Breaking the Google Habit

What will it take to beat the Google Habit? There’s billions of dollars that hang on the answer to that question. My last two columns looked at the nature of habits and how they can lead to an advantage for incumbents by “locking in” customers or users.

 
Before we look at some possible answers, it’s important to understand how and why previous attempts at breaking habits have fallen short in an area where far more academic work has been done: health care (Verplanken & Wood, 2006).
 
Educational campaigns have proven to have little effect on changing habitual behavior. In fact, studies [...]

Why Google is Habit Forming – Part Two

In last week’s Search Insider, I introduced the idea of habits, and why they can be hard things to break. This week, I want to explore how search engines can be habit forming as well.
Cognitive Lock In
 
Habits form and stay formed because there is usually a cost associated with discontinuing the habit. In a commercial interaction, this is referred to as the “cost of switching”. These are the lock in mechanisms that companies hope will keep you from walking across the street to their competitors. In theory, the cost of switching on the internet should be negligible, creating a frictionless, [...]

Local Search: Some Basic Optimization Tips

Local search continues to be a hot topic for many site owners.  As you know there are a ton of options when it comes to local search. Not only do you have the major search engines offering local search products including:
 

Yahoo Local
Google Local/Maps
City Search
Windows Live Local
Local.AOL
ASK City

You also have other properties such as:
 

SuperPages.com
YellowPage.com
Local.com
MapQuest
AOL Local Yellow Pages
Yelp
411.com

Of course I could go on and on as there are numerous other local search resources available. So what can you do to get your site listed in these resources so that you appear in the natural listings of local search and so that [...]

Before Launching a WordPress Blog – Check These Tips Out

WordPress is an excellent blog platform which provides complete customization which is both user and search engine friendly. Below are some of the tips, tricks and plug-ins that I use when I setup WordPress blogs:
 
Custom Meta/Title Tags
 
There are numerous WordPress Meta Tag plug-ins but I like to use this one offered by G-loaded. This Meta Tag plug-in adds Meta Tags to the Front Page, Single Posts, Static Pages and Archived pages. It is compatible for the following versions: v1.5.2 – v2.3.2. For title tags I use the following code so that the title for the home page uses the blog’s [...]

Why Google is Habit Forming, Part I

My wife Jill was the victim of another drive-by “why-ing”, and I, of course, was the perpetrator.
There’s a small specialty grocery store where we live that Jill visits every week or two. And almost every time, she complains about the experience. Outdated stock is repackaged. Food is rancid. The staff is surly. But she keeps buying there. After listening to another long winded vent, I dared to go where no man should go. I asked her “why”.
 
There were a number of reasons that she gave. It’s on the way on her daily route. Parking is convenient. Prices are low. But [...]

Blogging Tactics for 2008

The Online Marketing Blog recently ran a poll asking readers which SEO tactic they plan on using most in 2008 and the winner with 25% of the vote was Blogging. This doesn’t surprise me because blogging is an excellent way to manage PR, offer technical support as well as interact with users. In 2008 Blogging will be about refining your content and applying strategies to help distinguish your blog from the thousands in your vertical. Below are 6 great tips from the past to help with your blogging strategy in 2008.

URL vs. Title: The URL of your post doesn’t have [...]

Wedding Night Advice for Microsoft and Yahoo

Now that there seems to be some sort of union in Yahoo’s future, blessed or otherwise, I felt the urge to pass along some advice to whoever the happy couple might be. For, in all this talk about the impending nuptials , the clear objective is to survive and compete in the business of attracting the attention of prospects online.
I offer this advice on behalf of users, because frankly, I think that’s the only perspective you should be interested in. I’ll explain why.
 
Why Search is Essential
 
First of all, there’s a lot of talk about how a Microsoft – Yahoo [...]