So today is a special day. My father celebrates his 70th birthday — aside from my outing his birthday and age (fortunately he probably won't see this), today will be just another day for him. Needless to say, he's not one for celebration. In fact, I think he sees most days as just another day, but in a good way. Let me explain.
My father comes from a time long before the web and computers. He didn't go to college, and fortunately grew up in a day when you could do a lot more with your life without a college degree behind your name — though I think he'd manage just as well even today. As a young kid in the 70's, I remember hanging out at his gas station, and then I spent a fair amount of the rest of my childhood, on through high school, growing up around a Chevrolet dealership as he worked his way up from mechanic to Service Manager, which he fulfilled for longer than I can recall. And not just any Service Manager — he was one of the top 65 Service Managers for GM most of that time as well. I'm sure he considered those to be "just another day" kind of days as well. As you can imagine, I got a huge dose of customer service throughout my life.
My father is true old-school, coming from a time when you did whatever you needed to to take care of the customer. And it shows. The dealership he was at continued to provide customers with loaner cars when their car was being serviced for an extended period of time, they had customers that would come in from all over to buy or get their vehicles serviced, and my father would go out of his way to help a customer with whatever they needed. To this day, I struggle to remember a time when I went anywhere with him and someone didn't come up to him to say hi or thank you for something he did. While he's left the dealership and now semi-retired, he continues to work, and more importantly, continues to practice these old-school ways.
So what does any of this have to do with the web? In this modern technology world with websites, e-commerce and search engines delivering all the information we seek, there are still some important elements of the pre-web era that we need to carry-over. I have no doubt that much of my father's success in life has been his "do what it takes" attitude, especially when it comes to taking care of customers and dealing with people. The web often removes some of that personal connection of a brick-and-mortar world, but that's no reason not to do everything you can to take care of your site's visitors.
SEO has become about so much more than just content optimization, choosing the right keywords and search engine spiders. SEO is really just one aspect of search marketing, and marketing in general, and successful SEO practitioners realize this. It's important to make sure that a website focuses on the needs of the audience. Is the site laid out in a way that meets the needs of the visitors? Is the site focused on selling products or services, or is it focused on helping the visitors solve their problems? Is the site nothing more than an electronic brochure or shopping cart, or does it provide visitors with useful information to help and educate them?
Set out to "do what it takes" to satisfy and help your visitors. Give them a great, user-friendly experience and give them the information they need to solve their problems. As the web continues to evolve and mature, the most successful sites will stand as a resource, providing information to help site visitors. Sure, low or at least competitive pricing may be important, as will a user-friendly return procedure, but gaining their trust up-front will come from helping them out with nothing expected in return.
Oh yeah, and this useful information, this resource you put together to help your site visitors and customers, could serve as a tremendous lead generator and traffic pull. What happens when you put together the definitive source of information on a particular problem or need? If it is done well, then you have probably created great linkbait that will naturally encourage people to link to that information.
Hopefully you'll also make sure that the information is easily accessible to search engine spiders, and with a little keyword research before developing this content, you'll also have great insight into the optimal terms and keyword phrases to title and pepper this content with. And don't forget that this keyword research may also point you toward the content, the problems and issues, people are looking for.
What's old is new. Whizz-bang on the web may be entertaining, but at the end of the day, people are looking for substance. They are looking for information. And for those who are willing to do what it takes, many of these people will be more than happy to tell everyone they know in person, but also to blog about it, to link to it from their MySpace or Facebook page, to write reviews, or whatever else. It's great knowing that some things do stand the test of time. Deliver a great experience, and you'll be rewarded many times over.
Thank you, dad, for teaching me the importance of delivering on your word, for doing whatever it takes to not only satisfy but to exceed expectations, and for always finding joy in whatever I do. Happy birthday dad.
So, the other day I posted about how you can fit LinkedIn into your SEO and Web marketing mix through optimizing the links within your profile as well as linking back to your public LinkedIn profile, participating on LinkedIn Answers, and optimizing member profiles. Of course LinkedIn is built around individual members, so business interaction is very individual to individual ... there's something kind of nice about this, more personal feel.
