For SEO Marketers, Is Deceptive Marketing a Necessary Evil?

I saw a nice post a few decades ago called "The Reciprocity Link Building Method" by Canadian SEO Melanie Nathan, in which she explained a method she often employed to develop high-quality connections for her clients' websites. The idea, as I understood it, was to first identify a website that would be appropriate to link to from your client's site. Then you'd go over their present links to determine if any of them were damaged (went to dead pages or sites). If you find any, you'll utilize this data to start a conversation with the site owner or webmaster, and you'll eventually mention your customer's site as a replacement for one of the broken links. I thought it was a brilliant idea, a terrific opportunity to meet people in your client's business, and a win-win situation for everyone. 

Nick LeRoy, a search marketer in the Minneapolis area, just published another post on the subject. Nick discussed the same general method Melanie had stated, as well as a real-life email example he had sent. He added to the webmaster in his example email that he had a favourite site where he liked to buy things for his son on birthdays and holidays. In a follow-up email, Nick cited "his son" once more, noting that he appreciated the things on this website because they made his son think. So far, everything appears to be going well, right? Nick, on the other hand, does not have a son! On the post, I left the following comment: "I had no idea you had a son, Nick (as per the emails requesting a link). 

If you don't, are you advocating that people form trusting relationships with webmasters by misleading to them?" There were a lot of responses, which you should read on Nick's site. What he did was obviously not heinous in my opinion, but the situation raises a lot of questions. Was lying absolutely necessary? Isn't this the kind of behaviour that tarnishes marketing in general (not just search marketers)? Couldn't he have done things the same way he did them without lying? I believe he could have done so. According to Nick, informing the webmaster that you're looking for links on behalf of a client lowers your chances of getting the link. It would be fascinating to put that hypothesis to the test, and it could very well be correct. Even if you obtain fewer links as a result, lying in any element of business—or life—doesn't justify it. (Are they truly two distinct entities?) Deception in any form is lying. Even if it's just a small white lie, it's a lie nonetheless. Even if you receive more links as a result of it. Even if it means more business for you. Even if it makes you look better in your boss's or client's eyes. 

This leads to another point: How would you feel if you were the boss of someone who used this technique? Any sort of dishonesty within your organisation should be a no-no if your corporate culture is one of honesty. I can assure you that if one of my employees did this, I would be really unhappy in them and explain why we do not engage in misleading techniques. I'd similarly be perplexed as to why I'd have to explain such a concept to an adult. What about the customer? Were they aware that their search marketing firm was deceiving them in order to get links? Is their corporate culture such that this isn't an issue? Or did they have no idea how their connections were obtained? If you're deceiving your clients on their behalf, you should seek their consent and written sign-off first, so it doesn't come back to bite you later. Personally, if I hired a corporation to provide a service for me and they did so in a way that involved any type of deception, I'd be suspicious of what else they were doing.

Is it possible that they overcharged me? Did they really have the abilities they claimed? Not to mention the unknowing webmaster who distributed the link on the other side. How would they react if they later discovered they had been duped? Would they have a negative impression of not only the marketing firm, but also the firm to which they were linking? What if they were so cheated that they decided to share the information on social media? What would the client think if they ended up with a reputation management disaster as a result of the technique? Surely I'm exaggerating here, because we're only discussing a minor white lie. Is it true, however, that the size or colour of the lie makes it less deceptive? And we're talking about link building particularly. There's a reason I despise it and refuse to do it.

As far as I'm concerned, link building is a deceitful tactic in and of itself because it's typically done to secure a phoney "vote" for a website. It's an industry that shouldn't exist, and that wouldn't exist if Google didn't put so much emphasis on links. We'd have a lot less deception (and payment) going on behind the scenes if that component of Google's algorithm wasn't in place. Because ethics are frequently viewed as situational, we can argue them indefinitely and never reach an agreement. What is immoral in one scenario may not appear to be unethical in another. Obviously, life-or-death situations differ from marketing situations. If telling a falsehood is going to save someone's life, then by all means, tell a lie! Marketing, on the other hand, isn't a life-or-death situation.

Most cultures think that lying and deception in order to gain someone's favour is wrong. This isn't a case of "black hat vs. white hat." There's nothing to do with hats in this. I don't care what approaches or methods you utilise to generate more focused search engine traffic when it comes to search marketing. There are no tactics that I believe are more or less ethical than others. I'm not interested in what Google says in their Webmaster Guidelines because I don't need to know. You won't get into trouble with Google if you understand that all they care about is that your website isn't dishonest in any way. They need to know that the information on your site and the information you supply to Google are reliable. That's all there is to it. So many ethical dilemmas boil down to one question: Is it deceitful or not? I'm concerned about search marketers who believe that lying is an unavoidable aspect of their profession if they want to succeed. It's not only wrong, but it's also a depressing reflection on our industry and probably our entire planet.

PPC Bid Optimization Without Conversion Tracking

Lesson 1 of running a PPC campaign: track your conversions. A simple rule that we all try to stick to. But sometimes we can't.
Not all campaigns work so easily. It may be that conversions are too few and far between to make a difference. The website may convert everything over the phone through a system to complex/entrenched to track back to keyword level.
Whatever the reason, there are two techniques you can use to help get your PPC account delivering more value, even if you can't track it.

Option 1: Engagement Metrics

This one is hopefully going to seem like an obvious first step to most of you. If you have Google Analytics linked to your AdWords account, then you can create "engagement goals" and import them into AdWords as a conversion.

Engagement goals consist of tracking visitors who meet a threshold time on site or pages visited. In the screenshot above you can see how a goal would be set up to create a pages visited requirement of greater than 1. Doing this would let you see a goal in AdWords for any visits that did not bounce.
Based on the type of website you're running you really need to think carefully about which metric (time on site or pages visited) is going to be more useful for you, and what your requirement is going to be to log it as a conversion in AdWords.
Remember! Google Analytics does not track the time the user spent on the final page of their visit. If the user read that page for a long period then left the site, you won't see how long they spent on that final page. This can make time on site a slightly misleading metric for websites where visitors won't view many pages.
If you want to log pages per visit, then decide what kind of visitors qualify as "engaged" enough to be worth logging. You will find that many visitors will either bounce, or look at everything on the site. Averages suck. Your averages are being skewed by bounces and by visits with many many pages viewed, so don't base your assessment on logging visitors who visit more pages than your site average.
Visiting more than one page (i.e., not a bounce) can be a good signal. If it takes at least two clicks to reach a product page or view a price, then your ideal threshold may be greater than two pages viewed.

