It pays to be careful online…

It is often easy to forget that many of your activities on the internet leave some sort of trail. Whether it be a post on a blog like this, leaving your thoughts on a forum or participating on a social network, most of these leave an imprint that can be found later by others searches on a related subject.

Using as an example, A recent post on Joost de Valks blog regarding alleged exploitation of Dmoz, draw some heated discussion from some high profile comment from many high profile people (such as Rand Fishkin and Fathom) within the SEO industry.  There are other similar examples over the last couple of months such as the Fused Nation/Global Media/Bigmouthmedia, which can sometimes deliberately done so in order to trigger discussion or conversation (often referred to as LinkBait).

Another high profile SEO example in the not too recent past has been the SEO/SMO (social media optimisation) is ‘bullshit’ comments by Jason Calacanis. Whilst I obviously do not share Jason’s rather extreme comments, this type of commentary obviously leaves a footprint, that both Jason and participants of these discussions can often be traced back on. It should be noted that many of the larger search organisations (such as Bigmouthmedia, Neutralize and iProspect - and to their credit) are often not drawn into such discussions or often associated with more ’shady’ tactics such as linkbait unless absolutely necessary.

These days, it is also often to see what participants are being involved in your discussions whether passively or actively.  Tools such as mybloglog allow you to see who has been visiting your log (for those that have signed into mybloglog). Other avenues such as social networking also allow you to meet other likeminded people - such as LinkedIn, Facebook or MySpace.

Recent Forrester research identified what is called social technographics, highlighting at the head of the ladder, a group called ‘creators’. This group are often identified as the most active, and despite being the smallest group of technographics, often cause a disproportionate level of influence. Such people are also often responsible for raising either the profile of discussions or even starting many of the discussions mentioned above.

Therefore one thing should be considered, whatever tactical moves you make online - consider them carefully both in term of what you want to achieve, and  probably more importantly what its possible consequences may be.

Add comment April 23rd, 2008 at 09:31pm Peter Young

10 Ways to get your social media campaign right - Part 2 of 2

In the second part of the ‘10 ways to get your social media campaign right‘, we will tackle a further five ways of getting your social media campaigns to perform better.

In part 1 we tackled the following

• Know your audience
• Do your homework
• What is being said already
• What do you want to get out of it
• Identify the best channels

Following on from this are:

6) Be Truthful

Effective communication with your audience is key to sustained success with social media. Taking the wrong tone of voice or unethical communication can spell disaster for your campaign.

To highlight this we a high profile example from recent history, namely the Edelman/Wal-mart astroturfing controversy from a couple of years back. In this particular example, Edelman were behind a campaign for two RV travellers who went across America regularly interviewing Wal-mart employees (in their blog Wal-Marting Across America - one may have been suss just reading the blog title - anyhow….). It was exposed in the end that the two travellers were indeed respected writers being handsomely rewarded for their involvement. This obviously caused significant negative publicity to both Edelman and Wal-mart.

Whether you are working with a social network such as Facebook, or utilising blogs as part of a greater social media strategy keeping it focussed and truthful I would suggest is imperative. By not doing this you run the risk of causing more harm than good
7)  Know your limits

Many organisations go into a campaign with good intentions however by underestimating the potential workload required in order to manage a social media project, they limit the potential of the campaign as a whole.

Blogs for example are not a short term solution and require dedication in terms of content generation, keyword focus and planning. A one off post is not going to provide you with the SEO enhancements you require, nor the perception within the industry as a thought leader. If you do not have the time to dedicate to your proposed solution, either revise your social media requirements, or source appropriately.

8) Get an expert

A recent survey across North America, France and the U.K has found that agencies typically don’t “get” social media. The problem I would add however is that may clients don’t either. Social Media experts are few and far between however it only takes a look around may of the social media implementations out there, and some of the bad uses of Youtube, to see how a badly implemented campaign can fail.

For this reason alone, if your not comfortable in the social media arena, get someone who is. They are worth their weight in gold.

9) Test, Learn & Refine

As with any other facet of online marketing, it is imperative to take the old analogy ‘Test, Learn, Refine’. There are very few people out there that will get things completely right first time, and ongoing thorough analysis of reaction and perception of your social media campaign will mean you can react to any scenario quickly and effectively

10)  Give it Time

There is a saying ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’. If you want your social media campaign to work give it time - spend time planning it, spend time implementing it, and give it time to mature.

