Archive for June, 2007
I have been suprised at many clients ‘reluctance’ to really engage their online marketing activity, focussing instead on website builds, e-mail marketing and traditional above and below the line advertising. I have come across many clients and potential clients who have spent vast sums of money on developing their websites, with little or no thought as to the function of the website, how it is going to convert traffic and how to generate traffic to the website.
To make this point even more clear - how many high street shops just rely solely on passing trade for business. Exactly, many will employ a number of other channels in which to drive both brand awareness and custom through the door, whether it be maildrops or press.
However this train of thought is often not carried through to online. There are many organisations, who merely develop their website and never undertake any activity to drive traffic to it, whether it be Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or Paid Search (PPC), Online PR or merely just putting their web address on items such as their business cards or vans.
From an agency perspective, particularly from those entering the online marketing landscape from a web design or advertising perspective - there is a reluctance to really sell it as it is often seen as an ‘add-on’. However for a client really buying into online marketing, the revenue derived from such online marketing activity, can often exceed that of the website build itself - particularly in the long run.
In short, you wouldn’t setup a shop without advertising of some sort, so why spend hundreds/thousands on building your website, and then leave it and hope for the best?
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June 25th, 2007
We have recently been recruiting for a number of Search Engine Marketing solutions at E-Gain, which have highlighted to me the wide variation in skillset within the industry, and the immense amount of competition out there all bidding for the top people. Further to this, looking at the recruitment boards, many organisations appear to be bringing their online marketing expertise inhouse, rather than outsourcing such work to specialist search engine marketing companies or web design agencies.
So what benefits can be leveraged from bringing such activity inhouse rather than outsourcing it to a company such as ourselves
- Well probably most obviously, integration with other marketing activity is often one of the biggest drivers behind bringing search marketing inhouse.
- Focus - search marketing organisations often work on a number of projects (for obvious economic reasons). This often means juggling a number of campaigns, and therefore not focussing on them and them alone. By bringing search marketing inhouse, this focus can be ensured.
- Understanding - nobody knows a client like the client themselves. We as an agency make it part of our brief to fully understand any organisation we work with, however this isn’t always the case.
However despite the afore mentioned advantages of bringing such activity in house, it still suprises me that so many companies consider this route, for the following reasons:
- Economies of scale - To effectively manage a full online marketing campaign - I would suggest you need roughly four key team members to effectively implement and manage a campaign. In todays UK industry, such expertise could cost you circa £100,000 in terms of yearly salary alone, well beyond the budget of most organisations.
- Return on Investment - using the example above, I doubt many organisations would see a significant return on investment on that sort of outlay. However outsourcing such campaigns, really can result in significant returns on investment. For example, a typical campaign from E-Gain would cost you around 1/8 of the investment mentioned above.
- Utilisation of new technologies - I mentioned in the advantages of keeping SEM inhouse the benefit of focus. However that focus I would suggest could also be to the detriment of a client. The incorporation of new methodologies/strategies/technologies is often slower in inhouse marketing teams than SEM agencies, as the agencies work on a number of clients, many of whom may be more succeptable to new ideas.
At the end of the day, organisations need to do what benefits them, however in the haste to maintain control over all aspects of the business, is the potential for increased ROI being overlooked.
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June 22nd, 2007
Gord Hotchkiss recently wrote about his concerns that the impact of personalised search was being underestimated , and that SEO’s were paying far too little attention to personalised search.
As usual Gord talks alot of sense. In my opinion there are still too many Search Engine Optimisation ‘experts’ in the industry wholly fixated with page views, hits and search engine ranking, with little or no focus on return on investment (ROI). It still suprises me how many ‘experts’ in the field, still discuss at length the use of age old optimisation techniques with little or no regard for or utilisation of new techniques and services.
As Gord himself stated on his post on Mediapost
“ This was a perfect opportunity to start planning for the new world of SEO, post-personalization. There’s a ton of value we can add, as smart, proactive practitioners, but I didn’t see anyone take the opportunity to delve into this. Perhaps the really smart ones were keeping their mouths shut, content to let their competitors bitch about the inevitable while they plotted their takeover.”
Many Search Engine Optimisation specialists appear though to be taking somewhat of a ‘cautious’ viewpoint on personalised search at this stage. I can understand why this approach could be taken, however I would suggest that those exploring the opportunities in its infancy are more likely to be able to exploit personalised search to its full potential. From an optimisation perspective, it could change the whole way we work, and go about optimising sites, and thus as Gord states, many people are approaching it from a damage limitation perspective.
Personalised search isn’t just something that applies to Google, both MSN and Yahoo are currently exploring personalisation of the web, and search itself it going to play an important part in that future. One only has to look at the impact of social networks to see how applying things to oneself is already changing the face of the web.