Option 2: Relative Weighting

For some sites you can't even accurately track the above behavior. One page visits might still be worth a lot to an information or blog site. You may have organizational reasons that you can't use Google Analytics or other web analysis packages.
You need to be more creative in these situations.
Step 1

Take your top 20 keywords by traffic. In most cases these will account for the majority of your total clicks, but if not then take 30, or 40. Don't take too many at this stage, or you're making a lot of extra work for yourself for not too much value. Exclude any of your brand keywords from this list.
Step 2
Rank these keywords by a "likelihood of conversion" factor. You need to know your business really well here, but you have to put your keywords into order sorted by how relevant and targeted they are. A particular keyword might suggest that everybody searching for it is looking for exactly your product. Alternatively it might have other meanings or be more generic. Rank these keywords by their "awesomeness" factor.
Step 3

Give each of these keywords a score from 1 to 10 for relevance. The best and highest should be 9 or 10 (this won't always be the case, if none of your best keywords are in your top 20 by traffic) and work from there. Don't feel like you need to go all the way down to 1. If the lowest keywords have maybe half the likelihood of conversion of the highest keywords, then respective scores of 5 and 10 would be appropriate.
Step 4

Add a column to your list that indicates the potential value of a conversion. This is only really necessary if different keywords imply a different value (e.g., they might be searches for a different product). If your website sells just one service, or value is not related to search term at all, skip this step and just add "1" to this column next to every keyword.
Step 5

Multiply these scores together for each keyword, and divide each one by the total sum of all scores added together. What you have now is an estimate for what proportion of your budget you should be spending on each keyword.
Remember that these keywords didn't make up your total spend. If the top 20 keywords spent 80 percent of your budget, then these proportions you've found are proportions of the 80 percent.

Deciding the Bids

You should now have each of your top 20 keywords with a score from 0 to 1 representing the proportion of your spend that should be going to this keyword. Achieving this takes some time. You're going to need to analyze your spend levels on a daily basis, and make changes accordingly.
Each day, download the keyword data for the previous day from the account. For each keyword in your list, work out how much it spent (proportionally) compared to your target. If the keyword's spend is too high, reduce the bid by 10 percent. If it is too low, increase the bid by 10 percent. Set a sensible level of tolerance on this, or you'll be changing your bids even if your keywords are reeeeeeally close to perfect.
The process that will occur is this: every day each keyword that is spending too much will have its bid reduced a little. If the next day it is spending correctly, then you'll stop making that change to that keyword and it's nicely on target. If it still hasn't reached target then the process will happen again.

The Inevitable Complication

You're working from assumptions based on gut instinct and guesswork. These aren't accurate and they never will be.
Don't go crazy looking to make each keyword fit your target perfectly, since your target is an educated guess at best. The process outlined above will give you a bidding strategy to meet your target but it doesn't validate it if you were wrong.
The second issue to be aware of is that every time you change your bids, the proportion of budget spent by each keyword will change. But it will affect the proportion spent by all your other keywords too.
If we imagine a situation with two keywords, "keyword a" and "keyword b". "Keyword a" spends $10 per day and "keyword b" spends $20 per day. If I conduct this analysis and increase the bids on "keyword a" so that it spends $20 per day, then "keyword b" is now spending a lower proportion of my new, higher budget. And if my budget is limited, then I may need to reduce "keyword b" to compensate.
Each action on a keyword affects the proportional spend on the others. Don't be surprised if your keywords overreact.

In Summary

Having a lack of good conversion data is no excuse for not optimizing bids in a campaign. The campaign can still perform better and deep down you know it!
The two methods in this article will give you some pointers to go about pushing your spend towards your best converters and most profitable keywords, but your overall budget must still be determined by the profitability of PPC as a whole.
Re-assess your assumptions regularly. Don't take your first best guess as fixed. Make changes and improvements over time as your knowledge grows and you can keep making the campaign better and better.
By: Alistair Dent

18 Minutes a Day to Social Media Time Management

There is a saying that goes something like this: “Are you working in your business or on your business?” Translate that to social media, are you working in social media or on social media? If you are “in” it, it’s time to figure out a way to be “on” it.
But what if you could improve your social media time management in just 18 minutes a day?
Let’s face it, we have a finite amount of time each day and usually we underestimate our to-dos and overestimate our time. If you’re in any type of online marketing position and reading (OK, skimming) this article, chances are high social media is part of your mantra. Bets are probably higher still that you spend more lost time in unaccountable social media diversions and distractions.
Whether you’re on the front lines, sidelines, or bylines, social media can easily monopolize hours of our day.
Scanning, curating, and aggregating content requires serious organization skills. Writing, reporting, and re-purposing content is best served with minimal distractions and maximum focus. Social media can be a 24/7 black hole or, if managed properly, a gold mine. It all depends on how disciplined, organized and aware you are of the time spent in social media.
I recently read Peter Bregman’s book "18 Minutes." It was just released last month and the result of a blog post he wrote for the Harvard Business Review that became one of the most popular and most commented posts on the site. That post, “An 18 Minute Plan for Managing Your Day,” began with Bregman’s humbling admission that we can all relate to, but here is my slightly modified version:

“Yesterday started with the best of intentions. I walked into my office in the morning with a vague sense of what I wanted to accomplish. Then I sat down with my laptop and a Starbucks, checked my Facebook, Twitter stream, iGoogle and e-mail. Two hours later, after fighting several digital fires, solving other people’s PR problems, and dealing with whatever happened to be thrown at me through my social media world via screen and phone, I could hardly remember what I had set out to accomplish when I first grabbed my Mac Book Air. I’d been ambushed at social media gunpoint. And I thought I knew better...”

Bregman’s takes you through specific and actionable strategies to seriously shut down the daily distractions and open up windows of social media opportunity. As I read this book, my social media fog began clearing and my days are now busier doing social media right.

Pick Your Social Media High Five

Look at your social media year and pick five areas that will make the most difference in your business. Social media is enchanting because there are so many interesting things to read, people to meet and places to go. It's challenging to prioritize and pick just a few; so instead we end up trying to do it all.
One of the secrets to thriving in social media is to look at doing fewer things better and pick the ones that matter most. When you decide on your five areas, commit to spending 95 percent of your social media time on these things and allow 5 percent for the rest of experimental or unforeseen unknowns.

