Author: Pete Lacis

  • How the Facebook Like Feature Increases Inbound Traffic and Leads

    When Facebook unveiled the ability for web content creators to embed their “Like” feature in third-party websites in April, it had the potential to be a game changer practically overnight.  The concept of directly leveraging Facebook’s user-base to drive traffic to one’s blog was huge.  But would it actually work? Since in the world of…

  • How to write a SEO-friendly press release

    Today it is more important than ever to understand and appreciate the nuances of how authoring content for the web differs from old-school press release and marketing copywriting. Gone are the long and elaborate introductory paragraphs.  As search engines treat the information at the beginning of a string (i.e. title or sentence) with greater importance…

  • Social Media for Realtors

    Its no news that realtors are looking for innovative ways to generate leads these days.  What is different is how they’re able to efficiently leverage technology to achieve their goals and set themselves apart from the competition.  As we’ve discussed in the past, merely having a website is hardly enough to make a difference.  Furthermore,…

  • The future of public relations

    With the growing number of public relations agencies delving into digital & social media, the misunderstanding and misuse of these new technologies and capabilities appears to be the standard rather than the exception.  David Henderson addresses this point beautifully in his post about The Changing Face of PR Leadership.  If these major agencies are to…

  • Why Building a Flash Website is a Bad Idea

    Even though its widely accpeted in the SEO community that flash based websites are not search engine friendly, this information isn’t universally known, let alone properly understood.  A recent discussion on this topic convinced me that this subject was worth revisiting. Put simply, the way search engines work is that when they get hip to…

  • Why Obama Shouldn’t Give Up His Blackberry

    This morning I happened upon this AP story from CNN.com where the author suggested President-Elect Obama may have to give up his Blackberry handheld because his emails could be subpoenaed and made public, not to mention the fact that consumer cell devices are rather easily tracked.  As a technology expert and enthusiast, I have to…

  • When not to rely on SEO

    While investing in SEO in today’s market can be one of the most cost-effective and import things a business can do, there are certain cases where it may not be ideal.  As discussed over on searchengineguide.com: If you have created a completely new product that serves a completely new niche, there simply may not be…

  • ROI on SEO vs. PPC

    Just as savvy investors see opportunity in down markets, internet marketers and SEO experts do the same when they notice a disproportion in spending on PPC (pay-per-click) advertising compared to SEO.  The often referenced “Google Heat Map” indicates that the lion-share of clicks for search results are within the organic listings.  That said, recent reports…

  • Google and Dynamic URL Rewrites for SEO

    The general consensus in the SEO world has held that search engine friendly static URLs are indexed more effectively than complicated database-driven (and seemingly nonsensical) dynamic URLs.  However, according to a recent post on Google’s Wemaster Blog, that assumption is not exactly accurate.  As most major websites today are based on database driven content management…

  • Launch of Search Engine CUIL Premature?

    The internet has been abuzz with the news of a new search engine created by former Google engineers called CUIL today.  It offers a new interface and a new take on search, sporting its own algorhythm.  However, a few quick searches reveal deep holes in CUIL’s index coverage.  Not only is it lacking key data…