Week 7: Importance of Content to SEO

While there are a few different ways to improve your search engine result rankings, one of the best ways is to ensure that your site has optimum content. While many people believe that flashy websites will bring in the most traffic, this is actually not the case. In fact, it is the content rich sites that have the most advantage, as they provide useful and valuable information to the consumer. This is not to say that cramming your site full of information will automatically help you in your search results. In fact, adding useless information can be very detrimental to your site. Users who try and add too many key words can also run into problems because the content will appear too spammy, which could lead to the search engine provider removing the site from it’s index altogether.The information must be unique and relevant in order to engage the user, as well as attract spiders. One example of this in action is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a site which is in a constant state of flux, as users are continually adding content to the site, which explains why they are consistently in the top couple of rankings when using a search engine. As the following video shows, it is important to create content which will compel the user to link in to your site, subsequently increasing your traffic, and allowing the opportunity for other visitors to find your site through their link.

One way to add relevant and interesting content in your site, is to write SEO optimized articles. These articles should not be used as a promotional tool; rather, they should be used be companies looking to engage the user, and provide information about the product, service, or company. For example, if a yoga studio wanted to improve their search results, they could write an article on their site about the top 10 health benefits provided by yoga, or it could discuss upcoming yoga retreats. The point is, the articles should provide original content containing keywords, without making a sales pitch.

Another way to increase traffic, is to allow the content on your site to be easily bookmarked. Social bookmarking is a great way to increase traffic, as it provides another method for potential users to find yor site. Social bookmarking sites such as Del.icio.us have increased in popularity, and provide a great way for people to organize and share their links with users of similar interests. Therefore, by making your site easy to bookmark, you have the opportunity to find users who will likely be interested in your content. Expanding upon this further, it could also be useful to send your articles to a social news site such as Digg, if you felt readers would find your content interesting and relevant.

For businesses uncomfortable with the thought of creating content, there are many agencies who specialize in SEO; however, nobody can guarantee results. For those who would like to try and optimize content on their own, there are many resources and tools on the web to help guide this process. If unhappy with your results, remember they are constantly changing so keep playing around with your content until you find a mix that improves your standing.

Week Six: Importance of Blogging to Businesses

It is no secret that over the past couple of years the use of social media has grown astronomically. Therefore, it is important for marketers and businesses alike to recognize the importance and value of embracing this new found culture. One of the most effective ways that is a business can do this, is by creating a blog. Business blogs can provide companies with a wealth of information and opportunities such as:

1. Customer Relationship Management

Blogs are the perfect forum for companies to try and get to know their customers. It provides consumers with the ability to engage in dialogue with the company to provide feedback, and gives the company further insight into consumer wants and needs.

2. W.O.M.

Blogging is an excellent way to gain WOM advertising from your customers. The very nature of blogging caters to this, as information and links are quickly spread through the Internet. Bloggers are often linked into communities of individuals with shared interests, so WOM is very powerful in creating additional buzz.

3. Helpful in addressing negative publicity

Businesses facing an attack of negative publicity could be well served by starting a blog. Often bloggers who get ahold of negative press can cause irreparable damage, as they have access to many influential people and can spread the word quickly. A company with a blog has the opportunity to do a bit of damage control, and can help to manage the fallout by communicating their side of the story to consumers. While they may not win them over, it is helpful to be able to explain your actions to minimize speculation in the blogging community.

4. Advertising

Blogs can be a wonderful forum for companies to test out new advertisements; however, it is important to note that in order to be effective, the company needs to be upfront about the fact that they are trying to market the product to the community. There has been the propensity in the past for marketers to try and disguise ad campaigns as posts created by bloggers. Fake blogs or “flogs“, can be incredibly detrimental to companies, as consumers feel tricked by the ad, and will ofter lose trust in the company or brand. However, done properly, advertising on blogs can be extremely effective, as was witnessed with Nike’s Art of Speed campaign.

5. Corporate Communication

Another way in which blogs prove useful to companies, is that they provide an outlet for employees and stakeholders to discuss the company in an uninhibited manner. This is a useful tool to promote company culture, and it also provides management with  a better understanding of employees and company dynamics throughout different levels of the company. From a consumer standpoint, it helps to foster a level of transparency, key in building customer relationships.

As you can see, blogs are an excellent pulpit for businesses, as they allow the opportuntiy to engage in unfiltered conversation with influential people. Ignoring this social medium would be a huge mistake for a company these days, as it is increasingly important to provide real-time information to well informed consumers and interest groups. Failure to enter the blogging community can not only lead to misinformation about your company, but can also put you at a serious competitive disadvantage if others in the industry have already jumped on board. If done right, blogs allow companies to disseminate information in a way that provides them the ability to gain trust and credibility by interacting with people from all walks of life. If trends continue towards increased use of social media, the possibilities for companies using blogs are limitless.

