Ideas for Business

A few weeks ago, @aknecht and @SocialMichelleR had me on their #socialchat and as I am prone to do, I ask for questions in advance and try to answer them so when the actual Twitter chat comes, I’m ready with robust content and links instead of thinking of everything on the fly. The result is a richer experience for all I think. It’s also a source of content that one can use for a blog post. Like this one

According to Hashtracking, that #socialchat was quite active, with 523 tweets, 76 contributors, a reach of 291,000 and 3.2 million impressions. It’s amazing how much potential reach is possible through a well attended chat on Twitter.  I did a #blogchat with @mackcollier before BlogWorld LA and we posted huge numbers: 4k tweets, 800+ contributors, reach of 3+ million and over 29 million impressions.  Twitter chats are growing in popularity and such scheduled gatherings have extended to other platforms like Facebook and Google+.

Julio Ojeda-Zapata of the St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper recently covered the topic giving some great examples of how locally focused Twitter Chats are bridging online social media with real world connections. And that brings me back to the topic of this post – Social Media, Content and SEO: What do marketers need to know to bring those disciplines together and why?

I’ll dig into the topic in a Q/A format as used in #socialchat which I think is a great, practical example of this intersection.

In simple terms what is the connection between social content & SEO?

The simple answer is customers. People use search & social to discover content. Search engines & social platforms like content because it creates the basis for advertising opportunity. My favorite metaphor is Content = Bread, SEO = Peanut Butter, Social = Jelly. PBJ marketing.

Customer-focused content is created w/ purpose. SEO & social are manifestations of what people care about to attract & engage. Customer needs, interests, pain points, motivations + brand goals feed an Optimize & Socialize content strategy. Anyone, heck everyone is a publisher now. Brands and consumers can easily create & share media 24/7. Search & social optimized content with a purpose attracts & engages customers to buy and share with other buyers. That’s in contrast to keyword list optimization that’s focused on top of funnel traffic to a website.

Stats:

• 53% of time on the internet is content consumption. (AOL Nielsen)
• 27 million pieces of content are shared per day (AOL Nielsen)
• Content Creation was cited as the most effective SEO tactic (& the hardest) in MarketingSherpa’s 2011 SEM Benchmark Report

Do specific types of social content have a bigger impact on SEO?

Types of content that are good for SEO need to be good for people first (in my opinion).   Content & media that gets shared, linked & acted on most, has a bigger impact. People are savvier about what’s “good” vs. what’s mechanical. That’s the problem with how many companies are approaching their social participation. They’re focused on on scale with the least amount of resources. That often results in a more “mechanical” approach when it’s a “meaningful” approach that matters more in terms of building community, growing a network and engagement.

Here’s a thought for you as you’re reading this post: What’s social content? Content that exists on social platforms or websites with social features?  I’ve always said great content isn’t great unless it gets consumed, shared & linked to. It’s the old, tree falls in the forest and no one’s there to hear it, does it make a sound? If a great infographic, video, blog post etc is created but no one (substantially) sees or shares it – is the content really great? I say no. Promotion is essential along with thoughtful creation.

What writing styles should copywriters implement to ensure maximum impact on SEO?

Always test what works with the community you’re trying to engage: Hypothesis, test, refine, repeat. If you’re optimizing for customers and outcomes, then that should influence your style first and foremost with SEO a close second. Keep in mind the potential impact of a social share vs. a link from another site as well as the relevance to different audiences. If your objective is thought leadership, then your audience for the content will be influencers in the industry. If your objective is lead nurturing or customer acquisition, then your audience will be buyers. Style of content should follow the objective and audience accordingly.

Attention spans online are short & even shorter with social content. Write scannable content, headlines, bold, bullets. Your reader should be able to discern the key points of your content in just a few seconds, then dig in for more if they want to.  Also, headlines are gold. Make sure your headlines are compelling to read AND share.

Create modular messages from short to long and media specific for a diversity of options that you can use in different situations and on different platforms. By ”modular” I mean: Short (like tweets, Facebook or G+ updates), Long (blogs, articles, press release) or something more media specific (video, infographic, audio).

What’s the most common mistake made when preparing copy for social & SEO?

Not understanding what motivates people to search & share & what that means for content style, format & promotion.  Another mistake is over emphasizing popular keywords straight from Google AdWords keyword tool – basically crappy writing. Yet another mistake is poor quality messaging, irrelevant incorporation of keyword targets in body copy and “filler” pages to look big.

How can an organization best leverage social & onsite content from maximum SEO effect?

Of course the Content Management System, web page templates, code, tags, feeds and other similar aspects of the site need to be optimized right along with content. A lot of SEO is about making things easy: For search engines & crawling.  Ease of sharing is also important: “social media friendly”. Connect the site with sharing features into Facebook, G+, Twitter & where the target audience shares. Leverage resources to create fresh (as in new and updated) content that’s sharable and promote to social networks and other channels of distribution.

How are you incorporating SEO, Social Media and Content in your online marketing mix?  If you are, what are is driving the effort? Is it Marketing, PR, Sales?

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2011. | 5 Key Questions on Social Media, Content & SEO | http://www.toprankblog.com

Google has finally decided to kill its Knol pages. The big question is, Why?

It’s been 3 1/2 years since Google opened up its Knol pages to the public. My suspicion is the service isn’t as popular as Google initially thought it would be so they are either selling it or making some kind of deal with the new owners/developers to keep the product going under a new name.

The Google Knol home page links to a company called Annotum, which will be the new name of Knol pages starting in May 2012. It appears that Annotum will be powered by WordPress.com.

