It is very usual to need more pages on a website, sometimes a LOT more pages for the search engines.

This leaves most website owners scratching their heads over material to come up with.

Never fear, we have some hints for you:

How to Write When You Have Nothing to Write About

Often, we write articles for our clients, though on more technical subjects or ones specific to their business, the client is going to at least come up with the information.

If you think about it, what Google shows in its listings (what is called the SERP or Search Engine Results Page) is your ad.

Just like any ad, it has to catch a prospect's eye and interest them enough to look further. In this case, to click on the link and go to your website.

A key part of this is the two lines of description between the title and the URL links. This is called the "snippet" and it is mostly, but not completely, under your control.

Most of the time, Google takes it from what is called the "meta description tag" which is a behind the scenes piece of code, an instruction to the search engines rather than something displayed on your web page.

In fact it is one of the few such pieces of "invisible" information Google pays much attention to these days.

Anyone handling Internet Marketing needs to know how to edit write and change these tags. Any program for website building is SEO-unfriendly, if it doesn't allow you to change individual description tags. or makes it difficult to do so.

But Google doesn't always use the description tag for the snippet. Here's a good introduction to the subject:

Why Won't Google Use My META Description?

Asking about this is a good way to find out if an SEO (Search Engine Optimization company or person) is competent or a faker. Any real SEO is into the subject in a big way.

I've written several times on how different marketing is between a small company and a giant corporation like Coca-Cola.

There are two basic reasons: Budget and reputation. Coca-Cola can (and has) literally spend millions of dollars on a product planned to fail, just so they can position a competition product where they want it. And everyone has heard of Coke (and already has an opinion on it).

Internet Marketing is also very different depending on company size.

Office Depot doesn't need to buy click ads or optimize their website. Everyone knows who they are and what they sell.

Another angle on this is there are many areas online where you can't compete.

Don't try and start a business selling a new and better cola drink.

And don't try and start a website that is a new and better version of WebMD or Groupon or Amazon.

You don't have enough money.

There are also thousands of smaller companies and industries that are still way too big for the typical small business to compete online. I'm talking to you if you have, say, less than 100 employees.

The good news is there are zillions of niches where you CAN compete and get rich. If you have an existing business, you are almost surely already in one of these.

A big part of all marketing is picking fights you can win.

This isn't always obvious. Many businesses can use expert help. It takes homework, and frequently testing over a period of possibly several months to work out.

The Display URL is the website address visible in a click ad. The actual destination URL isn't necessarily the same (though it can't be too different to be acceptable to Google).

Up until now you could capitalize your display URL as you wished, for emphasis, easy remembering or to clearly communicate what the URL means.

www.FastF.com

That's no longer true:

www.fastf.com

You can, however, still capitalize the page name if you are sending someone to an interior page. So all is not lost:

www.fastf.com/Website-Design-Portfolio

This is NOT a popular change. We'll see if it sticks.

Launched in October amongst great fanfare, "The Third Search Engine" is continuing to get publicity.

But is it getting users?

Does it work?

Like Bing, Blekko realized if they were going to compete with Google, they had to do something different.

Oh yes, and better.

Blekko is different, it adds a more current social media dimension to search with the use of tags generated by yourself and friends. The idea is since such a high percentage of sites are spam, garbage, instead of trying to filter those out, let's instead select out the actual best sites.

Not a bad idea in theory. It might in fact find a niche in very heavily spammed subjects, if Google doesn't find a way to cope with them.

So far? Well, I looked at the visits from a client site that had almost 25,000 visitors in the last 30 days. Guess how many visits came from Blekko?

Zero. None. Zip. Bupkus.

I think they have a ways to go....

In a new post to Google's official blog, Matt Cutts speaks frankly about quality issues with search and Google's efforts to deal with it.

Google search and search engine spam

Take heed. Pay attention not just to quantity, but quality of content in 2011.

Because Google will.

Matt Cutts replies with specifics on duplicate content

Now, think about it like a search engine who has come across the following situation:
- Two pages appear to have roughly the same content
- Page B has a subset of page A’s content
- Page A was published before page B
- Both pages use images from page A’s domain.

When it comes time to rank the two pages, which one do you put first? If you are a user, which page would you like to see at the top of your search results? How would you feel if you were site A?

The entire thread (link goes to Matt's comments):

How Does Google Look at Duplicate Content?

