Protecting your online brand reputation - Covering the basics

Online brand reputation is one of the big talking points at present, and in particular the part search marketing plays in the whole process. Google is no longer just a search engine. With the advent of blended search, Google (and the other major search engines) are introducing new channels to search results pages, and with this increase in use of Google as a primary source of research, the need to be perceived positively in the search engines is greater than ever.

More and more recently, I have been involved in campaigns where a primary aspect has been to protect brand perception not only from competitors but more and more often from negative pr, user generated content and other consumer reviews. Sometimes it is possible to respond in person to such issues however sometimes the problem is greater and search marketing can play a major part in reducing the effect of such activity. It should be noted the likelihood of making such ‘noise’ go completely away is nigh on impossible however you can do some things to reduce the effects, using existing online marketing tools at your disposal such as SEO, Online PR and Social Media:

1) Monitor what is being said.

There is a saying ‘knowledge is power’, and this couldn’t be more true within the corporate marketplace. There are a number of tools available online to monitor noise, both paid (Neilsen Buzzmetrics, Meltwater and Market Sentinel) and free (Icerocket, Blogpulse, Technorati and Google Alerts), however the most important aspect is ensuring that wherever you are being talked about, you are able to monitor whats being said and if necessary respond where appropriate to this activity.

Social networks should not be ignored. I have been working on a number of projects recently where political opposition has taken place on social networks such as Facebook, and these social networks should not be ignored during monitoring

2) Identify brand advocates.

This is a conversation I have had a number of times with a Managing Director of Connectpoint PR, Sandra McDowell, and something she passionately believes in. Brand Advocacy online is no different from brand advocacy offline. Identifying and working with brand ambassadors online can be a powerful tool in tackling potentially negative pr and translating this into positive brand perception.

This is something we used to do in the far and distant past whilst i was at Supanet. We used to identify potential ‘hotspots’ and react to them in order to try and ensure that any potential issues were dealt with quickly and early. However as Sandra has said many times to me previously, we need to be tackling issues proactively as well as reactively.

3) Get a website

Probably the most simple way of protecting your brand perception onin, particularly in the likelihood (albeit unlikely), that you don’t already have one. However saying that it is still suprising how many organisations have their brand domains and no website, and with advice regarding SEO friendly domains there are some organisations that do not have a brand-led domain. Introducing such a simple tactic is low hanging fruit and can be scaled further (ie develop more brand related websites in order to populate more real estate on brand searches.

4) Don’t forget about blended search

Blended search (or Universal Search) basically describes the use of images, news, feeds and maps as part of the the main search results. Many of these are integrated into a number of searches these days whether it be localised (generally Google Local results), product specific (use of Google Base Feeds), Cinema or use of video or imagery.

Search results these days provide more than one way of getting into the search engines, and effective use of PR can be one such way of dominating more real estate on the search engines. A well structured SEO-PR / Online PR campaign can pay dividends not just in terms of increased exposure, and increased exposure but also from increased brand exposure and coverage particularly on brand searches, not only from the articles and associated coverage itself, but also potentially in short term gains where Google deems an article newsworthy enough for the index.

5) Network

With the increase in popularity there is no reason you can’t use Social Networks to your benefit. In particular there exist a number of targeted social networks such as LinkedIn where business people can network effectively. Not only is this good for raising your profile but it also has the knock on effect of Google friendly content (only if you dont use limited profile), and a customisable URL all of which can be used to blend in with your brand reputation strategy.

There are also a number of other social networks such as Ecademy & Naymz where like minded business people can network, and facilitate introductions and business deals.

View Peter Young’s LinkedIn profile

Social Networks such as LinkedIn can also be a great way of finding the most relevant people within an organisation. Many of these social networks contain a very advanced search facility which allows you to more accurately define the person or people you are looking for.

