SEO Tips: News Values & Brand Values All Count on Google

Content marketing is the hot thing now for many companies. It isn’t rocket science, but it requires you apply newsroom values and discipline to make it work well. Fact is, there’s no quick fix, SEO isn’t a `black art,’ it is a skill set rooted in journalism.

You need trained journalists because your brand is competing with media outlets for P1 on Google. It’s a shark pool out there.

If you want your content on Page 1 of Google, recruit an SEO trained, experienced writer. It works.

You could cut corners, use an outside agency or freelancer who syndicates blogs and re-writes press releases in a keyword-stuffed kinda way, circa 2009. But it probably isn’t going to work.

So read the papers, watch the TV news, use Google Trends, Alerts, trade journals, websites, forums and Twitter to see what’s hot in search volumes. Both within your business niche and the wider economy.

Never forget human nature; people are greedy, they love something for nothing, like PPI compensation, dodgy insurance claims, cheaper petrol, designer clothes reduced by 50% in the Debenhams Sale, or vouchers for a free meal at their local restaurant.

Give them news about freebies, shops going bust and selling stock cheap, big brands dishing out voucher codes.

NOT ALL CONTENT IS LINKBAIT

You need some values, something beyond keywords.

This is where most companies lose the plot because they often see content as essentially subservient to commercial needs – every article has to make money, or gather data.

Good content can get your brand a top position on Google’s search pages.

But business is about brands too, and the trust you build into a brand has a tangible, cash value. Ask John Lewis, M&S, Aston Martin, Apple, the BBC, or Moneysupermarket.com who paid Martin Lewis £87 million for Moneysaving Expert, because readers TRUSTED what they read there.

Give your readers true value; like the knowledge to avoid online scams, or ways to buy something expensive that bit cheaper than your neighbour. People want knowledge and the internet is a knowledge economy, still developing its true potential and power.

In a decade there will be no UK High Streets as we understand them now.

There will be leisure shopping experiences, places that are fun, pleasant, safe and packed with major brands. But we will make all our essential, everyday, `distress’ purchases online. Content marketing will ease the sting of that impersonal process, empower some consumers with wisdom and expose the shabbier, more obviously dubious companies.

We live in interesting times, chronicle them.

How to Use Content Marketing to Get to Page 1 on Google Search

People talk about content marketing and how 2013 will be the year when many businesses finally get to grips with it. Possibly.

Will 2013 be the year of content marketing? Maybe. If business people get their wallets open.

For me, I don’t see that happening this year in the UK, because most businesses do not have the time, willpower or resources to create original, well written content, which will achieve a high page rank on Google.

The harsh truth is that most SMEs and smaller businesses think they can do it on the cheap. Big companies are more switched on in general, but few want to invest serious money in quality content.

Many senior managers and directors still think that by paying web developers and web designers huge amounts of money, they can `game’ Google. That there is a `trick’ to getting to P1/P1 on Google or Yahoo.

SEO isn’t X-Box; there isn’t a `cheat’ app, or website, which will enable your company to consistently get P1/P1, although there are plenty of web developers who will happily sell you that notion. And forget about link farming, that train has left the station.

The Technical Side Matters, But You Need Good Writers, with SEO Skills

Good websites need many things.

Error free website code, high quality links, H1/2/3 site structure, XML sitemaps, W3c compliance, a lack of flash media, or appalling marketing spam above the fold on your home page. There are many other technical aspects, but nothing is as important as excellent content in the long run, when it comes to overall page rank and making money from particular pages within your site.

You would think people would grasp this basic truth, but there is still far too much syndicated PR fluff, outsourced Pidgin English copy bought for peanuts from People Per Hour or some dreadful Copyscape rehash of old, or stolen content, which is irrelevant, poorly written, keyword stuffed or just riddled with tacky affiliate links.

Great stories, hard news, `how to’ articles that answer questions, product reviews, comparisons, witty, short video clips and outstanding, shareable photos. That’s what you need. Downside is, it costs money – because good writers and image creators need a living wage, just like web developers do.

If You Include News and Topical Articles on Your Website, then Employ Experienced Journalists, Not Interns or Amateurs

I will speak slowly, so that the slow of understanding can note this point; journalism matters, it drives traffic, boosts conversion rates and helps websites make money.

Storytelling is an art and like a great TV ad, online video, podcasts, or features, need skilled creative authors.

Irrespective of what you think of the Mail Online website, it delivers, being the most read UK newspaper website by a huge margin – twice as big as its nearest rival, the Guardian. The reason is that people get the news, 24/7, plus comment from both journalists and readers alike. For free.

Then there is the clever `wall of shame’ photo strip at the right-hand side of the Mail Online page, which acts as internal link bait – these pictures of scantily clad women, celebrity affairs, weight loss/gain pics, soap stars in court, Harry Styles copping off etc. all keep readers clicking on Mail Online stories – reader engagement.

