Spinfield: Web marketing trends today, tomorrow, and beyond…

Over 7000 dominoes make up this flag. Happy Fourth of July!

Copyright © 2009 by IdeaStar. All rights reserved.

The long tail of search is an important keyword strategy that is too good to ignore.  Defined as longer, less popular keywords or phrases, the long tail makes up for its lack of popularity with more qualified traffic.

It’s called the long tail because a graph of search queries would show a “head” of the more popular, general words tapering down to a tail of less popular phrases or words.   For instance, “insurance” would be a keyword at the “head.” It is a very general term, which would draw all sorts of visitors to a Web page.  However “Health insurance for retired seniors” narrows down the number of visits, and ensures visitors find what they are looking for.

Advantages of using long tail keywords and phrases include:

• Long tail keywords convert better because they are more targeted. Visitors often find exactly what they are looking for.
• There is less competition for specific,  long tail terms.
• Long tail terms are often more successful than overly used, main search words.

DoshDosh has a well-seasoned article on How to Find and Target Long Tail Keywords for More Search Engine Traffic. Its principls still hold true.

Copyright © 2009 by IdeaStar. All rights reserved.

If you are struggling to understand the difference between a twit and a tweet,  a twictionary and a twittonary, a twitterloop and twitterlooing?  Rejoice!  I found the perfect online book that tells all about Twitter and how to use it.

The Twitter Guide Book, published on Mashable - The Social Media Guide,  takes the reader from Twitter basics to Twitter uses, and on to managing your Twitter account. It really is quite exhaustive.

I will be spending some time with the Twitter Guide Book. As much as I don’t like to Twitter, I know how valuable it is. Simply posting a link to a new blog article brings qualified, interested readers.  So spend some time with the Twitter Guide Book and let me know the best ways you find to use Twitter.

Copyright © 2009 by IdeaStar. All rights reserved.

Google & Bing - The Battle Continues:  An independent study suggests Microsoft’s  Bing might be as good a search engine as Google.  However, being “as good” may not be good enough to get people to switch from Google.  Get the details at Cofactors Blog.

Google Traffic Spikes on News of Michael Jackson’s Death: Google traffic spiked June 25 as interested parties searched for news of his death. Search volume began to increase around 2 p.m., skyrocketed by 3 p.m., and stabilized by about 8 p.m.  News of the pop music icon’s death also drew unprecedented mobile search spikes as people turned to their cells for information.

Get-Rich-Quick Ads Steal Google’s Brand Equity:  Scammers playing on Google’s name entice the the gullible to “make easy money” online.

How to Export Google Search Results to Excel:  Get the most of your Google Search results by exporting them to Excel with SEOquake.  Search Engine Journal shows you how and what to do with the information.

Copyright © 2009 by IdeaStar. All rights reserved.

NASA reports “A fortuitous orbit of the International Space Station allowed the astronauts this striking view of Sarychev volcano (Russia’s Kuril Islands, northeast of Japan) in an early stage of eruption on June 12, 2009. Sarychev Peak is one of the most active volcanoes in the Kuril Island chain and is located on the northwestern end of Matua Island.”

Image Credit: NASA

Read about the eruption and view more pictures at the Mail Online.

Copyright © 2009 by IdeaStar. All rights reserved.