At the end of the day social media campaigns are only as social as you allow them to be.

Add comment April 21st, 2008 at 11:57pm Peter Young

10 Ways to get your social media campaign right - Part 1 of 2

I have heard more and more offline advertising agencies starting to take note of the unquestionable potential of a well structured and well implemented social media campaign, however there is always a degree of fear and trepedation when I hear people talking of social media, as for every success story there are a very good handful of ‘crash and burners’.

There is such a vast array of social media options out there, however it is probably worth defining exactly what social media is in the first instance. According to Wikipedia

“Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words and pictures. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning, as people share their stories, and understandings.”

and goes onto say

“Social media can take many different forms, including Internet forums, message boards, weblogs, wikis, podcasts, pictures and video. Technologies such as blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowdsourcing, and voice over IP, to name a few. Examples of social media applications are Google Groups (reference, social networking), Wikipedia (reference), MySpace (social networking), Facebook (social networking), Last.fm (personal music), YouTube (social networking and video sharing), Second Life (virtual reality), Flickr (photo sharing), Twitter (social networking and microblogging) and other microblogs are Jaiku and Pownce. Many of these social media services can be integrated via Social network aggregation platforms like Mybloglog, a Yahoo property, Blogcatalog, and Plaxo.”

So great we now know what Social Media is but how do we go about creating a successful campaign. Well…

1) Know your audience

Personally I would say this is the most important part of your social media strategy, and probably the most logical. There is no point advertising an alcoholic drink on Bebo (I do add I doubt you would be allowed anyhow), however the more mature demographic using Facebook could provide you with a sustained stream of traffic (in the right context). However get this area wrong, and not only could you face a lack of traffic, but also potentially a volatile audience or worth widespread critisism which potentially could affect you in other areas, such as search engine results.

2) Do your homework

Find out what each social media channel can offer you. For example - Facebook allows advertisers to use a variety of different ways to advertise to potential customers including social ads, and facebook groups and pages, MySpace has started selling music and linkedin allows Q&A’s between likeminded business professionals. Each channel has its own ‘behaviour’ so understand how each works and whether this is suitable for your organisation.

3) What is being said already.

One good way of ‘dipping your toe in’ is to see what has already been said about you. This - particularly for larger organisations - can give you a valuable overview of where your organisation currently sits particularly if your proposed campaign is project based, and aimed at raising the profile of your organisation or changing perceptions.

4) What do you want to get out of it

Advertisers have different requirements and expectations from their social media campaigns. Is it purely brand awareness you want out of the campaign, or do you want a source of convertable traffic to your site. Do you want to be seen as innovators in your sector, or is creative tone of voice important to you.
5) Identify the best channels.

Sometimes your social network or social media channel is not the one you want, or potentially your ideal solution doesn’t fit into a pre-defined box. If you have undertaken many of the above steps, this will probably highlight a potential channel or channels as suitable options.

Social Media takes time and above all effort, however there is no doubting its potential effectiveness.

3 comments April 19th, 2008 at 09:14am Peter Young

Yahoo getting closer to seal ad deal with Google

According to reports in the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo! is now close to sealing a deal with Google after receiving ‘positive results’ from its initial trials held over the last week. Yahoo! announced last week the launch of a two week trial with Google Ad Sense for 3% of its searches, a move that would increase its cash flow by $1bn.
According to analysts, this would strengthen Yahoo’s positioning whilst it continues discussions with both Time Warner/AOL. However moving forward, a potential Google/Yahoo is unlikely given the overlap between the two parties involved and the likely market domination that would ensue.

Watch this space…

Add comment April 17th, 2008 at 10:20am Peter Young

Want search engine optimisation to work - build SEO into your web design

Despite ever increasing sites being developed, I would suggest there still exists a cautious approach to search marketing, something I have to back up with saying is changing quickly. However from a client perspective, there is still a lack of awareness of the associated value a Search Engine Optimisation expert can provide, and instead operate the two independantly and in a linear fashion.