To read the full article by Gord, please go to http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=62013&passFuseAction=PublicationsSearch.showSearchReslts&art_searched=&page_number=0
PS - Gord - If you fancy sending us your slide deck - it would be much appreciated 
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June 19th, 2007
To the horror of all red blooded males in the UK SEO industry, Vanessa Fox has resigned from Google to take up a new role at real estate portal Zillow.
May we at E-Gain wish Vanessa all the best in her new role at Zillow.
To read the full post from Vanessa regarding her move to Zillow, click here
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June 15th, 2007
According to a survey carried out for the Online Marketing Show, commitment to spend on Online Marketing has increased dramatically over the course of the last year.
The Online Marketing Show survey, follows research carried out by the Internet Advertising Bureau which saw digital marketing continue to grow, breaking the £2bn spending mark for the first time. The OMS show research highlighted the following trends:
- One in five respondants spent half of their total marketing spend online
- 47% of respondants said they plan to work with a digital agency in the next year
- SEO, E-Mail Marketing, Banner advertising and Paid Search were the primary investment areas over the course of the last year. The continued mass interest in social media and Online PR took investment away from mobile and iTV channels
- Social media and online PR were cited as focus areas for investment by over 50% of respondents in the upcoming year
To see the survey in full, please visit the Online Marketing Show website
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June 13th, 2007
It appears to me from having worked with a number of Manchester based PR agencies that there is still a certain level of uncertainty regarding the opportunities that can be leveraged from utilising online as a mechanism for PR distribution. Sometimes this seems to be down to ignorance, other times just a reluctance to embrace new opportunities, however there are a couple of PR agencies starting to take note. However this dearth of the use of Online PR, only serves to highlight the gab between SEO companies trying to embrace PR and PR companies trying to embrace SEO. I would suggest neither is serving the client as well as they could do.
On one hand we have the PR agencies using clever wordplay trying to create an impression compelling with the end user, with little or no consideration for algorithmic news and search engines, on the other optimisers generating content solely for ranking purposes, with little or no consideration for newsworthiness, or the end user. Press Release spam is unfortunately on the rise, and such activity (which often includes little or no editorial review) reduces the credibility of the wire services utilised and decreases the potential of your news being taken seriously (either now or in future).
This creates somewhat of a conundrum, to write particularly with the end user in mind, or focus more on either maximising syndication, and/or potential in terms of online marketing. I would suggest assessing the function of your press release is as good a place to start as any. Does you press release need to:
- Target and engage with end users
- Benefit the search marketing activity of you/your clients site.
- Tackle any existing issues - ie crisis management
- Do you need to maximise exposure in terms of pickup
Such questions will give you a reasonable basis to start writing your release. Setting a tone for your release is an important step in writing the release and understanding the functional requirements of the release will provide a solid foundation for use of keyword and linkage within your release. For example, should your release be part of an ongoing SEO campaign, the use of key terms and contextual linkage would be a necessity within the release; similarly, if you are writing the release with a defined end user in mind, then the wording and tone of your e-mail will be as important for your online release as they would be offline.
Just as importantly is the distribution mechanism. We highlighted a number of reasons which may determine how your press release may be written. This though will also affect, how your release should be distributed, however I would add budget will be a factor in many peoples agendas. However saying that there are a number of releases that can be effectively utilised, such as:
Services such as Marketwire, Businesswire and PRNewswire, although more expensive can be particularly useful particularly if more aggresive targeting is required. For example, Marketwire allows targeting by country (both online and offline sources), as well as segmentation by industry/sector. Getting this right can often be the difference between success and failure.
A knock on effect of such activity can result in increased visibility on services such as the following
News search engines:
Blog search engines:
Social Bookmarking/Tag based engines:
If media coverage is an issue, then do your homework to identify target publications with their editorial calendars in mind. Follow this up by sending appropriate journalists personal emails/pitches on your story. Don’t waffle, keep it succinct and include a url to the full release. It is also advisable to not include the entire release within the e-mail can be negatively perceived by some journalists. It can also be useful to make use of an optimised press centre in order to allow journalists, and customers to ’subscribe’ to your press center and be advised when new releases are added. It is also advisable to include relevant links to past releases, past media coverage, contact info, high resolution photographs, executive bios and links to applicable employee blogs (should this be available - Search Latitude are a good example of doing this well). The availability of all releases via a RSS feed can also contribute to increased exposure when a release is distributed.
There is no doubting that online has the potential to significantly impact on the performance/effect of a press release, particularly if the release is correctly focussed and targets the applicable channels effectively. This though requires a lot of hard work, good research, and often some imagination and luck.
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June 4th, 2007