Getting the Right Things Done

I’m always busy. But I asked myself after reading this book: Am I busy doing the things that matter in my social PR life? "18 Minutes" brings us to the reality that it’s possible to be busy in social media, look busy in social media, and unfortunately … get nothing done.
Making sure we’re getting the right social media things done is key – because it’s so easy to get off track when exciting breaking news happens, like Facebook F8 developer’s conference latest updates or industry shaking news like Steve Jobs passing away last week. I lost hours of focus to the reality and shock of losing one our greatest innovators. But to me, that was my 5 percent bucket of the unknowns you have to plan for.
Once we have our five buckets of focus, the goal is to make sure we spend 95 percent of our social media time each day doing things that fit into our five most important areas. Our focus is making sure the right things get done, as opposed to making sure everything social media gets done.

The 18 Minute Social Media Day

Step 1 (5 Minutes) Your Social Media Morning Minutes

This is your opportunity to plan your social media for the day. Before turning on your computer or picking up your PDA, sit down with the to-do list and decide what is happening to make this a social media successful day. What can you realistically accomplish whether it’s writing a blog post, researching a new Twitter tool, sitting in on a webinar, or getting ready for that next conference?

Step 2 (1 Minute Every Hour) Social Media Refresh and Refocus

Managing your social media time hour-by-hour is both a discipline and a science. Don’t let the hours manage you … How many times do you all of a sudden realize you have spent the last 20 minutes reading Twitter updates, surfing Facebook Pages, or reading an article from an e-mail subscription?
Set your phone, computer or watch to ring every hour and start the work that is listed on your calendar. When you hear the beep, do a social media check up. Assess your progress and recommit the next hour to get back on track.

Step 3 (5 Minutes) Your Social Media After Dark

At the end of your day, shut the laptop and review your social media day. Ask yourself some questions: How did my social media day go? What did I learn today? Whom did I interact with? Did I meet new followers on Twitter that I should send a quick @ reply? Was there a nice RT of me I should acknowledge? Any comments on my blog I should respond to?
Building and maintaining relationships is critical in social media and it is easy to forget that it takes just a few minutes to share appreciation, congratulate someone, or offer thanks.
All that seems easy, but here are some tips to add to the 18 minute plan.

Social Media Delete

It’s very hard to say no. I get invites every day to join a webinar, take a survey, look at this press release for a nonprofit who has no money, help my brother-in-law send a logo that I have sent him 20 times already, take unscheduled phone calls, or get sucked into a technical problem with Apple support.
All of these unscheduled things can rob you from important and strategic social media time. To get the right things done, choosing what to ignore is as important to choosing what to focus on.

Social Media Calendar

Bregman emphasizes and I agree: Place the hardest and most important items at the beginning of the day. He also notes the power of the when and where. Statistics show that when you schedule an action item with a time and date, the chances of it getting done are far greater than letting it float.
Mastering distractions and getting things done efficiently and effectively goes far beyond social media. Bregman offers a system and practical guides of how to get done what matters most to us and our business in 18 minutes.
By: Lisa

Why Quora Is the Answer to ALL of Your Small Business Questions

I often find myself typing complex questions into Google’s search box. Many times, this leads me to complex answers or a variety of pages with a little bit of the answer on each one. In my opinion, both are unhelpful. The best pages are usually the pages where the question is stated explicitly, and real people create a response based on that question (as opposed to an article out there that was written on something similar). The only problem: who knows who is answering the question? For all I know, it could be a ten year old kid who thinks it’s funny to make up answers to things online. If you find this as frustrating as I do, you’re now in luck because I have discovered the answer to our frustration—Quora.
Quora is a place where you can ask absolutely anything you wish, and highly reliable people will provide the answer. This site was created by Adam D’Angelo, the former CTO of Facebook. Many compare Quora to Wikipedia (another website I love to visit, but content I never entirely believe); however the main difference between the two is the content quality and social networking opportunities. Quora is a website you must sign up for, much like Twitter or Facebook, and you have the ability to follow people, topics, and/or questions that interest you. There is also a voting system in place that allows the highest quality answers to a question to be pushed to the top. In other words, Quora is another great opportunity to start developing that brand. Consider some of the features of this website, and I guarantee you will be blown away!
Where Do the Answers Come From?
When trying to find an answer to a question, especially one that involves your small business, it is extremely important to know that the answer you are getting is valid and credible. Quora makes this happen in a few different ways:

• Anyone can answer a question on Quora; however users have the ability to vote answers up or down so that the answers can be ranked from the most useful (or most correct) to the least useful.

• All answers are connected to a person so you know exactly who is answering your question. Although answers are rated based on accuracy by users, you may want to know for yourself where the answers are coming from and make your own judgments about credibility.

• Now for the interesting part: Anyone can make revisions to the text of questions and the details that surround that question. In general, this helps the site become more accurate. However, all revisions are tracked and available for a user to see. Not only will you be able to track the person who wrote the original question, but you will be able to see each and every person who had ever made a revision to it.

• There are obviously many topics and questions that are related, so you will find not only answers to your question, but other, related questions that you may not have even considered.

The answers to questions will be available in Quora forever, so Quora may someday become the database with the answers to any question a person may have. All you have to do to find the answer to your question is use the search box at the top of the site and type in your question.
You may think that this sounds too much like Wikipedia, but the answers to questions on Quora have been answered by some of the brightest minds in the industry—and Quora lets you know! Some of the people providing answers on the website include Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, Marc Andreessen, VC in Silicon Valley, and Fred Wilson, VC in New York. After all, the creater of Quora was good friends with Zuckerberg in high school.
How to Use Quora to Help Build Your Brand
Quora is yet another great way to accumulate followers and start building your brand. You will be able to add links to sites in your profile, so if you set your profile to public all of your answers will be indexed on search engines. This site also works as a social networking platform, so your small business should treat it the same way you treat Twitter and StumbleUpon—get as many followers as possible and continue to post great content. If people are interested in what you have to say, and you can offer quality answers that get you to the top of the “answer” list, your company’s reputation will only improve.
By:  Amanda DiSilvestro

