Friday, June 17, 2011

3 SEO Trends for 2011

Trend Number One: Exact-Match Keyword Domains Going Away

Trend Number Two: Social Media Directly Affects Search Result

Trend Number Three: More End-User Usage Data Playing Into Search

(Source Article is HERE and the Research is HERE)



Useful Marketing Research Sites

Thanks to Jamie Turner over at The 60 Second Marketer for sharing these 28 sites which are all free!

General Research Data:
CNN Student News: (www.cnnfyi.com) U.S. and World news multimedia site tailored to the needs of students.
Conversion Tables: (www.convert-me.com) Convert length, area, speed, temperature, etc., into different units and systems.
eLibrary Research: (www.elibrary.com) Search any topic using a database of current newspapers, magazines, books and more.  
Encyclopedia Britannica: (www.britannica.com) Online version of one of the world's most trusted sources of information on every topic imaginable.
Fact Monster: (www.factmonster.com) Designed for kids of all ages, this site offers an amazing array of facts and figures in addition to homework help, an almanac, dictionary and much more.
Gallup Organization: (www.gallup.com) Search thousands of poll results, special reports, societal trends and social audits.  
Information Please Almanac: (www.infoplease.com) Online almanac offering millions of interesting and useful facts on a wide variety of subjects.
Internet Public Library: (www.ipl.org) An exhaustive collection of over 20,000 titles.  
iTools Research: (www.itools.com) Collection of online research tools including dictionaries, translations, quotations and more.  
Library of Congress: (www.loc.gov) Easy to use reference catalog for accessing the collections of the Library of Congress.
National Archives: (www.archives.gov) National Archives online director of U.S. Federal records.  
Smithsonian Institution: (www.si.edu) User-friendly site from the world's largest museum complex and research organization.
U.S. Census Bureau: (www.census.gov) A wealth of basic information about the U.S., broken down on a national, state and local level.
U.S. Department of Labor: (http://stats.bls.gov) Bureau of Labor statistics site containing current labor statistics and links to hundreds of state and Federal agencies.
U.S. Federal Government: (www.fedstats.gov) Statistical information from over 100 federal agencies.

Competitive Intelligence:
Forrester Research (www.Forrester.com): One of the best resources for the latest trends and predictions in the technology industry.
Hoovers Online (www.Hoovers.com): Competitive intelligence on almost all publicly traded companies.  Paid subscription necessary for in-depth research.
The List (www.TheListInc.com): A top-notch contact database with names, addresses, phone numbers and even e-mail addresses of key employees.  Paid subscription necessary.
Securities and Exchange Commission (www.SEC.gov): Visit this site for annual reports and, more importantly, 10K filings, which provide threat and opportunity analyses for publicly traded companies.
Standard & Poor's (www.StandardandPoors.com): Analysts reports on industry trends as well as corporate profiles.
Plunkett Research (http://www.plunkettresearch.com): Another source for industry trends.

Demographics and Marketing Research:
MarketResearch.com (www.MarketResearch.com): A resource for research into a multitude of industries.  Costs range from several hundred to several thousand dollars, but a good resource for solid, credible marketing research.
Trend Watching (www.TrendWatching.com): A web site devoted to consumer trends.
Google/Uncle Sam (www.Google.com/unclesam): This site searches government documents from federal and state websites.  Good for demographic and census data.

Marketing Related Sites:
MarketinProfs.com, MarketingSherpa.com:  Websites dedicated to sharing marketing knowledge from marketing experts.  Excellent resources for recent thoughts and research in the field of marketing.
Ad Forum (www.AdForum.com): The best commercials from around the world.
Peppers & Rogers Group (www.1to1.com): The web site from one of the leaders in the world of CRM.
World Advertising Research Center (www.warc.com): Valuable research on the effectiveness of marketing, advertising, creativity, etc.  Subscription necessary.