Week Five: Developing a Successful Viral Marketing Campaign

The purpose of viral marketing is to develop a message which instills the recipeint to feel compelled to pass the message on like a virus. One reason this type of advertising has proven to be successful is that it relies heavily on word of mouth. Consumers are typically more trusting and responsive to WOM advertising, as it is based on the opinions of their peers. However, simply devising a viral campaign is not enough to ensure success. In order to maximize the effectiveness of a viral campaign, the following steps should be followed:

 

1. Develop Creative Material

There are a few things to consider when developing a viral campaign. In relation to the actual content of a campaign, it is often better to keep it simple. With the numerous technological advances available to marketers these days, it is hard to resist the urge to utiitze these features when developing an ad; however, if the material is interesting and deemed controversial, the message can often be made at a low cost. A great example of an inexpensive viral campaign is Apple’s iBand. The video was made to try and generate buzz about new features offered on the iPhone, and is simply three users who have used their phones to create a song. The video is low budget, but was interesting enough to warrant 1.2 million views on You Tube, along with 10,000 comments, 11,000 ratings, and 13,000 bookmarks. There are also numerous response videos to the iBand clip featured on You Tube, which is further indication of the campaigns growing success. Providing giveaways, or promoting contests can also help to drive a viral campaign, but it should be noted that without drafting interesting content, it is unlikely that a campaign will reach optimum success.

2. Seeding

Developing interesting content is merely the first step in developing a successful campaign. Viral marketers must also take into consideration who to deliver the message to. This requires that the marketer establish who the best “influencers” would be to send the message to. In order to choose the best mix of recipients, marketers must first determine who the target audience is for the message. Once that has been established, they must next decide who is most likely to spread the word within that market segment. One good choice would be sending the message to a blogger who writes about your insudtry. Bloggers already have a built in forum to discuss your viral campaign, and would be sharing opinions with users who are also interested in similar material. Other choices could include Webmasters, or Presidents of Associations who would perhaps be interested in your campaign. It is important to try and target those who will be more prone to passing on content, rather than creating a blanket email campaign hoping to drum up controversy. Seeding also requires that marketers distinguish what channel of communication they will use. If targeting younger users, social media may be a better choice; however older users are not as involved with social networking and may be better targeted through an email message.

3. Tracking

The final element that needs to be considered in a viral campaign is tracking effectiveness. In order to do this, marketers must first decide what sort of web metrics they will be using to track success. The measurement chosen will also be impacted by which communication channel the message is being delivered through. For example, if the viral message was sent out via email, marketers could track the amount of emails they distributed, and how may clicked the message to forward to a friend. This will determine how many initial influencers felt the urge to pass it on. If posting a viral video on a social networking site, marketers could look at the widgets, or code installed on a profile page, which are then forwarded on to friends. By tracking these measures, a marketer can better gauge success of a campaign in terms of return on investment. In determining how many users viewed the viral content, a company can determine if money spent on the campaign was worthwhile.

One final note in developing a viral campaign, is that marketers must be prepared for a large increase in traffic hitting their site. Therefore, server scalability is extremely important, as a campaign can not be successful if your server goes down due to volume increases.

The following is an example of a successful viral marketing campaign. Success was garnered due to strict adherence to the rules previously mentioned. Enjoy…and remember, pass it on!

Week Four: Virtual Worlds…Potential for Marketers or Waste of Time

During the lab this week, discussion turned to evolving trends surrounding virtual worlds. More specifically, we were asked if there were any merits for companies looking to market in virtual worlds such as, Second Life.

It would seem that the potential for marketers in virtual worlds is limitless, as it gives companies a perfect forum to build a sense of community and brand loyalty for their product. Marketers are consistently told to think outside the box, in terms of finding alternative ways to reach potential and current consumers. Virtual worlds definitely satisfy this requirement as well. However, after doing a bit of research, it seems that the jury is still out on whether or not marketing in virtual worlds actually converts into a return on investment for companies, or if it simply a waste of dollars better spent marketing in the real world.

One inherent problem is that virtual worlds are a fairly new phenomenon, therefore, it is tough to say whether or not they will catch on with the same sort of success witnessed by social networking sites. Further, within these sites, a user could potentially develop as many avatars for themselves as they want, which could skew the number of users that actually use the sites themselves. Althgough it seems that sites like Second Life are experiencing widespread growth, it could actually be that current users have become bored with their avatar, and have created themselves a new character. Another issue is that virtual worlds do not have a mass appeal for consumers. While early adopters of technology, and the youth market may have been exposed to this phenomenon, it is unlikely that many others have even visited virtual worlds in the past.