Conceptual LinkedIn Company Pages.
It's interesting how aspects of our lives come into play. Prior to joining this Web revolution, or evolution, depending on your point of view, I worked in the world of consumer packaged goods. I developed and managed some of the office products that most of you probably use everyday. I became fairly familiar with even more products that I didn't manage, but was naturally exposed to. One of these was the Rolodex brand card file products after that parent company was acquired.
Even though I didn't manage the product line, there was always something intriguing about the products. In this highly electronic world we live in, business cards continue to change hands every day. At some point or another, I'd guess that nearly every TV sitcom has someone pulling a card or looking up contact information from a card file; or at the very least, one is seen prominently on someone's desk. It just lends credibility and is something we've grown to expect.
By no means do I see business cards disappearing anytime soon--so pull those boxes back out of the trash. But, keep in mind that even business cards can only take you so far. Beyond business cards, everyone (and every business) should make sure that they are adding LinkedIn.com to their marketing mix.
While there are a number of services that can help keep you up to date with your contacts--probably better actually--the mix of features as well as the huge and continued adoption of LinkedIn by professionals makes it a worthwhile Web marketing venue.
So how can LinkedIn fit into your SEO and Web marketing mix? Here are three key areas to focus on.
Links & Linking
Every LinkedIn profile is able to add three links to other sites. These could be anything--perhaps to your company home page or to your blog. What many may not realize is that these links are live, direct, and not "nofollowed" on the public profile page...which is the page that is openly available to search engine spiders.
Rather than using the default choices that LinkedIn provides when adding links though, select "Other:" to add relevant anchor text to your links. Of course, you also need to make sure that your public profile is set to actually show these links within the Web site section of your profile. Since these public pages are accessible to search engine spiders, they'll also pass PageRank and contribute to overall link popularity.
Now that you've added links, be sure to link to your public profile URL from other sites when appropriate. This way you'll drive a little traffic to the profile, and depending on the link, also flow a little PageRank through the profile page to your chosen Web site or sites.
Answers
SEO of course has a strong focus on-site and in regard to search engine spiders. But SEO is also part of the much bigger picture of search engine marketing (SEM). This becomes especially clear when looking at the social media arena. And no where is this more evident than in the LinkedIn Answers section.
The Answers section provides members a forum for asking as well as answering questions posed by other members. While search engine spiders may index and even return these pages, more importantly, these pages are seen everyday by real live human beings who may well be potential customers. Participating within the Answers section is an ideal opportunity to demonstrate thought leadership within your industry, draw additional attention to your Web site (since you did of course add a link to it from your profile as discussed above), network, and further build your brand image.
Optimization
Did I mention that your public profile may be seen, indexed and more importantly, returned within search results? What this means is that you have one more opportunity to rank, and not only rank, but rank via content that you control. LinkedIn is a great reminder that optimization is mostly focused on-site, but we should never lose sight of opportunities to optimize content we can control, residing on sites that may lead visitors to our site. And actually, LinkedIn may provide even more than one opportunity to rank since every employee's profile within a company may be one more potential search result.
Now this isn't a license to spam your LinkedIn profile. What it does mean is that it may be beneficial to give a little more attention to the summary information that you provide. Write it intelligently but also incorporating strong keyword-rich signals that are related to your brand, industry and Web site that you wish to be found for.
Best of all, even if LinkedIn decides to "nofollow" all links within profiles, or even block search engines from indexing member profiles, LinkedIn will still serve as an online marketing and networking channel to connect you and your business with potential clients and customers, which in the end, is what SEO is really all about.
But as I said earlier, don't go throwing out your business cards, or your card files. Who knows though, maybe in the future, business cards will look a little differently than they do today, and perhaps something more like this:
Brian R. Brown
http://www.linkedin.com/in/brianrbrown
Certainly allows for plenty of white space.
Social media has certainly come into its own over the last year. Whether you log more hours online than you do sleeping or are the type that only turns your computer on every couple of days — gasp — there is a good chance that you have some familiarity with social media, even if you didn't know that's what it was.
