Ignorance of the law is no excuse for the authorities so it’s important we’re all on guard so we don’t find ourselves in any trouble.

Privacy bill could mean increased disclosure requirements, privacy protections

One idea floating around Congress that’s seeing traction is an Internet consumer privacy bill being proposed by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), chair of the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology & the Internet.

Rep. Boucher’s bill is more of a privacy bill for consumers. Its main target is online advertisers who target consumers through behavioral advertising. Many online advertisers – including Facebook with their new ‘like’ features – examine behavior patterns online to target advertising to relevant parties, which in turn increases conversions.

Behavioral technology tracks a user’s searches, how long the stay on a page and even the sites they visit. Data is then taken by advertisers to establish behavior patterns and online demographics.

Web advertisers fear this bill will require web users to opt-in, causing them to lose an important tool in how they target potential customers. However, Rep. Boucher says he supports an opt-out option where web users can choose whether they want their information shared or not.

“If I were [a publisher or advertiser], I would want Internet users to have a sense that their experience is more secure, that they know what information is collected about them, and they be given much more control. They will be more trusting of electronic commerce. . . .it’s good for business,” says the representative from Virginia.

Whatever happens, there will certainly be increased regulation like new disclosure requirements and legal forms indicating how a site tracks data and uses it.

Financial Reform Bill grants new powers to FTC

Tucked inside the financial reform bill passed by the House last November was a provision expanding the Federal Trade Commission’s powers to allow them to impose civil penalties on companies engaging in “unfair” or “deceptive” trade practices.

Since the mid-1970’s, the agency had to hear public testimony and a congressional review had to occur before any penalties could be imposed on the business. With this new power, the agency will basically decide for itself with no public scrutiny what constitutes unfair advertising practices.

Ad industry groups fear this could lead to the FTC acting as an “unelected legislature,” basically giving it free rein over regulating Internet commerce.

The financial reform bill is currently being debated between the two chambers. The House passed its version late last year and the Senate this past April. Both chambers are reconciling their differences, which will need to pass. President Obama has indicated he will sign the bill when it arrives on his desk.

This bill seems more dangerous than Rep. Boucher’s privacy bill since it directly expands an agency’s enforcement authority.

Appointees to the FTC are chosen by the President so vesting this much authority in a centralized executive authority could be dangerous from a checks and balances perspective.

Boucher’s privacy bill is understandable in a big way but it will certainly add new requirements for webmasters and SEO marketers. The combination of the two could be a double whammy for any of us marketing our businesses online.

Stay tuned…

So it’s no surprise that sites like Yelp.com have sprung up to meet this demand…and if you’re a B2B firm, you may be faced with providing another form of a testimonial – references.

Providing customer testimonials on your own site is a great way to keep prospects engaged within your site.

Continue reading for 8 tips on how you can best integrate testimonials into your website and/or blog…these tips were provided to a web site promoting cabin rentals in Georgia but are applicable to a wide range of industries.

1. Leave testimonial in original text

Testimonials have a lot more credibility if they’re left in the writer’s original text. Of course you will want to edit it if it has a lot of typos or any profanity but the testimonial will be much more believable if you leave it in its original text.

2. Include person’s full name and other relevant data

To make the testimonial as meaningful and credible as possible, include the person’s full name, company, job position or location and age. Doing so makes the testimonial transparent to the reader – meaning they will trust it more.

3. Post small snippets in main site to support message

To make testimonials more meaningful, take relevant snippets and include them within your main site’s copy or on the side. Let’s take the rental cabin company for example. If you have a paragraph professing how much fun your cabins are for kids, include a testimonial supporting that fact somewhere nearby.

4. Create a dedicated testimonials page

Have a separate page where you include all testimonials in full in addition to using bits and pieces in your site like tip #3. Include a link entitled “see what others are saying here” after each snippet peppered through your site so visitors can easily access the full testimonials page.

5. Bold important parts of testimonials, points you want to get across

Bold parts of sentences to draw the reader’s eye to main points you want them to come away with – especially on long versions or on your dedicated page. Since most of us scan text online, we will notice bold face text. This will help customers understand what you want them to even if they don’t read the full testimonial.

6. Include testimonials in your blog too

While you have to be creative in the context you use testimonials, including them in your blog presents a great opportunity. You could perhaps include a section – “Customer Stories” – where you could provide a brief intro that would be interesting to someone checking out your services. You can then link to the full testimonial page on your site.

7. Encourage testimonials at each interaction with customers

If a customer expresses something nice about you, ask if they would be willing to allow you to use their words as a testimonial on your site. If you have any reviews on Yelp.com or other review sites, migrate them over to your site as well.