Inevitably, someone wasn't just going to sit back and wait for the battle between Steve Jobs and Adobe over Flash, to play out.

The Skyfire browser is an app available for $2.99 for iPhones, will shortly be available for iPads as well.

They convert videos on their server and send you a readable (HTML5) version of the video.

Only works for Flash videos, not games or applications, and only for those videos already converted and on their servers - which is a lot, and increasing.

Stay tuned folks.

Google has shuffled their top executives with the two founders, Sergey Bring and Larry Page, and their long-tme CEO, Eric Schmidt, having different (and clearly delineated) roles in leading the company.

What does this mean? Clearly they have no intention of getting old and stale.

How Larry Page’s Google Will Function

Expect no slowdown in the pace of innovation from them.

Why is the Post Office going broke (and planning to cut back on service)?

Why do online solutions continue to explode?

Here's one example:

It costs Netflix 20 times as much to supply a movie by mail than online.

Many people don't own their own website - and don't know it.

Ownership means owning the domain name - your website address.

That is done by registering the address with a "domain registrar" - a company authorized directly or indirectly by ICANN, the international organization that handles such issues.

But in many cases a website designer handles the registration for a client and charges them for it yearly. And usually they don't make it clear to the client that in fact they (the designer) actually owns their domain.

They do provide a service, but they also make a nice little profit. But the main point is, if you don't control your own domain name, your website could disappear or be changed without your okay, and there would be very little you could do about it.

Getting control of your own website domain is usually easy, takes a few days and is inexpensive (like $7.49). But we've recently seen a client have to pay $2,000 to get ownership of their domain name.

It's worth paying attention to.

If you are mailing something other than a post card, the first huge problem in direct mail is getting the envelope opened.

Many people (I'm one) do their mail over the wastebasket.

There are many proven techniques for increasing the likelihood. One of them is to do everything possible to make it look like some kind of official document - one you'd better open.

The problem with that of course is once it is opened and they see it is NOT a lawsuit or a threat from a government agency, where are you then?

The links in the marketing chain are fragile. They are steps building credibility and interest.

Don't blow it.

Like the old joke "I can't be out of money, I still have checks", you wouldn't think the Internet could run out of addresses.

Not only is it, it is imminent. As in, this year.

Actual Interrnet addresses - called IP (for Internet Protocol) addresses - are a series of 4 numbers, each between 0 and 255, and separated by dots (for example 192.168.0.1). There are a lot of these numbers but they are getting used up very fast mostly due to the increasing number of Internet connected devices.

Increases the number of IP addresses one person may be using.

What's the solution? This has been predicted for years and a new protocol, IPv6, was developed, which allows for 6 numbers.

Making all computers and programs work with IPv6 is a lot of work, but its been a work in progress for a few years.

Now the first major test of IPv6 is scheduled for June 8th:

World IPv6 Day

Participants include Google, Facebook, and Yahoo amongst many others. You don't need to do anything to prepare, but be aware there is a slight chance (estimated at one in 2000) you may have problems.

The massive rate of change Google engaged in for a full year has slowed down.

Just in relation to Search, 2010 brought us Caffeine, May Day, Instant Search, integrated Place pages and a host of other monumental changes.

The last of those was in October and since then, things have been (relatively) quiet.

We can use the break.

Frankly, we are all still finding out all the consequences of some of those later changes.

You probably see them every day. Someone promising to get you top search engine rankings with Google.

Usually they claim to have a special relationship with Google.

No matter how big a company they are, this is always a scam and a lie.

How do we know? Google says so!

Search Engine Roundtable

Run screaming the other way when you hear such a promise. Genuine SEO takes hard work and a lot of knowledge and experience. It can produce results rapidly - but that means months, not days or minutes.

Sorry to have to break the news.

Mobile browsing is rising at a dramatic pace, with smart phones becoming the norm, the fabulous success of the iPad and now competing tablet devices as well.

One report shows more website visitors on mobile platforms than on Internet Explorer 6.

Time to take mobile seriously, even if you aren't in the restaurant, recreation or entertainment fields.

However, building mobile-friendly websites is still full of question marks. There are multiple operating systems you have to deal with - having contradictory requirements (hello Steve Jobs and Flash).

Another question is what exactly to do for mobile. Offer a slightly mobile-friendly version of a site? Have an entire different site tailored for mobile? Build an app?

