2020 Year In Review

selective focus photography of brown and black 2020 eyeglasses

For the humans that are still with us, in this foul year of our lord, two thousand and twenty, was probably one of the most challenging years of your life and worth every bit of hindsight and self-congratulations you can muster. It’s been tough. Professionally, there have been a lot of successes at SEO Bandwagon […]

Avast Rejects Jumpshot Over Privacy Outrage

Basketball Jumpshot

In a direct response to Vice and PCMag’s article on Avast Antivirus, Avast’s Corporate Board and CEO Ondrej Vlcek ceased operation of their data subsidiary Jumpshot. It seems that core mission of Avast cannot be uncorrupted by the sale of their user’s data.  “I realize the recent news about Jumpshot has hurt the feelings of […]

Google Announces New Nofollow Link Attributes

Google Nofollow Sponsored UGC Links

In a move that confused many in the SEO community, Google expanded upon the rel=”nofollow” attribute to include: sponsored content, user generated content, and good old fashioned nofollow. Danny Sullivan, Search Liaison at Google, has stated that this will help Google better identify paid content across the web. Presumably, the more sites that identify sponsored […]

Online Branding Tools & Tips

Branding is how you distinguish yourself in a crowded and competitive marketplace. It’s not just your business name, and/or your logo, but it’s a collection of all of the sensory elements that make up your business and how your customers respond, interact, and remember their experience. Branding is certainly its own skillset within marketing, and […]

New Year’s Resolutions For Business Owners

Let’s check in on last year’s resolutions: Backups Updates, WordPress 5.0 leaves us with an incomplete heading into the New Year, but we upgraded our important sites. Password Security We still recommend LastPass or just updating passwords, or maybe just getting rid of them altogether. Upgrade to SSL This is free in most cases, so […]

Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals

Hi Everyone! Not really a post, but just a running list of some of our favorite deals. OceanWP 50% Off We run this on our site, the free version is great, and the extensions are even greater. Elementor 25% Off We also run Elementor for really simple theme customization. WordPress, Jetpack, & WooCommerce 30% Off […]

Wix SEO Review

Wix SEO Review - Evergreen Dodgeball League

We did a Wix SEO Audit a few months ago when some annoying ads on YouTube got my attention and (re)raised my ire at the web platform. When I realized that they weren’t even able to rank their spokesperson for her own name (.com) I just about lost it. In my opinion, brand keywords are […]

Google Partners Connect – Retail

Google Partners Connect -Retail

Thank you to everyone who made it to Google Partners Connect last week. Apologies to anyone who had trouble getting into the building, we were unaware that the building was less accessible because of WeWork Summer Camp. We left a note on the door and tried our best to keep an eye out for attendees, […]

Why Wix Is Bad At SEO

Karlie Kloss Creates a Website with Wix.com

It has become recently fashionable in the SEO sector to kick Wix, sorry to pile on, but Wix SEO is a bit of a joke frankly and I’m getting pretty annoyed with their practices and a particular YouTube campaign they are running. Wix has been bombarding me (anyone else?) with ads from Karli Kloss about […]

Celebrate Food Pics With Google Local Guides In July

How To Take Food Photos

Google Local Guides have been celebrating July with food pics at their favorite restaurants. You may have noticed some extra activity in Google Maps and your Google My Business account. I’ve certainly noticed some more reviews and photos for my restaurateur clients. In terms of search marketing, people looking for a “restaurant near me,” want […]

The Power of Reviews: Lessons from Airbnb and Uber

The Power of Reviews: Lessons from Airbnb and Uber

Growing up, we were taught not to get in a car with a stranger, not to let strangers into our home, not to take food from strangers, and other best-practice habits to keep us safe and help us live long, fulfilling lives. This week, I took an Uber to my Airbnb and ordered takeout delivered […]

How Can I Get My Business To Show Up On Local Search?

How Can I Get My Business To Show Up On Local Search?

Since consumers access the Internet frequently for their daily needs, it has never been more imperative to get your business online and embedded in local searches. Indeed, a local online listing for a brick-and-mortar business is mandatory. In today’s article, I’ll discuss why it’s critical to be listed on local online searches, how you can […]

buddingSTEM SEO Audit & Results

buddingSTEM - Science & STEM Clothes for Girls

Our SEO Audit for buddingSTEM found some quick wins for search traffic and some ideas for long-term online marketing strategy.

How To Do Keyword Research

Keyword Research Suggested Google Searches

Keyword research to target searches that match your business goals is a key step in developing an online marketing strategy.

Websites for Bands and Musicians

You and your band may not “need” a music website for your band, but it can make things a lot easier for communicating with fans, finding new gigs, or selling your music and merchandise. Band websites are probably the easiest way to share your work on social media or collect email address for fan email newsletters, promote […]

How to Screw Up Your Branded Keywords Online

Mitchell County Cattle Brands

There is a misconception in SEO that branded keywords are “easy.” Easy if your brand is strong. Easy if your brand is unique and non-generic. Easy to get wrong. In a perfect world we would all own our brand online. In the real world and on the Internet your brand is only partially under your control. The more […]

Yext Offers Duplicate Listing Suppression

Yext announced a new feature yesterday to handle duplicate listings for businesses.   “Yext Duplicate Suppression is a revolutionary new capability for the entire local search ecosystem – for marketers, publishers and end users” said Howard Lerman, Yext’s CEO.  “Today’s innovation represents a quantum leap forward towards Yext’s mission to get perfect location information in […]

Easy Keyword Research With Market Samurai

Download Market Samurai

A business without customers isn’t going to be in business for long. Everyone anticipates customers and there is an idea of how your products and services will benefit them and provide value beyond the cost. But who are your customers? Men? Women? Other? Old or Young? Where do they live? How much money do they make? […]

Online Business Listings Inaccuracies Cost $10 Billion Annually

Incorrect business information costs you money every time a customer uses it and doesn’t find you. 50% of businesses have inaccurate information online: name, address, phone number, and website. Keeping your business information up-to-date is all that it takes to beat out half of your competition. So which half do you want to be in? […]

Inconsistent Data Within Google Webmaster Tools & Analytics

Secure search and keyword not provided has caused a pretty big shake up. Google’s answer to the lack of keyword data in Google Analytics is to go use the data that is in Google Webmaster Tools. Ok, there’s just one problem with that. Google Webmaster Tools for keyword data, 75% of impressions & 85% of […]

Local Man Has No Idea How To Press Release

Local Man Has No Idea How To Press Release Emergency Stop Button

Press releases have been re-purposed in the Internet era. Press releases only used to go out when you wanted to get a story in the newspaper. Newspapers always needed, and still need, copy to fill the space in-between the ads for their reading public. In the SEO world press releases were put out there when […]

Google Shifts to Hummingbird & 100% (not provided)

Google Hummingbird itself isn’t a big deal. It’s already been in place and rolled out and formally announced. The algorithm changes have been coming and Google telegraphs these updates before they happen so their users can adapt. If you have a forward-thinking strategy, the algorithm updates shouldn’t upset you too much. If you didn’t adopt […]