8. Encourage the use of pictures and videos

Give your testimonials an even bigger boost by including a picture or video from the customer. You can include the photo or video next to their testimonial and send them a link once it’s live so they can share it with family and friends.

Testimonials can sure be a fun part of online reputation management, providing you with kind words that you’re doing the right thing and motivating you to keep striving for the best.

As a side, remember there are rules governing the use of testimonials – now you must clearly disclose any material connections (like providing compensation for the testimonial) along with being transparent when a testimonial depicts results that are not typical.

Saying your content is “old” however can be a bit misleading…if your blog has tips, insights and other general observations about your niche, readers will find it useful long after you initially write it. Content like this can be referred to as “evergreen” content.

Our friends over at HubSpot recently conducted an experiment with their evergreen content – using social media tools like Facebook and Twitter to get the word out about the rich content that’s on their blog, not just what visitors see on the main page.

At SEOe, we publish 3 feature posts/articles each week so it’s likely visitors and subscribers have not read every one of them. But considering the structure of our blog and what we write about, something from 6 months ago is likely relevant today.

Continue reading to see how over the course of two months, HubSpot promoted carefully selected “evergreen” blog posts, podcasts and other things to promote on social media sites. Their goal was to generate additional traffic without spending time creating new content.

1. Content Selection

To narrow down what they chose to promote, the team found prior articles that received the most comments, traffic and links. Timely content like breaking news events was excluded as were articles they felt were no longer relevant.

2. Promotion

Over the course of two months, the team promoted 57 items on Facebook and Twitter. Considering differences between the two, the team promoted 3 content items per workday on Twitter and 1 per workday on Facebook.

Another factor they considered was positioning the content…which was important since they didn’t want to interfere with promoting their new stuff.  And they didn’t want to make people think they were clicking on something old so they promoted items in a conversational tone rather than listing the title like they do for new articles.

Here’s an example of one of their “tweets,” which they posed as a question:

Stuck in a lead generation rut? Learn some new tips & tricks in our comprehensive Lead Gen Marketing Hub! http://bit.ly/LeadGenHub

To see the effectiveness of this experiment, the HubSpot team tracked the change in social media traffic to the blog. They also created unique “bit.ly” links to each of the content items and tracked clicks to those. On average, evergreen content received 198 clicks along with more traffic from Facebook/Twitter to their main blog.

Here’s one easy way to drive more traffic to your blog that doesn’t require much effort to research and implement. If you have a blog that serves as a “knowledge” resource for your readers, consider particular posts that are still relevant and promote them through Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets.

You certainly know from reading web pages and blogs that a lot to good online writing is presenting your copy in a conversational tone…using written words to converse with your reader. In order to do this, we may have to break a few grammar rules. Ending sentences with prepositions, dangling a modifier or using ellipses liberally are just a few examples.

However, there are some grammar mistakes that are blatantly obvious to just about anyone who knows anything about grammar. Some mistakes, to put it bluntly, make you look stupid and can harm your credibility with potential customers.

Continue reading to learn five of these mistakes and how you can recognize the correct term to use when writing for your blog or website.

1. Your vs. You’re

Extremely common among bloggers, it’s easy to avoid this mistake if you take a minute and think about what you want to say. “Your” is a possessive pronoun – “your computer”, “your job” – things like that. You’re on the other hand is short for  you are, a contraction you use to say for example “you’re crazy for using bad grammar in your online copywriting!”

2. It’s vs. Its

Another common mistake that’s fortunately easy to spot. Again, take a minute and figure out what you’re trying to say. “It’s” is short for it is while “its” is another possessive pronoun. An easy rule of thumb – say the sentence out loud using “it is.” If it sounds goofy, then you should use “its.”

3. There vs. Their

A pretty common mistake that’s easy to make – especially in the rush of getting your thoughts down. I even make this mistake, catching it while proofreading.

“There” can be used to refer to a place (ex: I want to go there) or as a pronoun (ex: there is no need). “Their” on the other hand is a plural possessive pronoun (ex: their stuff, their jobs). Do a “that’s ours” test to see which one you should use. If you’re talking about more than one person and something they possess, “their will get you there.”

4. Affect vs. Effect

Another common mistake that even veteran online copywriters have to think about for a minute sometimes.

“Affect” is a verb while “effect” is a noun…it’s actually pretty easy to figure out which one you should use.  You cannot use “the” in front of a verb so think in terms of “the effect” and you can determine which one to use in your particular sentence.

