best affiliate programs

In this article, we’ll explore a statistical analysis of how TLD domain extensions rank in Google based on search results for common keywords.

One of the most commonly asked questions on webmaster forums is “Which domain extensions rank best in Google?” and the answers given usually provide no statistical analysis, just opinions. After a recent purchase of several non .com domains, I started thinking about the question and decided to conduct an experiment to see how other TLD’s fare in Google search.

In conducting this analysis, I wanted to use a broad spectrum of search terms across multiple keyword niches and use the top 20 results from each search to count the occurences of each TLD in the SERPS.

Being that Google uses localized search results by default, before conducting this experiment, I made sure to Disable Local Search as I didn’t want Google showing me local results that that wouldn’t be seen across the board.

Below is a table of the search terms used in this experiment and the total results by domain extension. It’s important to note that results from both Wikipedia and Youtube rank in the top 20 results for each and every search. The Wikipedia entries are .org so this will add to the .org results for each search.

As you can see, the first five searches for one word generic keywords produced a generous distribution of results across TLDs. While it is more likely that one word domains are registered and developed across all TLDs, it’s still encouraging to see that Google ranks TLDs other than .com high for the most competitive searches.

Search for Auto Insurance was obviously dominated by .com domains and only the largest commercial companies (Geico, Progressive, etc) were represented in the top results. This was also one of the few searches that a Wikipedia or YouTube result didn’t appear.

Another search completely dominated by .com domains was cookie recipe. Once again, we have exclusive results given to certain corporate sites such as Food Network and AllRecipes (owned by Taste of Home) who completely dominate the cooking recipe niche.

Cashmere Sweater also was 100% .com dominated with all of the top 20 results being from shopping sites such as Amazon, eBay, Overstock, JCrew, etc.

As for scientific terms, search for Combustion yielded the largest number of .org, .gov and .edu domains in this list. It is also the only search that turned up a .ws and a .co.uk domain in the first 20 matches. Solar Power also turned up a lot of .com.au and .co.uk results.

Favicon, Obituary and SEO were unique as a .cc domain came in at first position. Favicon also produced a .ru domain and Obituary produced the only .fm domain seen in this experiment.

Social Media was the only search to turn up a .biz domain in the top 20 rankings.

Also interesting, there was not a single occurrence of the popular .me, .co or .in domains found in these search results and despite the mass use of .info domains for MFA sites, only one .info domain was seen in this experiment.

While this statistical analysis of domain extension rankings is by no means gospel, it does imply that Google puts less emphasis on the domain extension than other ranking factors.

From Twitter to Groupon, from Facebook to Zappos, all these companies hit the fast track to popularity by generating a significant marketing buzz.

Creating a marketing buzz around your product, service or website is essential if you wish to have any level of success in business. Think about all the successful companies who have experienced rapid growth and you can easily see they all burst onto the scene with a significant amount of buzz driving their marketing efforts.

While it’s relatively simple to just perform SEO and generate traffic from search engines, most of the time you’ll be getting sterile traffic that really doesn’t help build your brand. Word of mouth is the most important form of advertising. While you do want any potential customers to use or buy your products and services, what you really want is for people to be talking about you, telling their friends about you and spreading your message.

Sounds great… but… how do you create a marketing buzz ?

Here are 8 tried and true tactics that can be employed when trying to create a marketing buzz around a product, service or website.

1. Write a Press Release
Using the internet, it’s possible to maximize low cost PR campaigns using press release services from websites like PRWeb and Free Press Release. A well received press release can be one of the easiest ways to get your marketing campaign going viral. Be sure to check out Writing an Effective Press Release if you’re going to be using this method.

2. Engage Bloggers
Bloggers are a critical part of creating a marketing buzz. What could be better when trying to get people to spread the word than having bloggers write about your brand. The downside is that bloggers often only write about what they feel like writing about. One thing you can do is contact bloggers who have written about products or services similar to yours in the past and see if you can arrange a review.

3. Use Social Media
Trying to create a buzz about your product or service without using social media spells certain disaster these days. Over the last half decade, social media has grown to epic proportions with nearly all internet users using one social site or another. It’s important to identify your brand using social media and keep your fans and followers engaged. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube can enhance your branding with a personal touch that keeps your customer base close at hand.

4. Advertise on Websites
Tried and true, advertising always plays a key role in brand recognition as well as creating a buzz. It’s important to identify potential advertising opportunities that are tailored to your brand. One good place to begin is BuySellAds.com where you can review different sites based on various criteria to select a match that’s right for you.

5. Mobile Marketing
If you’re not using Mobile Devices as Part of a Successful Marketing Strategy, you’re missing out on one of the fastest growing segments of internet activity. Two ways to exploit this emerging market are by creating a mobile version of your website and/or creating a specialized app for your brand.

6. Contests and Sweepstakes
Nothing works better to reach potential customers than holding a contest or sweepstakes. While they can be very effective, the downside is that a majority of the people who signup for contests or sweepstakes will have no other interest in your brand other than what they might be able to get for free. This is why it’s important to subscribe entrants into an opt-in email list for future marketing efforts.

7. Email Marketing
If you’re not building an email marketing list for your brand, you might as well forget ever creating any real buzz surrounding your brand. Email marketing has proven very effective and the potential to reach customers is unparalleled. If you’re doing any type of email marketing, you’ll want to make sure you respect your email recipients and allow them to opt-out of receiving email. It is also recommended to use a service such as Aweber to maximize receipt rate and to help track your email campaigns.

8. Affiliate Marketing
Creating a buzz for your brand has never been easier than starting an affiliate program for your around a products or services. think about it. Affiliates who are promoting your offers will blog about it, spread it on social media, take out PPC ads to drive traffic and do all types of marketing to earn a commission. Companies like Amazon, eBay, Overstock and so many more have turned their affiliate programs into a cornerstone for internet based marketing.

Creating a marketing buzz using the methods listed above might not be the simplest approach but if you’re diligent and follow through on your efforts, chances are you will generate sufficient buzz to get your brand some recognition.

I was doing some searching in Google today and noticed a significant change that will have webmasters and SEO’s scratching their heads. This isn’t a minor, insignificant change like adding the Google +1 button alongside search results. This change could have a significant impact on the entire search marketing industry and organic seo.

The change I’m talking about is Google’s implementation of the new “Block all … Results” link as seen below :

The “Block all … Results” link inserts itself into a search result after you click the destination link and then click the back button within a certain amount of time. I’ve tested it for as long as 5 minutes and it pops up even after that long on a page. Apparently, it’s not just factoring in a quick bounce rate, it’s actually allowing searchers to block a site even if they didn’t bounce.

Fortunately, searchers only see the link to block results from a website if they’re logged into their Google account, so it won’t impact everyone.

On one hand, I really do like the concept because I’m so sick of seeing Facebook, Amazon, mylife.com and other junk or commercial results clogging up the search results. However, I would much rather have the link displayed next to results I want to eliminate *before* I actually click to find it wasn’t what I was searching for.

On the other hand, I’m a bit worried that like the +1 button, Google will factor the number of people who block a result into a site’s rankings. This would spell certain disaster as it would allow any black hat seo to knock competitors out of the search results.

I’m sure with a little fine tuning and a more granular approach, Google could really make this change beneficial to the search experience.