The End of Business as Usual: #AdaptorDie to Connected Marketing

Every once in a while, something shows up on the Internet that creates a game-changing shift in the way we view the world. In the context of online business, this happened to me in the fall of 2008 when I first saw the Conversation Prism developed by Brian Solis.
As a social media evangelist, the Conversation Prism became a disruptive tool that inspired both fear and opportunity. I leveraged it as the star slide of every presentation I gave over the next year – and also came to recognize a new thought leader in Solis, one who was articulating the future as well as the client experiences unfolding right in front of me.
I caught up with Solis this week to talk about his new book, “The End of Business as Usual: Rewire The Way You Work to Succeed in the Customer Revolution.” The following are highlights from our conversation.
Jason Cormier: Was there any feedback or key learning’s you established from your last book, “Engage”, as a foundation for this new book?
Brian Solis: Yes. "Engage" was aimed at the social strategist, marketing and communications team, and progressive management teams that were ready to… just as the title instructs, engage.
Between the release of version 1 in March of 2010 and version 2 in March of 2011, I learned quite a bit about how organizations were or were not changing to adapt to market opportunities.
”The End of Business as Usual” is written for change agents and those fighting to compete for attention and relevance. This time, I’m also pursuing the executives who are responsible for leading their business to what’s next. And, this book makes the case for leadership teams to look beyond social media to see the impact of the connected customer on their business.
This isn’t a book about case studies on how to use Facebook or Twitter. Executives don’t use these networks so making the argument, while necessary, really was the role of “Engage”. This time, I make the case from a business level to demonstrate how running a rigid business, business as usual, will open the doors to digital Darwinism where companies that fail to adapt will become victims of natural selection.
JC: I saw Peter Guber called your new book “the map” to win the hearts and minds of customers with “new media experiences.” Do you dig into any of the practical and tactical here or would you say it’s more of a map as opposed to a set of directions?
BS: Interesting question. The book is broken into two halves. First, I make the case for the future of decision-making and how connected consumers are influencing and influenced by interest graphs (those individuals connected by keywords, shared relationships, and expressed interests).
The second half of the book focuses on how to build an adaptive organization that’s optimized to learn, engage, adapt, and lead. It’s part map and part step-by-step directions.
JC: I caught your interview with Radian6 CEO, Marcel Lebrun, last week. In the context of “what’s next,” I like how he talked about the shift of how we must line up for our customers instead of the traditional mindset of how they line up for us.
He was using the idea of waiting on the phone in a support queue as an example, but was obviously referring to much more of an encompassing business concept – one he believes we’ll spend “the next 10 years” trying to figure out. What’s your take on his statements, and how might your book address them?
BS: The entire book is based upon the premise that businesses are stuck either reacting to customers or developing products or services in a vacuum that may or may not deliver against needs or aspirations. That’s business as usual and perhaps it will suffice for traditional consumers.
But for connected consumers, businesses have to focus beyond “figuring it out” to getting in front of customer experiences in order to shape and steer them. “The End of Business as Usual” looks at the “why” and also the “how” to help businesses rethink the infrastructure of the organization, the culture, processes, systems, methodologies, and decision trees to improve the internal collaboration needed to promote external collaboration.
You can’t engage externally if you can’t engage within. Employees, like customers, are stakeholders – and their support, input, and passion are critical ingredients in the recipe of tomorrow’s relevance.
JC: Over the years, you’ve referred to the “uh-oh” moment or “a-ha” moment as one that will ultimately lead companies into social media. What are the most common uh-oh moments you are seeing at this point in time?
BS: It’s amazing. Still today, businesses are thrust into social networks because of the “uh oh” moment. What’s even more amazing is that many businesses that are currently engaged in social media are also vulnerable to unsuspecting moments that blindside them into the new reality.
Businesses are not in control of customer experiences because they’re wrestling with the idea of what control really is. Broadcast marketing, screaming louder than consumers, buying media that tells people what to think, again, that’s business as usual.
Facebook currently houses 800 million active residents – that’s the size of the entire Internet in 2004. There’s no going back. Yet businesses today believe that they don’t need a social presence because that “might” invite negative interaction or operate social media in a silo while they wonder why they’re getting service related questions or complaints on a Facebook page dedicated to CSR activity.
JC: Earlier this year, Shiv Singh said, "When it comes to digital marketing I believe marketers need to be more strategists & research minded than idea evaluators and implementers." What’s the first thing that comes to mind regarding how your new book might help marketers (inside of brands or within agencies) best address the ever growing demand for strategy in social media?
BS: Shiv is right. If we examine many successful social media initiatives today, we’ll learn that great ideas connected with consumers to spark word of mouth, interaction, and desirable outcomes.
But in reality, this is yet another example of implementation. And, when you really think about it, there’s very little that’s truly social in everyday corporate social media campaigns. Sometimes I jokingly refer to social media as a great oxymoron.
One of the greatest advantages of social media is to listen to conversations to learn about mentions, context, sentiment, and reach. But when we really hear what people are saying and why, we start to peel back the layers of significance to research, learn, and adapt to new opportunities.
The insights that we extract simply by listening, hearing, and feeling what’s transpiring in social networks helps us translate empathy into action. The result is campaigns, service strategies, products, and so much more. By default, relevance is earned simply by reflecting customer behavior, wants, and opportunities. #AdaptorDie!
By: Jason Cormier,

Successful SEO Tactics: Reporting & Analytics

As we close out our four-part series on the SEO Tactics chart, we touch on the most powerful of all of the pillars – measurement, reporting, and analytics. This is the subject I’m most passionate about as it lies at the core of a solid organic strategy and ultimately the long-term success of an organic program.
It’s striking that there is still such casualness when it comes to the discipline of SEO. There are still a remarkable number of companies that can’t differentiate organic traffic from direct load and referring traffic.
If you’ve managed or been close to paid search campaigns you understand the degree to which measurement and analysis impacts successful efforts. One of the first pieces of advice I give to clients and colleagues is to apply this same mindset to organic search.
Data is useless. Insight, and then action, is the key to advancing your program. This article will highlight some of the more important, and underutilized, metrics that can help you find performance breakthroughs, as well as discuss exactly why it’s so critical that you get this part right.

Justify Your Existence

If you aren’t tracking conversions, then you’re probably in for a short ride. Rankings will only get you so far.
Justifying your retainer (agency) or salary (in-house) is going to be difficult without demonstrating the business impact you are making. We’re talking about revenue, leads and margin – not rankings.
Be persistent about the need to track these metrics before you engage with a company. If the tracking isn’t present and they aren’t willing to put forth the effort to measure these goals, you should pass on the opportunity until the proper tracking is in place.

