the need to monitor 300+ Blogs as Lee does, but I do wish to follow more than what's on Disco's shortlist.

When subscribing to new Blogs, I look for the following information:

First and foremost, a Blog must be some what related to the Search Marketing industry (SEO, PPC, SMO, etc.) if I'm going to even consider it. I certainly don't have time to squeeze in off-topic reading into my daily mix. Ok... maybe the feed from Nintendo's Press and Media site, but that's it!

Second, is the Blog recommended? Did Todd, Joe, or Jim just plug your Blog or reference it as a must read. If they did... you just made my feed reader. A "congratulations" is in order; however, you best have your game face on because you only have a few posts to prove your worthiness.

Does the Blog publish quality content (and by quality I mean by my standards)? This is probably the hardest factor to explain, but it's certainly the most important. I'll be the first to admit that my quality standards are a little low. Sure, I love reading educational posts regarding the many topics spawned by our industry, but I also enjoy reading entertaining posts (like the one when Dax sold the captain (his moustache) on eBay and then recorded himself shaving it off). I look for posts that inform as well as break up my otherwise serious day at work.

Is the author personable in their writing? To me, Blogging isn't the same as writing a term paper. When I read someone's Blog I expect to be reading their views and opinions on a topic, not just the news or announcement. If I was only interested in search news, I'd only be subscribed to places like Search Engine Watch or Search Engine Land. I love it when an author let's their personality seep through in their writing.

My list of Search Marketing Blogs

The trick for me when it comes to reading 90 or so Blogs is to separate my feeds into 3 separate groups (folders). I found that by labeling feeds based on "Daily News", "Daily Reads", and "Weekly Reads" I'm able to read all of the Blogs I've subscribed to and still manage to get some work done. The following are my feeds separated into groups:

The "Daily News" Folder
This folder contains a list of authoritative Blogs that are a must read for any search engine marketer. These guys post quite frequently throughout the day and are typically the first to learn of any and all new breakthroughs, acquisitions, announcements, or happenings relating to our industry. Because these Blogs publish a lot of content daily, I tend to just skim the titles until I find one that catches my interest.

• Ask Jeeves Blog
• Google Adwords: Inside AdWords
• Google Blog
• MSN adCenter Blog
• MSN Search Blog
• Search Engine Land
• Search Engine Roundtable
• Search Engine Watch
• Threadwatch.org
• Yahoo! Search Blog
• Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog

The "Daily Reads" Folder
This folder contains a list of my personal favorite search related Blogs, in which I monitor and read multiple times throughout the day. In my opinion, these guys are some of the industries top "bad-asses" and offer thoughtful commentary that is both educational and entertaining. Unlike the "Daily News" group, this group of Bloggers is always willing to share their $0.02 on much of the major news and happenings.

• Aaron Wall: SEO Book.com
• Abhilash Patel
• Andy Beal: Marketing Pilgrim
• Barry Schwartz: Cartoon Barry Blog
• Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog
• Cameron Olthuis' Blog
• Chris Hooley: ThinkBait
• Chris Winfield: 10e20
• David Burke: DaveTech
• Graywolf: Wolf Howl
• Jim Boykin: Solo Album
• John Scott: Internet Marketing Blog
• Justilien Gaspard: Justilien.com
• Kim Krause Berg: Cre8pc on SEO
• Lee Odden: Top Rank Blog
• Matt Cutts Blog: Gadgets, Google, and SEO
• Michael Roebuck's Blog
• Michael Whitaker: Yahoo! Store Blog
• Mr. SEO: Inside SEO
• Neil Patel: Pronet Advertising
• Rae Hoffman: Sugarrae
• Rob Snell: Yahoo! Store Blog
• Search Marketing Gurus
• SEO Disco
• SEO Speedwagon
• http://www.seomoz.org
• Stuntdubl
• Werty.net 4.0
• Yahoo! Store Blog

The "Weekly Reads" Folder
This folder contains the rest of the search-marketing blogs that I follow. With that said, I don't want to make it seem like these Bloggers are at the bottom of the barrel... because they're not by any means. The truth is that this group tends to either not post enough, post frequently on topics that I don't care to read about daily (but still wish to remain updated on), or are those that I've recently added to my reader and am not sure where they belong just yet. I tend to only read these Blogs once a week (typically on Friday's), but I do get a lot of great information from this group.

• BIG marketing for small business
• "Bill Slawski: SEO by the SEA
• Brian Clark: Copyblogger
• Chris Boggs: Search Marketing Thoughts
• Cristian Mezei: SEOPedia
• Danny Sullivan's Blog: Daggle
• Dave Naylor's Blog
• David Meerman Scott: Web Ink Now
• David Temple: SEM Certification Blog
• Dax: Biggnuts Blog
• Debra Mastaler: The Link Spiel
• Did-It: Frog Blog
• Frank Watson: Sem & ROI Technology
• Gord Hotchkiss: Out of My Gord
• Greg Boser: WebGuerrilla Blog
• Guy Kawasaki: Let the Good Times Roll
• Ian McAnerin: Manic Meanderings...
• In Search Of Stuff
• Jaimie Sirovich: SEO Egghead
• Jennifer Slegg: JenSense
• Jeremy Zawodny's blog
• Jill Whalen's Blog: Inspired SEO
• Joe's Cactus Diaries
• Joe's Sem Blog
• John Andrews: johnon.com
• Jonathan Mendez: Optimize & Prophesize
• Joseph Morin's Blog
• Matt Bailey: Website Accessibility Blog
• Matt McGee: Small Business SEM
• Mike Grehan Says...
• Mr. SEO: Articles Blog
• Oilman's Blog
• Paul J. Bruemmer on Search
• Search Marketing Standard Blog
• SEO BlackHat: Black Hat SEO Blog
• SEO Buzz Box
• SEO Loser
• Seth Godin's Blog
• ShandyKing
• Shoemoney's Blog: Skills to pay the bills
• SolidCactus Blog
• SoloSEO Blog
• Stephan Spencer: Scatterings
• Straight Up Search Blog
• Tamar Weinberg: TechiPedia
• TopRank Online Marketing
• UKGimp
• Vinny Lingham's Blog

And... that's that! For those of you that want some of these Blogs for yourself... you can download my OPML/XML file here:

::: Karl's Blogs :::

Anybody have any thoughts or suggestions? Is there someone that I'm not subscribed to, but should be? Feel free to tell me about your Blog... I'm always looking for new and better resources to read.

Labels: guides