Whilst I would add there is nothing wrong with utilising different service providers for your search marketing and web design, the two should work together in order to develop a cohesive campaign, one where a consideration exists for both values, that is the impact to the browser (ie the design of the website and Presentation of content), and that of the search marketer whose role it is to bring the site to the fore on certain phrases. Segregating these two from the beginning won’t stop your campaign from working, however it will lengthen the optimisation process and at the very least mean your whole online strategy requires a rethink.

The last example sounds a bit extreme - however I have been working with a client with a recently designed site, whose extention is also a localised country domain. This was not raised during the development phase, and this has resulted the visibility of the site significantly affected in UK searches, whilst the country specific searches are fantastic. Unfortunately they only offer their services to clients in the North and North West of England. This is something a Good SEO should bring up, and be able to suggest ways of fixing.

Secondly we have work with a number of clients, both agencies and organisations, and on the whole the sites we work with have scope for on-page development, however I have seen a number of potential sites where the potential on-page optimisation of the site is significantly comprimised by the web designer not considering the role of the SEO on the site during subsequent months. This can significantly affect the amount of time and ultimately the amount of money, you as the client are likely to be paying for SEO services.

SEO isn’t simply optimising a couple of meta tags, and submitting to search engines. 2008 SEO is far more valuable than that and offers advertisers/clients a comprehensive web service that should sit seamlessly with any web project development.

Add comment April 5th, 2008 at 03:32pm Peter Young

E-Gain launch new UK localised Search Tool

E-Gain have launched the first of a raft of new search tools, enabling users to quickly and effectively develop a localised collection of phrases for use in their Paid Search campaigns.

The tool allows users to specify a term, the locality of the phrase (namely region, county and town), and the type of phrase matching they would like, which will then produce a range of phrases tailored to those requirements, which can be copied and pasted into your Paid Search campaign as required.

To try the tool visit

http://www.e-gain.co.uk/ppc-tools/geo-keywords.php

Add comment March 24th, 2008 at 02:26pm John Hill

Google/Doubleclick deal approved

After months of deliberation, the European Commission have finally approved Google’s $3.1 Billion acquisition of Search firm Doubleclick. The investigation, which started a mere five months ago has confirmed that the “transaction would be unlikely to have harmful effects on consumers, either in ad serving or in intermediation in other advertising markets”.

This news on the back the Google that Google expects to be in a “very significant position” in the online display advertising market by 2008/09, has seen Googles stock value rise significantly.

The decision by the European commision has been seen as the final major obstacle to purchase following the US Federal Trade Commission’s decision to approve the purchase back in December 2007.

Add comment March 11th, 2008 at 05:02pm Paul Greaves

Fine tuning your landing pages - Turbo boost your Online Marketing

Over the last couple of weeks we have spent a fair number of hours finetuning a number of Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns run here at E-Gain. Very few (if any) campaigns are spot on at the first attempt, and most campaigns will take hours of ‘tweaking’ in order to become efficient conversion vehicles. Therefore it is essential, you don’t look at Campaign Setup as a one off for a campaign, and then just leave it. To make PPC work it takes time, effort and testing, and above all patience. However it is worth it, we have had some startling results, with some ROI campaigns seeing 100%+ increases in ROI, due to ongoing ‘optimisation’ just off the landing pages, so what do you need to consider…

Test, Learn, Refine

As we mentioned above, no campaign is perfect - there is always room for improvement. Therefore a good campaign should involve a healthy dose of testing, always followed up by evaluation and learnings from the testing, and then refinement of the campaign as a result. Once this has been done, test - learn - and refine your campaign again.

There are plenty of tools out there that will help you do this, not least Google’s very good Website Optimiser product which allows you to test a number of on-page mechanisms such as strapline, imagery and content, in such a way that you can see exactly what is working, what isn’t and subsequently develop a strategy that will work for your clients. After all - every project and every client is different.