Maybe you get a chuckle every now and then from a video on YouTube, upload photos to Flickr for friends and family to see, ask and answer questions on Yahoo Answers, do a little networking and reconnecting with old classmates and work colleagues on LinkedIn, keep track of popular news on Reddit, jot notes on your mates' walls in Facebook, or have carved out your own little corner of the web with a MySpace page. If you have a username and login at even half of those sites, then you know all to well the impact of social media. And for many, that list is but a mere sampling of their social circle.
But what happens when social media collides with daily life? Good, bad, or otherwise, most of us live extremely busy lives. We've found that all of the great tools that have been developed to simplify our lives and allow us more time, often just allow us to do more with the time we have. Is that a bad thing? After all, it is our life and if we are doing the things we want to do and that are important to us, wasn't that the ultimate goal to begin with? If you are expecting answers to those questions, sorry, they aren't coming.
The problem, or at least the challenge, with social media for individuals is simply one of mass. There is only so much time during the day and night that any one of us can put toward the social media venues. At some point, most of us will probably gravitate to a few key sites. Will this gravitation be a slow fade, or cold turkey? Will it be individually, or a revolt of mass proportions? Only time will tell of course.
But hold that thought. The story for businesses is a little different. Social media provides a powerful channel to reach out and interact with the community. While things in business rarely come without a cost, social media can be an extremely cost effective extension of nearly everything a company does. Even as social venues shift in popularity or come and go, businesses can introduce themselves and interact with those who share the same interests. As marketing channels go, the ability to connect with highly targeted, highly interested individuals at a personal level, is pretty hard to beat.
So while the future and popularity of individual social media venues may as yet be undetermined, and individual users' levels of interaction may vary, social media is here to stay. There's so much more that could be said, but I have to go check my Facebook page.
Along with being entertained, what can we learn from them?
Over the years, and long before the Web entered into the mix, people have become very attached to their programs. While the networks may, and perhaps still do, have some trepidation about copyright issues and online file sharing, they've also realized that the Web gives them even more opportunities to get in front of their audiences.
The networks and shows aren't limited to the 30 or 60 minutes a week any more. The Web provides a 24-7 connection, and thanks to mobile access, nearly unlimited potential. But just like any other business, success on the Web isn't guaranteed. Let's take a look at three examples across the three major broadcast networks.
... Read more
Like many companies, Netconcepts recently celebrated the holidays with a little staff get together and mystery gift exchange. There were the usual, but always popular gifts of coffee, tea, chocolates, and wine, as well as a very popular Atari console ... and as we did the "you can open one or steal one" gift rule, it certainly was the most fought over gift.
Unfortunately due to timing, Stephan wasn't able to make it as he was out visiting our friends in Seattle and participating in a great SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday otherwise he might have been torn between the Atari and the unique gift that follows and shows that even search geeks have a sense of humor (twisted as it may be).
Every search marketer has their bag of tricks and tools, but why settle for a bag when you can have a kit ... or more accurately, a box with built in carrying handle? And at $15 or less, the cost limit for our gift exchange, within range of even the budding search marketer.
What comes in a Search Marketer's Kit? I thought you'd never ask. Luckily, each item in the kit comes with its own identification tag.
Official Super Deluxe Search Marketer's Kit
If you can't join 'em, beat 'em: this seems to be Google's rally cry, and this time its Facebook taking a potential beating. The New York Times is reporting that Google is in the process of creating an open platform to allow software developers to write widgets and full-fledged programs for Orkut. Never heard of it? It's the Google version of Facebook/MySpace. But Google decided to make it a swarming strategy; the platform will also allow development for other social media sites including Friendster, LinkedIn, Ning, Plaxo, and Facebook's arch rival, MySpace.
Facebook has built itself up as a social media contender by way of open source programming for applications within their site. Google's tactic is aimed at adopting this strategy in attempt to outdo -- or at least match -- the 5,000-plus popular apps running in Facebook, many of which are used daily by millions of Facebook members.
