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!