The same answer won't be correct in all cases. And there are things that won't be completely settled for years. Call it The Mobile Browser Wars.

But that's no reason not to at least start to address the questions.

The king of publicity is product placement - showing your product in movies, or other entertainment media. TMZ showing a big celeb wearing your hat can make you rich.

But mostly it takes a lot of money to make that happen. Reeses Pieces in the movie ET cost $1 million.

Also, do you think that is a new idea? Think again. It goes back to silent movies.

A Brief History of Conspicuous Product Placement in Movies.

Sometimes the most fruitful area for improving your marketing is sales materials. That isn't about getting the word out. It is about once they hear of you, increasing the likelihood they will become, first, a serious prospect, and then, a customer.

This is usually the first major purpose of a good website - not lead generation, as through search engine rankings. But in most businesses, high quality printed materials (and sometimes DVDs or other types of items) are invaluable.

Examine your sales materials from the perspective of the people you are trying to reach.

1. Are they of the quality necessary to give the right kind of impression, to build confidence.

2. Do they answer all the common questions prospects have, without telling so much they don't need to talk to you?

3. Are there holes, completely missing materials?

You might be surprised what you find. And since remedying is usually easy and inexpensive, it can be a great, fast, cost-effective fix for a scarcity of new business.

With news of Facebook passing Google for number of U.S., visitors, you might assume that Facebook ads would be a lot like Google ads - only better.

They are very different - at least if you are talking about Google Search as opposed to Display Network ads.

Google Search ads show up when someone is searching on Google (or its partner search engines) - on the search results page. So your ad is being displayed to someone who is actually LOOKING for what you are selling.

Facebook ads, as well as Google Display Network ads, are traditional advertising - fundamentally no different than magazine ads. People aren't reading a magazine for the ads (for the most part), and people aren't going on Facebook to buy something.

See the difference?

So an ad that gets a 2% click through rate on Google Search, might get a 0.1% click through rate on the display network - and a lot of those might be mistakes or from idle curiosity, not buying interest.

Facebook does have the advantage of better demographics. So you can run your ad only to people of certain ages, for example. It can help build awareness in your target market even if it doesn't generate clicks (and sales).

But it is still a traditional ad. It can work for you, but don't expect too much from it.

There are a few Big Problems in marketing. One of them is getting the word out about your company, products or services.

And that is THE big problem because if you can't do that, you can't market. And if you CAN do it, all other marketing problems becoming a lot easier.

It is a problem for most small businesses because they don't have the budget to just blast their way into the awareness of their prospective customers, clients or patients.

Most of us can't afford a Superbowl TV commercial.

So how do you get the word out in a way you can afford? There are lots of answers, but the Holy Grail of answers is to Go Viral.

Go Viral. Get others to spread the word to others who spread the word to others... until your web server crashes because so many people are trying to view your website, the phones won't stop ringing and the warehouse is in despair over keeping up with shipping.

THAT'S the problem we all want.

So..... how do you go viral? How can you do something that will catch the imagination and spread like wildfire?

I'm afraid I haven't a lot of clues to offer on that. Except it isn't going to be by doing the ordinary.

However, there IS something effective you can do to make it easier for the right idea to go viral.

THIS Is what social media shine at.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, all the rest are capable of getting the word out like nobody's business.

So, if you have ambitions in this direction, get familiar with these tools. Play with them. Set up your accounts. Have fun with them.

Who knows. You could be The Next Big Thing.

Why is Google so innovative?

Their engineers can spend a day a week on projects of their own invention.

A large number of Google's many innovations have started this way. Google Instant is just one of these.

A Peak Inside Google Labs

One repeated question is whether you can use PO Boxes for addresses in Google (or Yahoo or Bing or....) local listings pages (called Place Pages in Google).

The answer is a firm "maybe."

Address-Less Businesses

This is an issue I expect Google to resolve in the near future - it has been festering for quite a while, but with the huge emphasis on local search now, I have to assume it is on their radar screens to sort it out.

Google was VERY busy with changes and releases in 2010.

Here's a good 4-part summary, with links to articles and announcements:

First Quarter Changes

Second Quarter Changes

Third Quarter Changes

Fourth Quarter Changes

What will 2011 bring? Stay tuned, and fasten your seatbelts....