Understand Causality

Without taking the time to analyze data it becomes incredibly easy to chase your own tail. Chances are you’re putting forth a ton of time, energy, and effort to make an impact on your program.
But what’s really moving the needle and what’s simply an effort of futility? If you find yourself asking this question, slow down half a pace, execute, monitor, measure, and make note (as best you can) of which tactics indeed moved the needle.

Conversions, Then Traffic, Then Rankings

Focusing attention on keywords that have the highest likelihood to convert to a sale or lead isn’t always synonymous with high traffic terms. Spend the time in your analytics package to understand the difference and apply more pressure to keywords that will increase revenue/leads. As mentioned earlier, if you keep your eye on conversion, you have a better chance of keeping your job.

Differentiate Between Brand & Non-Brand

In relation to measuring keyword-level conversion (and in proving your value), be sure to clearly differentiate performance of brand and non-brand terms.
Non-brand growth is the leverage point in most programs. If you’re analyzing, or worse presenting, data that is only rolled up as overall organic traffic, it’s possible to be misleading yourself and others. If the overall organic program experienced a 36 percent year-over-year lift in traffic and 14 percent lift in conversions – ask yourself why and where. Was it driven by brand terms as a result of an aggressive offline campaign that is running?
Know why, take credit for your efforts, and be transparent when you’re riding the wave of brand terms. Transparency and honesty go a long way.

External Influences

It’s easy to get caught up in your own site and analytics and forget about external factors that impact your program’s performance. One of the most critical is seasonality. It can impact everything from traffic volume to competitive pressure and conversion rate.
Many verticals have peak seasons, some more dramatic than others. These peaks are sweet spots, and you should be planning around them.

The graph above is an example of peak query volume for a client in the home services vertical. Knowing that 45 percent of the annual query volume occurs within a three-month window is critical knowledge and impacts both what you do and when you do it. Google Insights for Search is a great tool to model this data.

Benchmarks & Baselines

Early on in my SEO endeavors I can’t tell you how many times I wished I had a time machine so I could go back and capture benchmarks that I missed as I was begging to work on a program. Live and learn.
Fortunately, you’ll have many of the most critical KPIs captured within your analytics package. Obviously you will want to capture a benchmark of the rankings of keywords you are focused on.
A few suggestions: Use SEMRush to capture a more holistic view of all keywords that are ranking as you begin. You might be surprised at what you find here. Download this, and keep it! Watch the growth in non-brand terms that rank over time. Consider the same for inbound links. It’s a snapshot in time, so be sure to take the picture before you begin. Open Site Explorer makes it easy. Do the same exercise for major competitors so that you can track their velocity versus your own. These all become compelling stories over time.

Track Your Calls

Whether your goal is to be driving leads or revenue, you should be taking credit for organic conversions that are resulting in the call center. More than 90 percent of the businesses we’ve encountered have overlooked this – even in instances where they are tracking call center conversions from paid search.
The technology is there (e.g., ClickPath), and if your business model is reliant on call center activity for conversions, the information available through this tracking typically opens up new opportunities and gives you a much more accurate view on the entirety of the results you’re driving.
This is just a snapshot of some of the tracking and analytics themes that are performance drivers, but certainly not the entire list. I welcome you to add to it through your comments, as your insights can likely help others who find interest in this topic.
And that wraps up our four-part series on Successful SEO Tactics. If you missed them, check out Keyword Selection, On-site Optimization, and Off-site Optimization. Hopefully, you’ve found the information relevant and useful. Good luck in your organic efforts!
By: Ryan Woolley,

What cool new websearch ideas should Google launch in 2012?

Even though this year is nowhere near finished, a lot of people at Google are already thinking about things to launch next year. So I wanted to put the question out: what cool things would you like to see Google launch in 2012?
For example, in 2011, we launched hundreds of search quality changes that might not be noticeable, along with a few high-impact changes. But we also added new ways to search, like the ability to search by image and search by voice. We’ve beefed up our social search, and continued to make search faster.
So take a minute to think about potential search features, products, or changes that we could launch next year. As a user (not as an SEO/webmaster/publisher), what cool piece of technology would you like to see Google launch in 2012?
By:  Matt Cutts

Now Google Could Make Your Wallet Lighter

Early today Osama Bedier Vice President of Payments announced through the official Google Blog that the Search Engine Giant had delivered on its May promise to create an app that would make the fat consumer wallet stuffed with credit cards look thin. Google Wallet opened its account on a limited scale with its first partner  Citi Master Card using Sprint and First Data. The tap and pay Google Wallet does not require you to use your phone and the Near Field Communication. ( Below Photo posted at GigaOm )

The video clip showing a demo of Google Wallet in action using a Sprint Nexus 4G phone, had a satisfied customer offloading his overstuffed wallet packed with credit cards, claiming ‘ it is serenity now’.
Google also announced that it will soon go full throttle after the required incorporation of ‘air update’ and further up gradation of software for the next roll outs. It confirmed that Visa, Discover and American Express have made available their NFC specifications that could enable their cards to be added to future versions of Google Wallet. It also introduced the Google Prepaid card, which can be funded with any existing credit card and added a $10 introductory bonus to early activators who would set up their Google wallet Accounts before end of the year.
Google Wallet had announced its intent to set up an open commerce ecosystem, a statement that has been differently interpreted by analysts. While most have taken the announcement at face value understanding that it was the ease of operation that Google was talking off, a few have interpreted it as an add on venture for using Google’s mountain of cash pile that exceeds $ 30 billion as of date.
They claim that Google could mean effectively that it would want to get into the consumer driven credit card market and enable interest rationalization in credit transactions for merchants and users, something that could give headache to the existing credit card companies. Whatever be the outcome, the Google Wallet business seems a promising diversification for the search engine giant in search of new avenues for its global domination plan.
By: Sandip Sen

What Might Google+ Improvements Mean for Marketers?

It’s been about 90 days since the Google+ project began and the proud parents of the bundle of joy are still oooh-ing and awww-ing over their 3-month-old. The site has seen more than 100 improvements, the most recent of which rolled out Tuesday. Let’s examine a few of those improvements and what it can mean to marketers.

Phone Hangouts

In a Skype inspired move, Google+ now offers live hangout streaming on your mobile phone. Only supported on Android 2.3+ phones with front facing cameras, this app is now available in the Android Market for download.