Add comment May 19th, 2008 at 11:09am SEO UK

Yahoo terminate Ambassador search marketing accreditation

According to reports on SE Roundtable, Yahoo is no longer accepting applications for their Ambassador program (something that I should add won’t affect many paid search specialists in the UK - as it has never been rolled out to UK organisations). For those unfamiliar with the Yahoo Ambassador program it is (or was) the equivalent of Google’s Adwords Professional program, where you take an online exam, administered by YSM!, and upon successful completion, you receive a Yahoo! Ambassador badge that can be displayed on your website.

From a search perpective it is not a great suprise, however given the lack of credible accreditation out there it does seem somewhat of a pity to see this fall by the wayside. This like the Google Advertising Professional/Company accreditation is a distinguishing feature and something that certainly can help in distinguishing you from smaller ’smoke and mirrors’ organisations.

Other coverage on this

Search Engine Land - Yahoo Search Ambassador Program closing

Search Engine Watch

Add comment May 17th, 2008 at 03:26pm SEO UK

Google Adwords improve quality score reporting

Google has announced a significant improvement in the reporting within its quality score stats following on from the announcement that landing page load time will become a quality score factor from Mid June 2008 onwards.

Reporting accessible via the quality score analysis tab allows you to analyse whether there are any issues relating to your landing pages and landing page load times, with a brief comparison to other ’servers’ in the region . This is reported on by keyword level.

To access this data:

1) Choose the applicable campaign, and ad-group.
2) Choose the keywords tab if not chosen automatically
3) From the keyword page, click on the magnifying glass icon, and click on the ‘details and recommendations’ option for quality score.

This will present the following page:

For further help on improving your load times, refer to this help document from Google themselves

Add comment May 14th, 2008 at 06:33pm SEO UK

Google goes social network mad with Friend Connect

With all the fanfare of a royal wedding (well maybe not that much), Google has launched a new tool which appears to be an API allowing users for “Open Social participants to pull profile information from social networks into third party websites”, following closely on the heels of similar products from Microsoft (Data Availability) and Facebook Connect.

The tool will allow users to:

• Securely send personal data such as friends lists, presence status and the like
• Maintain single friends list

So why you may ask are organisations fighting for what seems such a small prize. The answer is the price is actually a very large one, one worth potentially millions of pounds to the winner. At present it would seem Google’s product does seem limited in some rather major areas such as user profiles (well to the same extent as Facebook and Microsoft (via Hotmail etc), however it would seem if this can be sorted via partnerships with other high profile partners this problem should be somewhat alleviated.

There is already a reasonably amount of noise on the net about this, and it is worth keeping an eye on places such as

Search Engine Roundtable - Google goes social with Friend Connect 

Google Friend Connect - Webmasterworld 

Google Friend Connect - Search Engine Watch 

Add comment May 13th, 2008 at 06:30pm SEO UK

SEO 101: Introducing your meta-tags - The revisit-after

In the days of growing SEO awareness, it still suprises me the amount of people who still use the meta tag ‘revisit-after’, often seen as follows in your source code (and a well known organisation - which prompted this post)

However, whilst this tag has been input into the source code with the best of intents, it is indeed absolutely worthless in terms of SEO, offering no benefit for any of the main search engines such as Google, MSN and Yahoo. It was indeed developed for and supported by Vancouver Webpages and their search engine SearchBC (a local search engine aimed at British Columbia)

In fact Google go as far as stating figures, quote:

” To our knowledge only one search engine has ever supported it, and that search engine was never widely used — at this point, it is nothing more than a good luck charm. A remarkably widely used one. More pages use the completely worthless than use the em element! ” - Google Webstats

Truly thats a worrying stat, given the amount of ‘SEO experts’ out there, but probably symbolic of the lack of SEO standardisation out there (however thats probably another conversation and one that has been tackled before on the E-Gain blog in a post called ‘SEO certified - will it ever become a reality‘. However I would suggest if your SEO consultant does suggest the implementation of the afore mentioned tag - point him here, and perhaps to one of these established resources as well

SEOconsultants.com
WebmasterWorld

Add comment May 12th, 2008 at 11:09pm SEO UK

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 SEO UK

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 SEO UK

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 SEO UK

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 SEO UK

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 SEO UK