It seems that companies who have developed their own interactive worlds for their products have had a bit more success, than those who have simply joined an online community, such as Second Life. For example, many toy companies have interactive sites, such as Barbie, or Webkins. This could be due to the fact that consumers who visit these sites already have a relationship with these brands and are heavy users. In a forum such as Second Life, users still have to weed through all of the clutter to get to the places or companies that they want to visit.

Perhaps the most important thing for companies to remember, is that marketing in a virtual world really needs to be similar to that of the real world. Companies can not expect that by simply adding content to  a site that users will follow. If they are hoping to drum up business or buzz in virtual worlds, it must be done in an exciting way. There are companies who have experienced success generating buzz in Second Life, however, they were well thought out campaigns with a lot of interaction involved. For example, ticket sales for the latest Harry Potter movie were thought to have been boosted by their marekting in virtual worlds.

I suppose that we will have to wait and see just how much of an opportunity marketing in virtual worlds really provides. The only thing that is certain, is that if companies expect to jump onboard, they need to have someone to monitor this area, or they are sure to have limited success in the future.

Week Three: Success factors in planning a web presence

During class this week, we focused on elements that should be incorporated when developing a web presence. All too often, people get hung up on developing a site which is visually appealing; however, in order to develop a site which is effective, many more elements need to be taken into account.

1. Product

At the most basic level, it is important to distinguish what exactly it is that your site offers in terms of products or services. If your site is unclear about its product offererings, it is likely that the customer will move onto the next site listed in their search. Since the Internet boasts such a wealth of information for users to weed through, it is imperative to get to the point quickly or bounce rates will be high. For the company itself, it is also a useful tool in determing what marketing mix will be used. This is helpful in figuring out the range and scope of products offered.

2. Interactivity

Interactivity refers to how the customer is able to navigate through the site. Many people do not take navigation into account when developing a site; however this is one of the most crucial elements. Many users will simply navigate away from the entire site if they have a problem moving around the site. For example, if an error pops up while loading a page, they often do not have the patience to wait, since there are many more sites who are well equipped to meet customer needs.

3. Service

Another element which needs to be considered is service. This relates to all of the logistical matters when building your site. For instance, decisions need to be made regarding how a product will be shipped, what payment methods will be offered to the consumer, and if there is a return policy.

4. Reassurance

Perhaps one of the most crucial elements in building an effective web presence, is the ability to add reassurance or trust to your site. Information privacy has become a huge hot button issue over the last few years, as media reports have fuelled customer uncertainty about purchasing products online. In order to make the sites users feel safe, the developer should think about registering their site with Verisign or TRUSTe, as these symbols add a sense of security and credibility to a site. They are also widely recognizable to consumers, who often look for these logos before entering any personal information onto a site.

5. Performance

Performance refers to things such as speed and availability. When developing a site, you want to try and mazimize the sites performance, by ensuring that pages load quickly, and that files do not take too long to open. The reason for this is simply that we live in a time crunched society, and if users have to constantly wait for a site to load, the chances are far greater that they will move onto to something faster. This could mean lost sales opportunities for those who do not pay attention to these details.

6.Relevance

Another element to take into consideration is your sites relevance in terms of content and search. It is important to note, however, that this should be gauged and monitored through the eyes of the customer, not the company. One way to gather this type of information, would be to run an analytics program on your site. Often, these programs will alert site developers to search terms being used that they would not have taken into consideration. It is important to understand how your customer is trying to find you, as you can add in these search terms to optimize the users experience on your site.

7. Ease of Use

While ease of use seems fairly self-explanatory, it is important to mention in this section that ease of use should be tailored to your target audience. Therefore, a company who is selling a high-tech product could provide a site which is highly interactive, with cutting edge features; however, this may not be the best apporoach for a small business as users could become frustrated and confused. It is also important to ensure the language (HTML) of a site is current, or it may not be supported on your users web browser, leaving the site virtually unusable for many.

8. Design

While design is usually the first thing that website developers think about, it really holds the least importance overall in setting up your site. While you do want to present a site which is visually appealing, you also must ensure that the other steps are covered as they are the most important in maximizing effectiveness in site development. For example, most customers would buy shoes from a site even if the page was not designed in a manner they enjoyed; however if the page took time to open, or if it was hard to place an order, you are likely to lose a sales opportunity.

As you can see, there are a multitude of issues to consider when building a web presence. Although most get caught up in trying to build the most visually appealing site, it has become inherently clear that this is no longer enough to retain customers. The best way to effectively build your presence, is to focus on the customers journey throughout the site, to ensure that there are no problems at any of the contact points along the way.