5. Dangling Participles

Perhaps the most difficult to spot, this error can perhaps damage the flow of your entire piece and even confuse your readers. Basically, you’re opening phrase should modify what immediately follows. Consider the following:

After rotting in the cellar for weeks, my brother brought up some apples

This sounds like your brother is bringing some rotten apples to you – what a gift!

Instead, this sentence should probably say:

My brother brought up some apples that have been rotting in the cellar for weeks.

Readers mentally expect the opening phrase to always modify what immediately follows. If the opening phrase doesn’t do this, you’ve left a dangling participle along with some confused readers.

These are just a few common online copywriting mistakes many writers commit. It’s important you carefully review copy at least a couple of times before posting. In fact, you should give your copy a good once over and solely focus on grammar to ensure you catch any mistakes.

The bottom line is this – inbound marketing techniques cost much less, around 60% in fact, than traditional media (outbound marketing) techniques. Therefore, considering the economic climate in 2009, social media and blogs in particular saw tremendous growth over the course of the year.

As you will see in the webinar, the cost per sales lead for inbound marketing channels is much lower. To illustrate, 63% of survey respondents say that the cost for generating a lead through blogs and social media came in lower than expectations…compare that to only 34% of respondents who say the same regarding telemarketing.

Results from HubSpot’s study also indicate that 51% of companies plan to spend more on inbound marketing in 2010. Much of this is due to the poor economy, as companies look to get more for their marketing dollar.

Another trend you will notice – smaller companies spend a higher proportion of their marketing budget on inbound marketing channels like blogs, social media and SEO.

The next section of the webinar focused on changes in business blogging and social media. One graph in particular illustrates the importance of good business blogging. As you will see, the more a company posts something on their blog, the higher the chance they will snag a new customer.

In the end, all inbound marketing channels have to work together in order for your efforts to be successful. You can’t simply focus on your blog without ensuring it is crawled and indexed by the search engines, for example. And you can’t simply focus on SEO without providing timely and valuable content to your readers.

Check out the webinar from HubSpot here – it takes about 30 minutes to watch the presentation but it’s well worth your time.

But at one time, we were new at something and probably made mistakes along the way. Blogging is no different on that score.

So if you’re just beginning or interested in starting a blog for your small business, here are 7 common mistakes you must avoid if your goal is to turn your blog into a traffic generator and revenue source.

1. Never launching it

Perhaps the most common mistake people make. You write your first post or two while killing some time. They’re great, informative and focused…but they never make it online. You have to get started to finish, and it’s not a blog until you actually publish something online.

2. Using a sub-domain (ex. myblog.wordpress.com)

Another common mistake is simply going to a blogging platform like WordPress and TypePad and opening an account. These are great utilities for posting and managing your blog but if you’re going to the trouble of starting a blog in the first place, it’s worth your time and money to invest in your own domain that you control from the beginning. It’s very difficult to change later on.

3. Spending too much time on design

Many blogs never get launched because the owner spends the majority of their blogging time worrying about design. Looks are great, but the core purpose of a blog is relevant content. Besides, you can easily change the design later on so focus on creating great content instead.

4. Not telling anyone about it

In a blog’s infancy, no one knows about it. There are no links to it and search engines are not ranking you, perhaps not even indexing it. Therefore, the only way to get traffic to it is through direct contact. Tell your friends online and in the flesh of your new blog and utilize social networks to spread the word.

5. Getting discouraged too early

Blogging is no different than most things in one regard – it takes time to build up to success. Give yourself at least six months and maybe even a year before suspending the blog for lack of traffic. It’s hard to get some momentum but once you do, good things start to happen.

6. Too many plugins and “blidgets”

Many bloggers make the mistake of loading their blog up with a bunch of bells and whistles without paying much attention to their content. Resist the temptation to do this and invest your time in content, comments and categories instead.

7. Monetizing too early

Search engines like Google make it pretty easy to throw some ads on your blog. If you’re serious, you need to focus on building an audience first and worry about monetization later. Posting ads for revenue too early will discourage people from looking at your blog long before you have built the critical mass needed to make any real money with it.

Blogging can be fun and rewarding but it takes time, as any real success does. Don’t be discouraged, keep working at it and your efforts will pay off in the long run.

*Subject for this post courtesy of HubSpot’s Blogging Team. Subscribe to their email listserv at http://www.hubspot.com/.

Reportedly, Microsoft is approaching other news organizations with the same offer in an attempt to grab market share from Google. In October, Microsoft’s Bing accounted for just under 10% of online searches according to comScore.