Broadcast Hangouts

Speaking to a large audience just got a little bit easier. The recent launch of Hangouts On Air allows you to interact with a large group of your Google+ buds, or just view as a spectator. There’s even an option to record your session.
Think we’ll see Google+ only webinars, free training sessions, and even live concerts? Of course!

Screensharing

Additional add-ons include screensharing. Need to teach a lesson, share photos, or whatever else might be on your screen? Hangouts now have the addition of screensharing to make your experience more seamless.

Sketchpad

Hangouts now come with the additional functionality of a sketchpad. Certainly will come in handy when you’re trying to show a client, friend or family member a concept that can’t be put into words.
I can see this helping with creative content projects like Infographics or ad copy: real-time mockup in Google+. Also – quite an entertaining way to play hangman with Grandma.

Google Docs

Google+ has finally integrated Google Docs into Hangouts. Work together on a project, update an editorial calendar with a client, or explain financials in real-time. Heck, even get your taxes done in real-time and see how the numbers compute with your accountant in a hangout. Connect with a freelance writer and see how they are progressing with an article, piece of ad copy, or project you have contracted them for.

Named Hangouts

Have a need to talk to others in a particular industry or with similar interests? Look for a public hangout about that topic and connect. Or create your own. This is a great opportunity for an up and coming designer looking to reach out to fashion bloggers, other designers, or to collaborate on designs to do so no matter where they are in the world.
Use these hangouts to meet up with a support group and invite others to join in on the conversation as well. Hold an online networking event and connect with prospective customers too. The possibilities are endless.

Hangout API

Something developers will likely jump for joy over is the basic set of hangout APIs being previewed. Building real-time applications for Google+ hangouts is now within reach. Games are certainly on the horizon for Google+!

Search

Certainly something you’d expect would have already been integrated into Google+ from the search engine giant, but search is now available. Relevant content and connections will show up in addition to relevant posts. Easily sort through and find content related to what you’re looking for.

Open to All

Finally, after 3 months, Google+ is available to all. Anyone has the ability to join, and over the course of the next few days the entire globe can join Google+.
Additional Updates on the Way
We certainly haven’t seen the end of Google+ updates. Some on the horizon include:

• +1ing comments from your iOS device 
• Improved support
• More personalization options

By: Kaila Strong,

Understanding htaccess: Rewrite and Redirect

One of the tools available to system administrators that will work to make their job easier is their becoming conversant in .htaccess. This ability allows you greater control of your server's configuration and allows you to make changes without adjusting settings for the entire server. These changes are not only completed for the directories, but are picked up and used by subdirectories as well making your job easier and on the fast track to completion. Some favorite tools and tricks used by experts in system administration include redirects and rewrites.

Using Rewrites & Redirects

For redirects using optimal Search Engine Optimization (SEO) implementation, you first need to determine whether you want your redirects to point to the "www" or the "non-www" page of your website. It is crucial that whichever option you choose that you stay consistent.

This code below redirects non-www to www

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^yourdomain.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.yourdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

You can use this code sequence to direct any traffic from one website, a blog for example, and redirect it to another site permanently. This can be installed using this code:

RewriteEngine on

RewriteRule .* http://www.newdomain.com/ [R=301,L]

Another similar tool that is used frequently for redirects is using a 301 redirect:

Redirect 301 /formersite.html http://www.yourdomain.com/bloghome.html
Redirect 301 /formersite2.html http://www.yourdomain.com/folder/Security

This code sequence changes a simple website page into a secure one with the use of SSL, assuming you have a dedicated SSL certificate available. Customers will be secure in the knowledge that their personal information is safe, especially on an e-commerce website. To implement this, use this coding:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI}

Setting Website Access With .htaccess

Concerns about website security cannot be overlooked in today's technological world. Using .htaccess easily controls who has access to any part of your website. This includes development, testing and administrative access. To accomplish this, initially it is required that a file is set up to install a username and password. To build this file visit (http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/password/) and use the following coding to set a password protection for a specific directory on your website:

AuthUserFile /home/dave/.htpasswd
AuthName "My Personal Login"
AuthType Basic

require valid-user

Disallow Hotlinking For Optimal Security

One mistake that should never be overlooked is to allow hotlinking on a company website. Hotlinking allows copying of website content such as videos or images and enables embedding it into another website. This pulls on your bandwidth each time the website loads. This is easily avoided by preventing files from being hotlinked and stops the hijacking of bandwidth by thieves by using the following coding:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(.+\.)?domain.com/ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteRule .*\.(jpg|gif|bmp|png)$ /images/handsoff.jpg [L]

Error 404s And Custom Error Pages

Another major tool used frequently in the use of .htaccess are custom 404 error pages. This script sends visitors landing on a bad page with a redirect to a valid page. These pages typically include a sitemap and/or search bar rather than the dead end typically found on 404 error pages. By creating an error page that actually assists visitors, you will help avoid frustration and keep visitors returning. Building a custom error page can be done by using this code:

ErrorDocument 400 /errors/badrequest.html
ErrorDocument 401 /errors/authreqd.html
ErrorDocument 403 /errors/forbid.html
ErrorDocument 404 /errors/notfound.html
ErrorDocument 500 /errors/server.html

Learning to use .htaccess will give you the options you need to administer and control your website to provide great customer service and an efficient, easy to manage website.
By: Site Reference

How To Improve A Sites Conversion Rate

Building a successful and profitable site will ultimately depend on the amount of traffic your site receives. The content you produce and how much effort goes into promoting your site will help attract visitors and dictate the quality and how targeted that traffic is, but ultimately, how well your traffic converts  will be the deciding factor in whether or not you have a successful and profitable web site.

Conversion rates are well documented as being poor across the internet. Between  1 and 3% conversion rates seem to be an almost standard rate across the web. Calculating a sites conversion rate is relatively straight forward; If 2 visitors out of 100 convert then your site has a 2% conversion rate. Most marketers will accept this and then focus on increasing the levels of visitors to their site, which in truth is never a bad thing. But it is important to remember that it is often easier to increase a sites conversion rate rather than its traffic and here are some of the best ways of doing that.

