Don’t get lazy with search engine spiders, or they’ll bite you.

A long-time client contacted Webcopyplus to find out why their high rankings went downhill. In a matter of two months, they went from page one to falling off the radar for a couple of lucrative search terms. Their Google PageRank, indicating Google’s trust in their website, also dropped from 5/10 to 3/10.

We reviewed their web writing and meta data, and both checked out. Their inbound links were also relatively stable.

Upon further inspection, it was discovered that they were using duplicate web writing on many blog posts.

Google doesn’t like duplicate content. It’s considered a spam or black hat SEO tactic, and can result in dropped rankings, or even elimination from the search engine altogether.

A simple way to find out if your website has been penalized is to search for your domain name on Google. If your site doesn’t appear as the first result, there’s a good chance you’ve been penalized.

And if Google can’t find any page of your site if you search for “site:yourdomain.com” then it’s almost certain your site’s been knocked off its index.

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President-elect Obama will be the first president to post videos of his weekly Democratic address on YouTube, in addition to the traditional radio format, reports the Washington Post.

There’s no denying his party’s tech savvy. During the presidential campaign, the Democrats sent out countless text messages to people throughout the U.S. to remind citizens to register to vote, to go to the polls, and to get others involved in the campaign.

Reportedly, the Democrat party’s text message announcing Joe Biden as Obama’s running mate reached 2.9 million U.S. mobile subscribers. That made it “one of the most important text messages” ever, noted Nic Covey, Nielsen Mobile’s Director of Insights.

Marketers typically cut interactive spending in a recession. But a Forrester survey of 333 interactive marketers revealed strong support for maintaining or increasing budgets, reported Forrester’s Josh Bernoff.

The categories of choice include search optimization, social networking, email and blogging. In fact, among 12 major categories only online displays ads looked soft.

According to Forrester, professional services, financial services and media marketers are most likely to plan increases in interactive marketing.

In a recession like this, Bernoff suggested marketers should focus on the measurability of their online and social applications and think in terms of building long-standing assets, not one-off campaigns to pump up quarterly sales.

We recently posted an article entitled Website testimonials: Weapons of influence. It encourages website owners to use customer testimonials to boost credibility and sales, referring to author Robert Cialdini’s insightful social psychology book called Influence: Science and Practice.

While website testimonials are a powerful way to earn a prospect’s trust, they also foster commitment from those providing the testimonials. How? Well, when people put their commitments on paper – or the far-reaching Web – they attempt to live up to their words.

“Whenever one takes a stand that is visible to others, there arises a drive to maintain that stand in order to look like a consistent person,” noted Cialdini. Why? Because, he explained, personal consistency is viewed as rational, assured, trustworthy and sound.

Look at Barack Obama’s presidential campaign; he went with the theme “change” and stuck with it right through to his election to the Whitehouse. Someone without consistency is often judged as fickle, uncertain, scatterbrained or volatile. John McCain started with “experience” and switched to “change” mid-campaign.

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Testimonials are critical to any website that’s marketing or selling products or services.

They provide “social proof,” suggests author Robert Cialdini in his insightful social psychology book called Influence: Science and Practice. This principle states we determine what’s correct by finding out what other people think is correct.

It extends from the hectic pace of a complex society, where consumers are often forced to make decisions based on limited information. Add to this the hyper velocity of the Web, and you can begin to understand how people tend to automatically comply with the masses.

“As a rule, we make fewer mistakes by acting in accord with social evidence than by acting contrary to it,” stated Cialdini. “Usually, when a lot of people are doing something, it is the right thing to do.” Safety in numbers! It’s a convenient ‘shortcut’, requiring little time and thought, in exchange for plenty of comfort.

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While discussing online promotions recently at a web design firm, a programmer brought up a black hat SEO technique he was excited about. I acknowledged black hat SEO tactics can generate high search engine rankings, but often not for long. Worse, it can get clients penalized and knocked off search engines all together. For any reputable web design or development firm, it’s just not worth the risk.

Web design firms need to advise clients that proper white hat SEO can provide cost-effective, long-term organic (a.k.a. natural) search engine rankings. It might take a few extra weeks to get to the desired position on Google, Yahoo or Bing, but the methods are risk-free and the results can last for years.

It’s best not to trick search engine spiders, but to make it easy for them to understand what your website is about. Keyword-rich web copy, meta data and links can do exactly that.

Feed search engine spiders relevant information and they’ll reward you many times over.

If you’re planning to buy or sell domains, chances are you’re considering Sedo and Afternic, two of the most established domain marketplaces. Both take unusual approaches with their customer service phone numbers.

Afternic boldly features its 1-800 (1-866-284-4125) number front and center. However, when you call it — and I did several times during their office hours — you get to listen to a message that states, “Your call is important to us” repeatedly for a minute or two, after which you’re prompted to leave a message. I did, and the call was never returned.

Sedo, on the other hand, does not appear to make its phone number public. I couldn’t find a single phone number on its entire website. Eventually I gave up and requested the number via e-mail, and received it the next day. Here’s the ironic thing: a person actually answered it and was able to provide information immediately.

Afternic promotes its phone number and doesn’t staff it. Sedo hides its phone number and has staff ready to serve. Odd.

By the way, Sedo’s customer service phone number is (617) 499-7200.

Blogging is a great way to increase your search engine rank because it packs your site with relevant keywords and gives reason for Googlebots to return and feed on your fresh content.

Getting incoming links is also one of the best ways to raise your blog profile. Here’s how:

Comment on Other Blogs

Pick ones with authority that are as relevant as possible to your content. Leave your URL and be complimentary to entice reciprocal comments.

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Microsoft recently launched U Rank, a search engine that allows online users to organize, edit and annotate search results, and share information with others.

Here’s what Microsoft has to say about U Rank.

The percentage of Internet users who use search engines on a typical day has been steadily rising from about one-third of all users in 2002, to 49 per cent, reports PEW Internet.

That’s huge. In fact, the number of those using search engines on a typical day is pulling ever closer to the 60 per cent of Internet users who use e-mail — to date, the Internet’s biggest app.

Other popular daily Internet activities include checking the news (39 per cent) and studying the weather (30 per cent).

Those using search engines on an average day are more likely to be “socially upscale” reports the study, with at least some college education and incomes over $50,000 per year. They are also more likely to have six years of online experience, have their homes wired with high-speed connections, and be young and male.

Kiss those bulky hardcover telephone directories goodbye.