Web Analytics are your friend - Track Everything

As we mentioned above, Test - Learn -Refine is a fundamental part of all campaigns, however Web Analytics are a fundamental part of that process. On all E-Gain Search Marketing campaigns, we implement three forms of analytics in order to:

• Get an overview of where our visitors are coming from
• Find out what phrases our visitors use to find us
• Find out what our visitors do when they land on the site
• Determine what proportion of visitors leave the site on entry (bounce rate)
• Determine how many of these visitors convert and above all what mechanisms do they use to convert - brochure downloads/orders/bookings/newsletter signups etc
• Determine the ‘trends’ of visitors visiting the website
• Determine how they interact with the site as a whole

There are a number of tools out there that allow you to do this, from base level Google Analytics (which is a very very good starting point), to Omniture (would suggest for Enterprise level sites), to more niche analytics such as SpeedTrap (behavioural analysis) to more sophisticated eye-tracking tools. As mentioned previously, we use three tools on our sites to identify the above behaviour, and allow us to tailor our strategies accordingly.

Know your audience

This to me is critical with landing pages. There is no point having a one page conversion mechanism for a client if the product or service they offer is not an ‘everyday product’. I can use an example of a company I recently spoke to whose niche product similar to health insurance was not converting. However a first look at the conversion mechanism (a one page ‘funnel’ into signup), highlighted the consumers requirement for further information, particularly from online referrals such as Paid Search and Behavioural activity.

It is therefore imperative you know your audience. The above scenario does not fit for all. In some instances, you will need to make the conversion metric far more streamlined - for example I would suggest Apple could/and probably do (haven’t analysed it for the purposes of this post), a far more ’streamlined’ conversion funnel given both the strength of their brand and the type of product they offer

Above all, test - learn - refine, and make sure you track everything.

Engage with your audience - Your calls to action

Your calls to action are your mechanism for your customer to communicate with you, whether it be

• Contact Form
• Product Purchase
• Brochure Download
• Whitepaper request
• Newsletter signup
• Competition Entry
• Blog Subscriber
• Price Alert Request

These mechanisms need to be obvious and above all prominent. Incorrect implementation of your calls to action can significantly impact on your ROI, and ultimately on your bottom line.

Secondly, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. I am constantly amazed by the amount of websites that only have one call to action, even if its a contact form. Above are 8 possible data capture mechanisms, and I could have gone on. Not all customers convert at the first attempt (according to a recent presentation at Search Engine Strategies 2008 in London - a research study by ComScore suggested that most users converted roughly 3 visits after their initial entry to a site - and this entry to conversion mechanism in many cases could be longer than 30 days+).

Say your are selling widgets. Your primary call to action is going to be based around the purchase of your widgets, however by providing

• Newsletter signup - Collect potential customer information and then email these ‘consumers’ with information regarding deals, news and other information
• Competition entry - As with the above - these people have allowed you access to your data (I would add at this point, permission of the ‘customer’ is essential to send email marketing to), so use this data to send them relevant news and information. Above all - understand your customer and make sure these timings are right - don’t overuse this as this is likely to make the whole process counter productive
• Brochure Download - this I would suggest is two fold - one you know your client is further down the ‘conversion matrix’ and thus is in decision making/buying mode rather than browsing, so they require a different type of approach. A simple follow up a couple of days later could work wonders here.
• A widget blog - you can get people to subscribe to your blog and raise further brand awareness of your widget

Above all make sure people can find these conversion mechanims. Don’t hide them away at the bottom of the page (you will be amazed how many people do), and make them obvious without making them offputting - as there is a fine balance.

Therefore make sure your landing pages have relevant and obvious calls to action - as soon as your customers get to the site, and make sure they have the relevant ’support material’ to make that decision.

First impressions are key - Dress to impress

Much like people I guess - landing pages need to create a favourable first impress. In most cases - that first impression can be the difference between you getting the sale, and you losing the sale. Your website is your shop/your sales channel - so it needs to be treated as such. A users mind is made up within the first 4 seconds of them visiting your site (obviously this is going to vary by sector/product), however it is not a long period of time in which to engage and communicate with your customer so those very first important impressions are crucial.

Therefore make sure your pages engage from the off.

• Use colours intelligently in order to raise awareness of key calls to action.
• Use fonts, font size and font weight carefully in order to attract awareness and prominence to your key messages on your page
• Use imagery in moderation in order to convey your message more effectivelly
• I personally would advise not using any highly interactive elements as the primary part of your landing page strategy such as Flash. IF the user does not have this installed - your are very likely to have lost that sale in a very short period of time.
• Make sure your site is up - website downtime is a Very bad turnoff.

