More R.U.S.T (Recycled Uninteresting Solicitation Text)

The text below was discovered by my colleague, and content creator extraordinaire, Jennifer Prettner. I've removed the company name and industries they serve to protect the identity.

Ask yourself, what exactly does this content say to the customer?

Additionally, the SEO value of phrases like "extraordinary array of global solutions" and "innovate with confidence" won't get you very many clicks.

"___________ provides an extraordinary array of global solutions in product design, production, tooling and distribution for the _____________ industries. Our expert teams leverage over 40 years of experience, fueling speed-to-market, ingenuity and agility. Customers can innovate with confidence because __________ creates and delivers value that results in exceptional start-to-finish product delivery experiences."

1 Part PPC + 1 Part SEO = More than 2

For all of us who've always believed that one part pay-per-click + one part organic optimization =  more than two - Google is now allowing us an easy way to prove it. 

With the announcement of the Adwords & Organic Report, you can now see the actual impact that participating in PPC and SEO simultaneously can have on your traffic.

Check out the blog post by Bill Hunt at Search Engine Watch.

Image courtesy of www.digitalorganics.com.au 

Are you a Penguin Authority?

Did you know that penguin researchers recently discovered a trail of poop that led them to a colony of 9,000 penguins that no one knew existed. Imagine the years of effort and study it takes to be a recognized penguin authority.  All of that high tech science and analysis that has been compiled through decades of study. Migratory patterns, diet studies, impact from global warming and so on...and then a raw, simple fact of nature - penguin droppings - led to such a big discovery. Isn't it great that nature can still surprise us, and remind is who is the real authority! 

Alas, this is not a nature blog.  Not even a birder blog.  It's a digital marketing blog, but the words "penguin" and "authority" are inter-connected in the world of digital marketing. The 2.0 version of Google's Penguin continues to stress authority, and warn about linking and keyword gamesmanship.  

Josh McCoy from Vizion Interactive recently blogged this, "SEO in the future will become more so about how you manage the accessibility of the site to search engines so they can see your honest and creative content efforts and less about how to simply tweak elements to get high rankings for keywords. SEO will be the means to a great end with the vehicle being creative and meaningful content generation."

What are you doing with your content to convince not only Google - but also your customers - that you are the authority in your industry?  Are you still publishing "RUST" (Recycled Uninteresting Solicitation Text) that bores your audience and makes them feel like they are reading an infomercial?  Customers don't want to be "sold at."  In a scene from a very funny movie, Wild Hogs, Martin Lawrence's character begs his wife, played by Tichina Arnold, to stop "talking at" me.  She's not listening to a word he is saying and just wants to make sure he hears what she is saying.  Is this the kind of conversation you are having with your target customers?  Are you just pitching them a steady stream of RUST and not really hearing what they are saying about their needs or wants?

Find out what questions and concerns your customers have and then connect with your company's internal experts to produce content that teaches and establishes your authority.  This single effort is one of the best ways to convince Google and your customers that you aren't just leading them down a poop trail. Knock the RUST off your content efforts today!

Market Your Products, Not Your Promises

Everyone has an innovative solution these days.  I'm just waiting for McDonald's to start marketing the "Lunch Solution."  The conversation at the drive-thru window might go something like this..."Could I please get a solution, with a side of fries and Coke."

Smart marketing doesn't push empty promises and catch-phrases - it focuses on the benefits and differentiators of the product.  Here is a challenge.  If you can remove the product name or description from your marketing content, and replace it with any other product name - then you are just blowing hot air.

Here's a sample:


_______________ is a reliable solution that increases productivity and adds customer value through innovative technology which provides better performance, extended life and increased ROI.

If this is how your marketing sounds, your customers aren't listening.

Renting vs. Buying

Recently I've started using a new analogy to describe the difference in paid advertising (PPC) and organic optimization.

When you rent an apartment, you can move in on Day One and have a place to live.  It might be small, but it will suffice, and as long as you keep paying the rent you will always have a place to live.  Don't pay the rent however, and out you go.

When you build a house, you won't be able to live there at first, but when it's done you will own the property and always have a roof over your head.

PPC is like renting the apartment, but organic optimization is like building a house.  They can both have role in your web marketing strategy, but don't forsake great content and organic optimization for the paid ads only.

Image of the Day 07.16.12

Late last year I blogged about Location, Location, Location. you can read here http://b2iblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/location-location-location.html if you'd like.  I'm here again talking about location like I'm a real estate agent advising you where to buy a home.   But if you read the first post about location, you'll understand that I'm far more concerned with your company's digital real estate.

Google has a relatively new way for you to add more locations to your digital footprint - and to make sure this new property gets you noticed by a targeted customer.  It's called Remarketing or Retargeting, and the premise is very simple.  The Google Display Network (GDN) consists of millions of websites that have sold Google advertising space on their site.  Google can use this space to present an ad that you design, to an individual who has previously been on your site.   If the visitor fails to perform a "conversion action" that you define, Google will present them with your ad if they navigate to one of the million GDN sites at some point after they left your site.  Pretty cool - and the best thing...so far these ads are pricing out cheaper than traditional PPC ads.

Just another great way to make sure you own some real estate on the digital streets that your customers navigate. Check it out!

Video. Video. Video.

If you haven't figured it out yet, people love video's.  Given the choice to read, listen, or watch a video - the video wins almost every time.  The YouTube phenomenon (1 trillion videos viewed in 2011 and 800 million unique users per month http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics) is all the evidence you need to believe that we are a society addicted to video.

Now Google has introduced a new way for your business to spend your money.  Google Adwords for Video has been in beta for about 7 months, but is now available to the public. Same concept as traditional paid search, but now you can have your video "ad" displayed when a user searches for a relative keyword in YouTube.

Google is also giving away $50 million in free advertising credit just get started.

Check it out! http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2012/04/helping-every-business-play-big-on.html