posted by Nicolette Beard @ 11:41 AM
Google officially announced that their Caffeine update went live June 8, 2010. The biggest takeaway: Caffeine provides 50 percent fresher results for web searches than Google’s last index update.
What this means is that for those website owners who update their content frequently, you will be rewarded. Your content will be analyzed and indexed more quickly. As you add new pages, those pages will be added straight to Google’s index.
With Caffeine, we analyze the web in small portions and update our search index on a continuous basis, globally. As we find new pages, or new information on existing pages, we can add these straight to the index. That means you can find fresher information than ever before—no matter when or where it was published.
Carrie Grimes, Google software engineer
In addition, this latest update provides Google the ability to collect a lot more metadata about the documents it indexes. So if you’re a B2B company with a ton of PDFs, white papers, product spec sheets, etc., it would be in your best interests to deploy internal resources to “tag” those documents with keywords and appropriate keyword-rich titles using words that your target customer uses.
The Caffeine Update really only confirms what we’ve been saying all along: fresh, relevant content is what Google’s looking for.
If you’ve been struggling with developing a content strategy, whether it’s researching and writing keyword-rich web copy or integrating social media channels into traditional marketing communications, then give us a call.
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6.09.2010
posted by Nicolette Beard @ 9:44 AM
This video likens the “Social Media Revolution” to the “Industrial Revolution” in terms of its sheer transformational quality. Consider
- YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine.
- 1 out of 8 married couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media.
- If Facebook were a country it would rank as the world’s 4th largest.
If you’re struggling with getting upper management buy-in and budget to support an online content strategy, then this is a must see.
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4.29.2010
posted by Nicolette Beard @ 10:20 AM
A recent college graduate told us that many of her job interviews were asking for web experience, specifically about search engine optimization (SEO) and writing for the web. I recommended a couple of seasoned forums and vetted resources to get her started. But it will take thousands of hours, just like any other field, to become expert at SEO or interactive marketing.
To help those who are looking to add a marketing discipline which their newly minted college degree did not include or the marketing communications veteran needing to add a new skill set to his list of credentials, browsing the nominees in this web award round-up offers a great start.
For those folks who’ve been immersed in the commercial web, I encourage you to vote. Voting ends May 1, 2010. Winners will be announced May 3, 2010. Links to nominee sites are on the voting site and can be reached by clicking the link above or below. Here are the categories:
Best SEO Blog
Best PPC Blog
Best Search News Blog
Best Link Building Blog
Web Analytics Blog
Online Reputation Blog
Conversion Rate Optimization Blog
Blog About Twitter
Blog About Facebook
Best Copywriting Blog
Best Social Media Blog
Best Infographic of 2009-2010
Search Marketing Communities
I highly recommend starting with a couple of search marketing communities. Your head will be spinning soon enough, but there’s no time like the present. Just jump in; the web community is generous and forgiving.
Source: Search & Social Awards 2010
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3.19.2010
posted by Nicolette Beard @ 4:09 PM
According to Econsultancy, IBM recently published research showing that about 80% of those who begin a corporate blog never post more than five entries. Herewith are the keys to creating a happy home for your blog readers and steps you can take that will prevent you from ever becoming a blog orphan.
1) Take a practice run. This first step is so obvious I can’t believe I just figured it out. No one says you have to publish your first written entry. Based on the above statistic, I’d recommend writing five entries before publishing at all. You need to find your voice and rhythm before going public.
If after that time, you think you might like the life of a content producer (sounds fancier than blogger, doesn’t it?), then you can space these out over two weeks and continue writing 2-3 posts a week. The pressure’s off, and you can begin to enjoy the experience.
2) Enjoy writing. This also may seem obvious, but I’ve read many a blog where it was clear someone had told a company that sells industrial pipe to “start a business blog.” Take it from me — I author three blogs and post here frequently. If I didn’t like to write, no amount of money or coercion could get me to write. That said, one of my blogs is on its way to becoming a blog orphan. (Hey, there’s only so much time in the day.)
3) Have something to say. Most people who enjoy writing believe they have something worthwhile to say. The best blogs are written from a unique point of view. Presumably, you have a certain expertise you want to share with a target audience. It doesn’t matter how niche the market may be, the Internet is so vast that people are searching for solutions on every conceivable topic.
Google estimates that, 33+% of daily searches are UNIQUE. This means that you can carve out your own search space based on what you know and establish a beachhead before your competitors figure out this “corporate blogging” thing.
After you’ve been blogging a while, you’ll be consistently amazed at the variety of search terms people use to find your site. They have a business problem, and your business blog now provides the solution. You will become viewed as a trusted resource; a resource they’ll share with others.
4) Want to help others. Blogging is a lonely pursuit. When you press the “publish” button, the black hole of cyberspace takes over. If your intention is to help others, answer questions, guide visitors to quality resources, you will be rewarded in surprising ways.
There are excellent write-ups on creating a blogging content strategy, but after five years of blogging, I think that following this blogging advice, borne from hard won experience, will serve you over the long haul.
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3.02.2010
posted by Nicolette Beard @ 4:57 PM
Bing will soon be powering Yahoo! search results, leaving advertisers with just two search networks from which to drive traffic. The European Union and the U.S. Department of Justice, by eliminating one of the Internet’s biggest search competitors, have ignored the costs this decision will impose on businesses as they continue to acquire new customers online.
On one hand, I suppose this is good news for search optimizers because now we have only two search engines for which to optimize. While the vast majority of B2B marketers use Google, driving more advertisers into fewer networks increases the price of traffic acquisition. Bidding wars over finite inventory were a complaint in the early years of paid search. I suspect we’ll hear howling soon.
It’s consumers and businesses, small business especially, who really lose. Consumers lose a unique Yahoo! search brand and point of view and the cost to market online can only increase over time.
The days of 10-cent clicks are long gone. To compete effectively online requires not only the internal fortitude to embrace the new, but also an understanding of the underpinnings of the Internet.
Links = Relationships
The rise of social media underscores the importance of developing relationships online. It’s no surprise that Google and Yahoo! have started indexing content from Facebook and Twitter. Those links to and from followers, bloggers and websites represent millions of conversations. I don’t think people will stop using search engines any time soon, but I do believe that with the Microhoo deal, we’ll see search market share decline and with it profits. When you take away choice, consumers can be fickle.
People, through their desire for connection, have provided an avenue for businesses to reach out like never before. Will the day come when companies will reach out to online communities directly and bypass the search engines?
We may have come full circle in our sales and marketing efforts. Every business is now a door-to-door salesman: engaging prospects, building rapport and following up.
Is your website up to the challenge?
Source: SEO Theory
UPDATE: Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft, states at SMX West that Microsoft does *not* now intend to “kill off” Yahoo! Search – he further stated that within the deal agreement, Yahoo! may increase their search share via a wide number of initiatives.
Thanks to Chris Smith for the counter argument.