Understandably, Google wants a share of these eyes, and building Orkut's popularity in the United States (it's already popular in many other countries) is surely another revenue stream in which they'd like to participate. Orkut hasn't made it here, and it will be interesting to see if the open source project will ultimately be a catalyst for success or a simple band aid. Regardless of Orkut, by including so many players in campaign, it's highly unlikely Google will lose.
As the tail end of the year comes around, many Internet retailers gear up for what will hopefully be the busiest part of their year. Of course, this is also one of the most nerve-racking times of the year as well, especially for those who have a disproportionate amount of their business relying on the success of only a few months of the year.
As you gear up for the holiday season, SEO blends more than ever into all of your other marketing efforts. Here are a few tips to help you on your merry way.
Audit Time
If you haven't already, now is the time to do a quick audit of your site. For many, a code freeze is or will soon be in place, so there won't be any changes to the site, but this is hopefully an opportunity to fix anything that isn't working right. Especially if you just underwent any major changes in the last few months, this is a critical time to find anything that slipped through the cracks. And if you aren't under a regimented code freeze, it may not be a bad idea to implement a self-imposed one as this can be a dangerous time to make major changes to your site.
- Double check your contact form, live chat or other mechanisms that are in place for customer contact.
- Review the last couple months of log files or your site analytics, looking for any 404 errors for missing files... moved or removed pages, broken links on your site, or missing graphics.
- Make note of your most active pages. While you probably won't be making any major changes to these pages, they might be good targets for including links to other key site pages to route holiday traffic.
Reach Out to Friends
An existing customer is much more likely to be receptive and to buy than a brand new customer. If you have an existing customer list and permission to contact them, now is a great time to kick off the season with a pre-holiday email or two. If you have a list but don't have a delivery mechanism in place, look to solutions such as ExactTarget or GravityMail to do the heavy lifting for you.
Map Your Blog
Hopefully you've already implemented a blog on your site. If not, then you've already found your New Year's resolution. (What a relief to have that out of the way, eh!) The future of Internet retailing is about being more than just a retailer. Today, anyone can setup shop online. The retailers that will thrive will be those who connect with and deliver more than a shopping cart experience.
For those who do have blogs in place, map out your blogging for the season just like you map out your sales and advertising calendar. Plan posts now and start working on them for publishing later so that you can keep on top of them during the busy holiday season. But make sure that your blog isn't just another sales pitch. Your blog should be about connecting and communicating with your readers. Share some holiday stories, maybe your favorite recipes, or offer helpful packing and shipping tips. Any product mentions should be done carefully and subtly and in moderation.
Go Social
If you've been waiting for your film debut, here's your chance. A light-hearted video on YouTube could be just the thing for a little extra traffic boost. Or if you have products that require complicated assembly, some short and helpful videos might be unexpected holiday hits.
Connecting Offline and Online
If you live and breathe SEO or web marketing, offline may be the furthest thing from your mind. Of course, there are other angles to the offline world. Hopefully you have the basic fundamentals covered, like making sure that your web address appears in all your mailings, advertisements, and anywhere else you may be marketing offline. If you have brick-and-mortar locations, it doesn't hurt to remind people that you also have a website.
Don't forget that many of the traditional offline entities now have online presences themselves. TV news, radio stations, and newspaper reporters are often looking for interesting holiday stories, from the "most unusual" gift ideas to how to entertain for the holidays. Come up with an interesting story idea and you may not only get valuable airtime or print mention, but a link from their site to yours.
Be smart, get creative and this holiday season could be your most successful yet.
Blendtec's Will It Blend?
(Credit: YouTube.com)Apparently, blenders aren't just for smoothies and margaritas anymore.
Ever try blending golf balls? Light bulbs? Cell phones? A rake handle? An iPod? I bet not, but I have a sneaking suspicion that you have watched Tom Dickson from Blendtec blend some of these things on YouTube.
A few months ago, I used the "Will It Blend?" campaign for an article on Marketing Profs.