Actions like this could prove to be a boon to the ailing newspaper industry, who has been struggling with declining print readership and advertising revenues for years. News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch has said he will use all legal channels available to prevent Google from “stealing” news stories.

News aggregators and search engines like Google contend that collecting short pieces of articles – usually the headline and first two sentences – is allowed under the “fair use” doctrine of the U.S. Copyright Act.

Microsoft’s move is also seen as a direct assault on Google, putting pressure on the leading search engine to pay newspapers for content.

Google is downplaying this news, saying they don’t need news content to survive and that it constitutes just a sliver of their revenue.

It’s tempting to think it’s just luck but playing the victim never got anyone anywhere. They’re either doing something you’re not, or something you are but much better.

Read on for some ideas on how to change that (it’s interesting how this Copyblogger post compares this to dating and life)

Listen before opening your mouth

It’s a well-known online marketing axiom that SEO writing content needs to provide as much information as possible to potential customers. Especially in today’s environment, consumers need reassurance your product or service can be a solution to their problem.

People aren’t going to line up to just learn about you and your product.

Think about this – two guys walk in a bar and spot an attractive woman having a drink.

The first guy walks up to the woman and begins telling her about his successful job, padded bank accounts, nice car and house. He assumes because of this she’ll just be anxious to go out with him.

Guy number 2 sits down at the bar and overhears a conversation between the woman and a bartender about her difficulty in finding a good Italian place. When the conversation breaks, the guy eases on in and says “Excuse me, but I couldn’t help overhearing about your bad experience with some of the local Italian restaurants. Have you tried Nero’s? It’s really excellent.”

Who do you think got a date with the lady?

Rather than blabbing about himself, guy number 2 started a conversation around a shared interest. He was able to easily capture the woman’s interest and go from there.

Look to other website copywriting pros for ideas but don’t copy them

You have to develop your own style…simply copying the style of some veteran website copywriter isn’t going to work. Generic copywriting techniques can be useful if they’re malleable to your market so it’s better to harness these skills into your own style, not copy them.

We’ve all heard those cheesy pickup lines: “If I could rearrange the alphabet, I would put U and I together” or “Are you an angel? I think I just died and went to heaven.” Now these may have worked for some guy somewhere but probably isn’t going to be too effective in getting a date.

The same idea is applicable to your website copywriting. Just peppering your copy with flattering talk may sound funny and cute to someone, but it doesn’t mean they’re going to jump on the bandwagon.

Stop talking to yourself

If your blog gets a few visitors a day, you can’t expect posting the same kind of content will draw anymore readers. You need to get out and meet some new people and get them interested in your blog.

Let’s say you move to a new town and want to throw a party at your place. Simply sitting at your apartment or condo and shouting that you’re having a party isn’t going to get people to drop by. Instead, going to the next condo or neighborhood association meeting and mingling with your new neighbors is a much better way. You can get to know them a little bit and then invite them over Friday evening for drinks.

The same concept is in play with your blog – join LinkedIn and get active in social networking. Provide thoughtful comments and develop relationships with other bloggers. Write a guest post for a similar blog.

These are just a few tips you can employ to enhance your SEO copywriting and content marketing to get a more loyal, and numerous, following.

If you’re considering hiring an online marketing company to help you with your blog, you’ll be guided through the whole process.

But if you’re looking to set up your blog on your own, you’ll need to first do some homework. Marketing consultant Kelly Watson has pulled together a great resource that answers all the small business blogging questions you can think of and more. I know, because I reviewed her blogging ebook and SEO Advantage contributed its expertise in a few places.

At $29 and well over 60 pages PLUS tutorials to help you actually set up your small business blog, The Small Business Blogging Blueprint is a resource that will serve you well. In fact, author Kelly Watson is even including in that price all future updates, so you never have to worry about the info becoming outdated.

Learn more about the ebook here.

We’ve also made many of the same changes to our blog as well…all the content is the same, but a few changes have been implemented to accomplish the same goal as our web site – make it easier to learn about SEO’s value and importance.

Our web development expert, Gaby Zapien, updated the blog while retaining the look of our brand. Increase font size gives it a more personable feel. And navigation links at the top make it very easy to get to SEO Advantage’s homepage to learn more.

Another, behind-the-scenes change we did was transfer the blog to a new platform, WordPress. Now, it will be easier for us to share graphics and embedded videos in our posts so expect to see more of those in the coming weeks. And, we now have the ability to accept comments!

So take a look around at the new search engine optimization e-blog and tell us what you think!