I’d say that Annotum appears to be an open source endeavor being pushed by for-profit companies like Solvitor LLC and Crowd Favorite. They appear to target scientific industries and academic or scholarly organizations.

Nothing is wrong with any of that. But it makes me wonder whether the new face of Knol – Annotum – will provide any value to the average small business owner. At this point, I’d have to say, it doesn’t look like it will. But it could be too early to tell. We’ll just have to wait until they provide more information on their intentions. But it appears that come May 1, 2012, Google will be out of the picture.

Ask Aaron Wall who’s taking over the Web and it seems as if he is saying it’s Wal-Mart. He makes some good points in this post, but there was one paragraph that really stood out.

In the meantime, I expect Google to keep increasing search complexity such that it’s prohibitively expensive to make & market a small independent commercial website. That will force many smaller companies to live inside the Google ecosystem, with Google ranking the Google-hosted pages/products/locations for those companies, so that they can serve ads against them and get a bigger slice of the revenues.

If you ask me, I think that’s pretty cynical. I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, or that it won’t happen. It’s just cynical.

In Aaron Wall’s world, big companies win because Google let them win. Then small companies have no recourse but to use Google-hosted sites so that Google can monetize them with ads. But as a small business marketing consultant, I’d never encourage you to serve up someone else’s ads on your own website.

When you consider the low cost of web hosting, domain purchases, and do-it-yourself marketing, I can’t see any time when it will be cost prohibitive to own your own standalone website with your domain name hosted outside of the Google ecosystem.

Maybe I’m naive. What are your thoughts?

Blogging is one of the top sources of online content creation for many companies. Blogs are a great vehicle for interacting and engaging with current and prospective clients.  Blogs are also an effective way for prospects to associate stories, anecdotes, and personalities with a company or brand.

Taking on a blog can be a large undertaking.  There are many things that should be considered including cost, availability of resources, strategy creation, time commitment, and measurement.  Simply creating content and expecting instant success is not realistic.  If you have recently decided that you would like to start a business blog, or have started a blog and are not seeing the success you had anticipated then the tips below are for you.

Tip #1 – Become a Blog Follower

Starting in the mindset of a consumer is key in determining need.  I recommend you take a look at the list of blogs that you read and ask yourself some questions about why you read them.  If you aren’t currently following any blogs I suggest that you see if some of the newsletters, magazines, or newspapers that you are already reading have a blog.  This will help you kill a couple birds with one stone.  You are still consuming the information that you already enjoy but you are also doing some research for your own blog.  What are some questions you should ask if you are looking to start a blog?

• What blogs do you follow?
• Why do you enjoy them?
• Do you believe they help solve a problem for you as an end user?
• Does the blog have one or multiple voices?
• How often do you read these blogs?

Tip #2 – Work Smarter Not Harder

In a tough economy marketers are being forced to do more with less.  The same strategy can be applied to business blogging.  If you have an understanding of content that works well and the mindset of your target audience you can easily create different forms of blog content to keep information updated regularly and efficiently.

Newsworthy items can be a great source of blog content.  You are presenting your audience with information that is important to their business while utilizing statistics and content that has already been created.  Reviewing current business blogs is also a great vehicle for creating content.  This allows you to create a scoring criteria and share with readers what you like and dislike about the blogs that are being reviewed.  Interviews and guest posts can also be a source of content curation for your blog. If you can convince others within your industry to participate in your blog they will be likely to share it with their audience as well.  Guest blogs also add some additional creativity and voice to a business blog.

Tip #3 – Tap Into Available Resources

There may be members of your team that could be a great addition to your company blog.  Contributors from different departments can position themselves subject matter experts and your readers may look forward to the variety that is being provided in the blog content.  While the overall responsibility of the blog may fall on the shoulders of one person or department, that doesn’t mean that other team members cannot contribute.  Multiple authors allows you to tap into multiple networks and is much more sustainable from a content creation perspective in the long run.

While business blogging is not always easy it can be a great project to inspire creativity, teamwork, engage your audience, and improve your brand visibility.  If you are interested in more tips on business blogging please take a look at some of the following posts from the TopRank Online Marketing blog.

• 5 Tips on Crowdsourcing Content for Marketing
• The Dynamic Duo of Business Blog Marketing: Optimize & Socialize
• Need Great Ideas for Blog Content? Start With Questions

I am curious to learn a little bit more about the experiences of our readers.  What are the biggest challenges that you have faced as an online marketer as it relates to business blogging.  What are some additional areas of blogging that you may not understand and would like TopRank to provide more information on?

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2011. | Blogging On A Budget: 3 Tips for Bigger Impact | http://www.toprankblog.com

Today is the biggest online shopping day of the year. Or is it?

According to Mark W. Smith of Detroit Free Press, it’s all a sham. You’ve been had. Just as Hallmark created days for greeting card sales, the candy makers created days to make more candy sales, and the Easter Bunny is in cahoots with Santa Claus and the credit card companies to keep you busy twice a year. We all love a good conspiracy theory.

Who knows? Maybe it’s true. Maybe today isn’t the biggest shopping day of the year. Or maybe if it is it’s because the e-tailers have convinced you to pull out your credit card on this day.

Even if it is true, I still believe this will be a record-breaking year. Today will likely pass all records for single-day sales online. And this Christmas season is poised to become the highest sales season online in history. Not because online retailers have conspired against you, but because consumers have become more comfortable buying online. OK, and partly because online retailers want your money.

If you have to establish an Internet presence, or if you have and Internet presence but haven’t taken advantage of your online promotional opportunities, don’t you think it’s time to get your piece of the online shopping pie?