The road to increasing a sites conversion rate lies with the traffic it already receives, how that traffic got to your site, what pages they landed on, the keywords they used and the pages they viewed once they did hit your site. To get a clear view of your traffic you will need Google Analytics and you will also need to set up goals, conversions and funnels for your site. The data stored in your analytics program will help to give you a clear picture of your traffic and what they are doing on your site. You will also get to see what actions lead to a conversion, the pages they landed on before converting and the content they viewed that prompted them to take the action that you wanted them to. Replicating the elements that are successful will help to increase conversion rates on other sections of your site.

Google analytics will paint a picture of why some visitors converted while others didn’t. Using another tool by Google called website optimiser will also help your conversion rates. Your Analytics program will tell you which pages on your site helped to convince a visitor to take the action you wanted them to.  Google’s website optimiser will tell you want elements on that page and in what combination will return the best conversion rate.

How to test?

If you are new to Google optimiser, then use a simple A/B test, this will allow you to test 2 versions of a page against each. Once you add the java script to the pages you want to test Google will begin to show the competing pages to your visitors and once it has gathered enough data to make a comprehensive decision on which page has yielded the best conversions you will have a winner.  A/B testing will allow you to familiarise yourself with how testing works and the processes involved, to move your testing to a new level you will need to test the different pages elements and what combination of these elements will work best and you can do this with a multivariate test.

Test every element on a page and test multiple versions of each element

Google will take a lot of work out of putting these tests together. But it’s very tempting to set up multiple elements and just let the test run. Unless the page you are testing gets thousands of hits a day you will wait a long time before the results of your tests are in. Keep your tests small and you will see results and improvements in your conversion rates much sooner.

Improving your conversion rates is usually a slow process and to do it successfully you will need to have in-depth knowledge of your site, the traffic it receives and what has convinced your visitors to convert in the past. Once you know this you can build on this success and further improve your conversion rate.
By: Site-Reference 

How to Market With Articles

Article marketing has a lot of power to attract web traffic, turn that traffic into costumers, and make several sales a day. You can use article marketing to sell any product on earth, from a house, to a car, to a computer to a software package, to a pen or paper, as long as you can earn a commission, article marketing is the perfect way to make sales.

First you need to become an expert in the profitable niche. Insurance products require you to have deep knowledge about insurance, your article is the sales man and a poor article will not make a reader stay long and much less purchase anything from you. Start by perfecting your knowledge about those profitable niches and turn article marketing into a power house of money.

Second, you need to write a long article. Small articles do not present the reader with much expertise, do not show you are a true expert, just another writer trying to sell them something. Longer articles possess more keyword count and keyword diversity. The ideal article is always at least four hundred keywords long and the perfect article at least one thousand keywords long. Those writers with free time should aim to keep the article as long as possible specially for expensive products. Trying to sell a computer and earning 20% of the revenue? You definitely need to write at least three thousand words, like a sales letter.




Third keep the reader interested in reading more about your expertise. If the directory allows, place several related reading links and focus on the product, send the reader to an article that is similar to the article the reader just read. For example you can write about computer search and in another article internet search or computer desktop search. All topics must be either exact or very similar.

Fourth, aim to keep your article views high all the time, this salesman is very important but only if the salesman is getting costumers. Send your article to all directories, Facebook if you have interested friends, Twitter if your followers love article marketing and StumbleUpon and Digg and all other networks that allow articles to be added and indexed. The more the better, this is a key component to success!

One article has enough power to deliver endless traffic, as long as the article is cared about. To care about an article means to constantly increase its size, adding new information, make it fresh. There is no sense in writing a ton of low quality articles that no one reads or clicks.

Finally, your article marketing techniques must be developed by learning new keywords. Google is blind to anything but keywords and so are readers. Research deeply the right keywords, keep them fresh and use them all each one in a new article. Do not combine keywords to confuse search engines and readers.
By Darwin Moore

5 Filters Everybody Should Use In Their AdWords

It's the dream. To be able to log into AdWords and instantly find the changes you need to make. Well that's the trick that long-time paid search managers have been using to allow them to keep an eye on so much material so easily.
If you save the filters below in your own accounts (at keyword level) I guarantee you'll save time and always know what needs attention in your PPC campaigns.

Filter 1: Great But Expensive

How to set it up:
Spend > $X
CPA > $Y
Avg Position better than Z
Sorting: Conversions from high to low
What it's for: This filter will identify the keywords in your account that contribute most to your total conversions, but are costing you more than you can really afford per conversion. The keywords caught by this filter are high enough up the page that you have scope to reduce the CPA by lowering your positions/bids.
Tips: Set the CPA limit to a tolerance just a little higher than your target. You want this filter to identify keywords whose cost is above what is profitable for you. Set the average position to a slot above your average, where there is plenty of scope for keywords in those positions to be moved down and still attract reasonable traffic.
Actions: Reduce bids. Any keywords showing up in this filter are important to your account, but too expensive at the moment. They are high enough up the page that you can reduce the bids without demolishing traffic volumes.

Filter 2: Good, But Not Much Scope

How to set it up:
Spend > $X
CPA > $Y
Avg Position worse than Z
Sorting: Spend from high to low
What it's for: This filter will find the keywords in your account that are too expensive but don't have much scope to be reduced further. Decreases in bids here will likely move these keywords off the first page more and more often, reducing impression share down very low. These keywords will be expensive no matter what position they are in.
Tips: You can set up this filter with a position tolerance at the edge of the banner (usually top three positions) or down at the edge of the first page (usually nine or 10). In our experience the positions on a side are fairly similar in terms of performance. CTR won't vary significantly, but impression share will drop off as you move lower.
Actions: Reduce bids, but don't be afraid to pause. Sometimes the keywords in this filter simply won't work. If any keyword shows up in this filter for period after period you'll probably find that even when it shows mostly off the first page it still won't start converting well for you.

Filter 3: Doomed

How to set it up:
Spend > $X
Conversions = 0
Sorting: Spend from high to low
What it's for: Finding keywords that simply don't work.
Tips: Check your timelines. Just because a keyword didn't work in this period doesn't mean it never did. It could have been through a blip. Always check keywords in this bracket across multiple timelines.
Actions: Bearing in mind the disclaimer above about timelines, you can usually safely pause these keywords. These are spending your money and showing you nothing in return. If your business takes a large proportion of leads over the phone then don't necessarily be so hasty. Consider phone-tracking methods if you're in this situation.