Getting your landing page strategy takes time - but in the end it can pay off handsomely. Above all make sure your landing page strategy doesn’t end with the landing page - follow this process through to the rest of your site. A well thought out conversion funnel can pay dividends (John, Paul and myself used to work for a major PC manufacturer and were responsible for the redevelopment of the conversion funnel - from entry to conversion - a redevelopment which saw a 300% increase in conversions due to streamlining of the conversion funnel)

Add comment March 10th, 2008 at 07:37am Peter Young

SEO is evil - Vanessa Fox bites back

Just read a fantastic response from ex Google guru, Vanessa Fox regarding another recent ‘SEO is evil’ post from well-known expert Alex Bosworth. In her post ‘SEO is the worst thing ever invented‘, Vanessa responded to a number of misguided points raised by Alex, and I wholeheartedly have to agree with a number of her responses, not least

• MODERN SEO is not just about rankings. As Mike Grehan has often eluded to, SEO as we know it has evolved significantly, and a GOOD SEO’s job is not just about rankings, its about maximising ROI. People ask why do they need SEO. Well lhere are some thoughts for starters
• Many web designers develop for look alone not for ROI - there is a difference. A good SEO will test - learn - refine - test again, learn again refine and so on - until he gets it right. And then continue testing.
• Most web developers do not consider correct robots management. During the recent SES conference in London, one of the key points made during the keynote speech was regarding Privacy. How would you like content that isn’t supposed to be indexed, indexed. I would suggest you wouldn’t yet this is something I would suggest the vast majority of traditional web development agencies and designers don’t consider.
• Most web developers do not consider the role of correct domain/server setup and infrastructure - for example how many of your web developers are going to consider regionalisation of domains, geo-location of servers etc. Very few I would suggest - most will just whack your website on their shared hosting and have done.
• Most web developers do not consider duplicate content
• SEO is not just about rankings - modern SEO as Vanessa says in her article Traffic vs Engagement vs Bounce Rate. ROI therefore is a fundamental part of any SEO campaign. After all who wants to rank no.1 for ‘Concrete Lifejackets’ if no one is ever going to search for that, never mind clickthrough, never mind purchase.
• Good SEO incorporates good optimisation with good usability. You look at any big/good UK SEO agency, and most will consider usability or conversion metrics as part of their service offering
• Another aspect Vanessa tackled was a comment made by Alex, namely ““Do you think that javascript widget you made for navigating your archives is really awesome, intuitive and innovative? Google disagrees, it thinks it’s a big black hole of nothing.”. I would advise before you post something like that Alex - you do some research. This isn’t merely a whim of the search engines, it is based around mere usability. That is something I would suggest Jakob Neillson will pick you up on, never mind Google.

I would highly recommend a read, particularly people new to SEO. SEO is not evil, much as advertising isn’t evil. Surely embracing and understanding the role of modern SEO will help people understand the value and contribution a good Search Marketing Specialist can provide to any web project.

Vanessa Fox Nude - SEO is the worst thing ever invented

Add comment March 6th, 2008 at 02:39pm Peter Young

Microsoft will buy Yahoo

This is a point I have been discussing with others in the industry recently, and something we have covered in the recent post ‘Can Microhoo compete with Google‘. Much discussion has taken place on various prominent blogs throughout the search industry as to the potential impacts of such a deal, and other potential suitors.

However according to a couple of people I have spoken to, within Yahoo, there seems to be a general consensus, that it isn’t a case of IF Microsoft buy Yahoo, it is more a case of WHEN.
Only time will tell whether this is the case, however it is sure to raise a lot of questions for Paid Search Consultants such as ourselves, namely

• Which platform will be developed further, or will both. My personal thoughts would be that the stronger Panama platform would in all likelihood be further enhanced using some Microsoft integration
• Will the two brands operate seperately - I would again suggest yes, as both brands are very well established within their core markets, and thus a ‘re-brand’ would achieve very little
• What does this mean moving forward - This could be where the real winnings are made. I think it was Brian Eisenberg at SES London who said that Microsoft and Yahoo had to a certain degree conceeded to Google on search (apologies if it wasn’t you Brian) , and I would to a degree have to agree with this sentiment, however the future battlefields via the behavioural and social media battlefields will continue.

Wait and watch…

Add comment March 4th, 2008 at 10:02pm Peter Young