It's time to take a quick look back through 2012 to find the best and brightest of our Daily Golden Nuggets. I'm splitting these into 3 categories of the most read of 2012, top landing page for 2012, and my personal top picks from 2012#1 Most Read 2012 Nugget was on July 3, 2012
Google Free Merchant Center is Now Paid Shopping
I can't blame Google for wanting to increase their revenue. They provide so much for free that it's easy to balk at them when they start charging for a service that was so successful for many retail businesses. On the other hand, Google also knows that charging money for a previously free service won't work and most people would rather live without it than pay for a service. The free Google Merchant Center was transformed into a more elaborate Google Shopping system within the umbrella of AdWords. The change made it worth the trouble. Read about it here.
#2 Most Read 2012 Nugget was on May 3, 2012
Example of Jewelry Website Copy Re-Writing
It's really important for jewelers to understand how hurtful some of the information on their website can be. Sometimes even an innocuious writeup on a random webpage can violate Google's webspam guidelines. Read this and understand for yourself how to boost the search engine optimization for your jewelry store website.
#3 Most Read 2012 Nugget was on February 6, 2012
Page Dates and Google SERP Dates
There's a difference between "evergreen" content on your website that is good all year long, year after year, and content that needs to have a specific date associated with it. This Daily Nugget explained how to take advantage of Google's date discovery process through 3 different methods. Read more about this date stuff here.
#1 Top Landing Page for 2012 was the Nugget from July 27, 2010
What are those square dot-like bar codes becoming so popular?
This is actually Nugget #2 that I wrote from a hotel room while vacationing around France. QR codes took a very long time to appear in mainstream USA even though several attempts were made by Blackberry, Apple, Microsoft, and Google. But QR Codes just didn't catch on in the USA until 2012. I know QR Codes are popular now since my own mother is happily scanning every QRC she finds with her new smartphone. The QR Code wave has arrived in the United States.
#2 Top Landing Page for 2012 was the Nugget from September 21, 2011
Black Hat SEO: Engagement Ring Keyword Stuffing Example
The popularity of this Nugget jumped immediately after Google's Penguin was let out of the zoo and remained strong through May, June, and July 2012. A lot of Black Hat SEO techniques thankfully got nullified in 2012 once the Google Panda and Penguin filters finally took action. This Nugget shows an example of keyword stuffing and explains how to avoid it.
#3 Top Landing Page for 2012 was the Nugget from September 20, 2011
Black Hat SEO: Explaining Hidden Text
Here's a Black Hat Nugget that was popular most of the year, but had a bump in popularity in July and August. Of course hidden text as an SEO technique hasn't worked on websites for a few years anyway. Read about it here.
Matthew Perosi's #1 Pick from 2012 was May 1, 2012
Easy Ways to use QR Code to Help Direct Mail Marketing
QR codes are a topic near and dear to my heart as I've been heavily tracking their uses in Europe and the USA for the last 3 years. As of January 1, 2013, most people still don't understand these QR "thingys" and many beginner articles are still being written about them. In fact, just last week an editor from JCK magazine interviewed me for another introductory article. Read this Nugget and start using QR codes in your marketing, but only if you are willing to do it right.
Matthew Perosi's #2 Pick from 2012 was October 2, 2012
Value Added Customer Service with This Photo Sharing Tactic
This was one of my longer marketing Nuggets from 2012, which was so worthwhile that I rewrote it for my monthly article the November issue of The Retail Jeweler Magazine. This is the original Nugget with the photo Facebook photo sharing technique, including artwork.
Matthew Perosi's #3 Pick from 2012 was July 26, 2012
QDF: For Jeweler's Eyes Only.
This is a tough topic to cover, but sometimes I just can't use simple examples. "Query Deserves Freshness" is a feature within Google that jewelers can capitalize on. In fact, the method outlined in this Nugget is so unique that most other industries should be jealous that jewelry stores can actually take advantage of this QDF technique. This technique is only good for jewelers with a passion for blogging.