Filter 4: Gold

How to set it up:
Spend > $X
CPA < $Y
Avg Position worse than Z
Sorting: Conversions from high to low
What it's for: These keywords are make or break for your campaign. These are the keywords that have good traffic volumes, convert at below target CPA, and have scope to move up the page and get more daily impressions.
Tips: Set your average position pretty high on this one. The idea is to find keywords that can get more impressions if they're moved up the page. Almost anything not right at the top could potentially improve so be bold here.
Actions: Increase the bids. For as long as the keywords keep their low CPA, keep pushing those bids up. You want as much traffic as you can get from these keywords.

Filter 5: Quality Score Duds

How to set it up:
Impressions > X
Quality Score < Y
CPA > $Z
Sorting: Impressions from high to low
What it's for: Identifying keywords that are having a negative impact on your overall campaign and account level quality scores. These keywords hurt the performance of all the other keywords in the campaign. But monetary performance has to come first.
Tips: Set your CPA limit such that only keywords that are not profitable for you are included. Any keywords with low quality scores but good CPAs should be kept, and you need to look at your ads to try to improve the quality score.
Actions: Pause these keywords. Run down the list, dealing with the highest impression volume keywords first. These are the terms that are having the biggest impact on your campaign. The more impressions you get with low quality scores, the more you're going to have to pay for everything else in the long run. If a particular keyword looks nicely relevant and targeted and looks like it should work, then give it a stay of execution for now. Work on your ad text and your landing pages to improve your CTR and relevancy.

Honorable Mentions

There are two pieces of information we'd love to be able to act on but currently can't.

1. Google-only CTR. When Google revamped the reporting interface they removed the ability to segment keyword data by network, so you cannot see the effect that the search partners are having on your stats. You would definitely want to be able to see your keywords that have low CTRs but search partner activity can mask the true nature. There are two main ways around this:
    
• Segment by Top vs Side. This new segment will let you see that data separately, but it's not ideal for our purposes (screenshot above).
   
• Use the API. The data is still available (for now) in the API for those of you who really want to see it. This isn't the most straightforward thing to set up for most campaign managers though. If you have API access then I suggest you take a look at this data. If you don't, then just use the method above.
   
2. Impression share per keyword. Google give us impression share data at campaign level, but not at keyword level. The ability to see how much additional traffic each individual keyword missed out on due to its rank on the page would be of great benefit. The filters above use average position as an analogue to impression share, to get an idea how much more traffic would have been available if we'd been more aggressive. If we really knew how much we'd missed we'd be able to make a better estimate of the scope still available to us.

Using Filters

The filters in this article are the types of filters used by experienced campaign managers to quickly get to the source of potential problems in your account and make rapid improvements to your performance. There are many others you can use to identify items of key importance to your own specific account.
One example of this would be a filter to show all keywords that contain a specific word or phrase that is particularly important to you, and where average position is below X. This type of filter would help you to see keywords of particular relevance that should be getting as much traffic as possible but aren't.
By: Alistair Dent,

Best SEO Software in Planet

I've heard some rumors about this new SEO tool that I 
had to check out...and I'm super impressed! And I don't
get impressed by SEO software often...I've seen it all.

Over 6 years ago I created the very first SEO tool to 
query sites for PageRank and one of the very first SEO 
tools ever. I helped develop the "seo software"
category for crying out loud! And this new tool blows
me away!

This tool goes sooo much further than what my
software ever did...it's THAT good! Yes, I'm actually
saying it's better than the software I created (and am
still selling today)!

If you want links from article directories, this software
will get you that.

If you want links from WEB 2.0 sites, this software will
get you that.

If you want links from the homepage of google.com, this
software will (ok, not really)

But what I'm trying to say is this software is the single
most powerful desktop SEO Software on the planet for
getting you links and LOTS of them. The kinds of links
Google likes!

And what's even better is, you can set this software on a
scheduler and just let it run all day long... by itself!

You do nothing once it's set up and running!

download link

=> http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=CQ4fl&m=1cCzTEmEEM3lwr&b=cfZxBPBjsAPsrEMWhldXVA

By:  Shawn Pringle

7 Free Mobile Website Tools

Ready to go mobile? Not quite sure, but want to try a mobile site to see what happens? These free mobile website tools will give you a chance to test and play around with them.

Zinadoo

One of the most recommended tools I've come across on my travels is Zinadoo. Not only can you create mobile versions of your website, but you can create entirely fresh mobile websites and share them with others. Zinadoo also has a whole bunch of added featureswor for SEO, site promotion, and more.

mobiSiteGalore

Another create-your-own mobile website tool that comes highly recommended to me is mobiSiteGalore. With these guys, you can create a 3-page site for free, or create larger mobile sites for virtually any mobile device for an annual fee. They have fully compliant code and advanced device detection, which should eliminate a majority of the hassles for non-code monkeys who aren't as proficient with code as they could be. They'll host it, give you the option of using your own domain name or using a free one, offer private & white label services, and pretty much take care of it all.

WPtouch

If you love WordPress and need a quick and simple mobile version of your site, WordPress.org has a number of plugins to help you along the way. One of the most popular is WPtouch. The plugin provides you with a customizable mobile theme that works with a large number of smartphones and mobile devices. This is great for site owners who want to offer a mobile version, but don't want to modify the code for their existing WP site. (Image courtesy of WPtouch.)

Drupal Mobile Tools

Not to be outdone, Drupal also offers an extension for site owners looking to go mobile. Called Mobile Tools, this extension takes care of all the usually hassles that come with creating a mobile version of your site, including device detection, theme switching, set permissions, and more.

Mobile Joomla

Mobile sites are no problem for Joomla users either. Mobile Joomla provides you with a number of templates you can feed your content into, and you can add extensions to customize and tailor your mobile site even more. It works with all mobile phones and takes mere minutes to set up.

Mippin Mobilizer

Instead of playing with a mobile website, you might want to consider an app instead. Mippin (Now App Factory) makes it pretty darn easy to create fully-functioning apps with tons of features and options. You might actually prefer this option, if most of your mobile visitors use smartphones, simply because it gives you the ability to provided added functionality and ease of use.

jQTouch

If you are a bit more code-savvy, and are comfortable with jQuery, you might prefer something that lets you get right down to the nuts and bolts of things. jQTouch is a plugin that gives you the ability to create virtually anything and include all sorts of nifty features, including animations.

Other Resources You Might Find Helpful

There are a few sites that have such a great list of tools, I wanted to make sure you knew about them.
By: Angie Nikoleychuk