Since then, the campaign has continued on (Tom blended an iPhone this summer, for instance) and is now arguably one of the best examples of YouTube-based social-media marketing (SMM) to date.
The YouTube-based promotion is the brainchild of George Wright, marketing director at Blendtec, along with Tom Dickson, Blendtec's founder and CEO. Various common objects are successfully run through a Blendtec blender without breaking it--even marbles. These videos are funny, addictive and brilliantly adept at demonstrating the power of Blendtec blenders.
The results for Blendtec were almost instantaneous. For their initial investment of less than $100 on the first videos in the series, the company drove more than 6 million visitors to its WillItBlend.com Web site in less than a week. It is the stuff of marketing legend, like Apple's "1984 Macintosh" campaign or Wendy's "Where's The Beef?" advertisements.
But the game is a little different now than it was in the television-dominated world of previous decades; YouTube is now more popular than all the sites of the TV networks combined.
YouTube offers brand visibility when the campaign is well-executed, but it offers more than that. Marketers must also know how to take advantage of the other parameters of social media. Here are three things to consider:
Links
YouTube and other social-media platforms can provide links to a company's corporate or home Web site. The key is to associate your video or other media with that site, both by using textual links and by branding the media.
Blendtec, for example, has watermarked its Willitblend.com domain in the lower-left corner of every video, from beginning to end. Even if someone takes a screen capture of the video, the site is represented.
The more interesting your content is, the more likely that people are to link to it. But they have to know where to link.
Branding and online reputation
Social media is more than just traffic and links. It works as well or better than any medium to create both online reputation and, through that, brand awareness. The fastest way to a popular and respected Web site is some combination of interaction and entertainment, and social media is both.
The Blendtec videos have made their blenders hip--and they may very well be the only hip blenders out there. Not only have the videos brought their brand to the forefront of many minds, through which thoughts of blenders might never have passed, but it's even been added our modern speak.
References are now made to "will it blend?" to denote the question of whether something will be successful, much like "will it fly?" or "is it a go?" Every time someone utters that phrase - at least for the moment - they will also think of Blendtec.
Sales
This one's basic: sales of Blendtec blenders were up 43 percent in 2006. They continue to be up in 2007. On top of that, companies using Blendtec blenders are paying thousands of dollars to have Blendtec promotions, and ads at the end of Blendtec videos are earning the company tens of thousands of dollars a year.
The avenue for this sort of promotion, SMM, is wide open. I wonder who the next Blendtec will be. If a company doing something as seemingly boring manufacturing blenders can pull it off, surely some sexier companies can too. For example, imagine what the celebrity-watching fashionistas at SeenOn could do with a bit of YouTube-driven SMM. This is surely a space to watch.
What do you get when you mix social media and local search? Well the team at Yahoo Local would like you to think they have the answer. They may not be too far from wrong.
Social media sites have become all the rage as they bring human connection and interaction to an electronic world. We can share photos with not only friends and family, but the entire world, tell others what we think of a particular product, upload movies of the crazy stuff we do in our spare time, or chat with anyone who happens to find their way to our little space on the web.
On the search front, local and mobile searches are the new frontier as users determine that finding the nearest Greek restaurant in their little corner of the world is more useful than finding restaurants in Greece... unless their corner of the world lists Greece as the mailing address.
Social and local are two highly competitive areas that many are working hard to capture, and what better way than through combining the two. Yahoo Local just announced new features to further their position within this arena. They are tightening up the integration of user reviews with social aspects, like the ability to comment on other users' reviews. Social interaction takes on a whole different element with local search. Reviews from your neighbors about the restaurants and businesses in your own city are hard to top.
The implications for local businesses are huge, perhaps one of the biggest influencers in decades. Whether you are a small mom-and-pop or a corporation with stores in every major city, tapping into your local web presence has never been more important. Encouraging your customers to review your business could be some of the most important advertising you engage in this year. But whatever you do, fight the urge to falsely "self-propagate" your online reputation... the negative reviews that will come out when that is discovered could be some of the most damaging advertising.