That engagement, that precious web browsing time, builds trust and when people like and trust your website, they are about 20 times more likely to click on a link to a partner company, advert, or graphic image which acts as an affiliate link. That is how Martin Lewis made his £87 million from MoneysavingExpert – trust.

To create all that topical content, you need pro writers, and photographers, with SEO qualifications. Or you can hire editors to add the vital SEO tweaks via the CMS ( Content Management System) when the content is posted. It helps if those editors keep up to date with Google’s shifting sands of SEO rules and regulations too.

That too, takes a financial investment, you cannot learn it all from a Mashable post or two.

Case Study: Beating Car Magazines at Car Reviews

Google search result for Jag XF 2.2 diesel review.

OK, check the screen grab; Google P1/P4 result on my Jaguar XF 2.2 Diesel car review.

Now, let’s be blunt, I shouldn’t be able to beat What Car, Auto Express, Fleet News, Autocar, Evo and others with my review on Watch My Wallet, which isn’t a car magazine.

Google should see my feature as being less relevant than specialist car magazines, but it doesn’t.

The reason this content has a good page rank is because I have applied the lessons learned whilst studying SEO and social media marketing at Salford University. Great course, if you’re in business, you should try it – I’m not on commission by the way.

I also used Google Analytics and Trends, to fine tune the content, so that I could match it to the potential searches entered online.

For example, top keywords include the Jaguar’s engine size; 2.2 litre, mpg, review, road test and the engine type, which is the more popular diesel variant. In my experience, Google likes to look at the opening paragraphs of articles to define relevance, so try and make sure you write a natural, flowing intro, that has two or three of those top keywords in there. It works.

Define your images, add the make or model to the image description – some people search Google Images, not the text search, never forget that.

Don’t forget to mention rival cars. You want potential car buyers to look at your content, because ultimately you need some sort of link, or partnership deal to monetise your content. So people who type `Jaguar XF 2.2 vs Audi A5 diesel’ need to see your content on P1 of Google, because you really, really want those readers.

You can create content that has a higher page rank than articles produced by specialist magazines.

There are some other SEO tweaks involved, but these basic hints and tips should serve you well. So go and create some original content, write some reviews, and amplify your reach using social media. Google Analytics will tell you which days, which hours of the day, your Twitter, Quora, LinkedIn, Facebook or You Tube posts are most likely to bring you the right traffic.

Content marketing can, and will, bring readers to your web pages, and where our eyes go, our money follows.

Tweet me @npointsocial

 

 

It’s Time for Small Businesses to Forget Facebook – They’ve Ruined It

I will cut to the chase;  Facebook has sold its soul to Goldman Sachs and needs an enormous aircraft hangar of cash this year, or the share price will kiss Satan’s arse in the depths of Hell.

Facebook – No, we don’t ‘like’ the way you’re hiding our posts and wasting our time. Goodbye.

That means they are busy hiding posts, editing your Facebook stream to make sure the good stuff doesn’t get spotted by your target market and even persuading solo FB users – some of whom run back bedroom businesses – to pay to promote posts to friends. Desperate tactics.

The latest stats from Google Analytics confirmed what I suspected back in November when FB began its campaign of making all the time and effort put in by small business owners a complete waste of time and money. Post Views are down 60-80%. Comments down about 50%.

Twitter is now referring more traffic than Facebook, for the first time ever. Google + and Pinterest are starting to awaken like the sleeping giants they are.

Facebook can’t do anything else, but unless you’re Tesco, Mercedes, universal Studios or another megabucks brand that can spend cash, polus employ a pro team of social media content writers and bloggers to manage your FB pages, forget it.

For most small business owners, time – which is money – is better spent elsewhere.

ALTERNATIVES TO FACEBOOK

Google + Hangouts offer a superb opportunity. Set a time and day each week for answer questions – if you lack the expertise, then get an expert to sit in for an hour. They need to have personality – this is web TV don’t forget, attention spans are measured in milliseconds.

Likewise Google Communities have the same free marketing potential that FB had until 2012. Upload your content, like other communities, post a comment – form a circle, literally, with your wagons.

Part of Google’s Penguin plan is to make the Knowledge Graph more important than keyword stuffing when it comes to blogging. Long overdue.

Spreecast - imagine You Tube crossed with Skype – that’s Spreecast. Have a live chat, product demo, advice session etc – then edit it as a 20 minute show. Use Twitter as a back channel as they do on Thursday nights ( UK time) with #SWchat. This is the future. Embrace it.

Authority Blogs – the Knowledge Graph is coming. Don’t know what that is? Well Google is about to stitch threads of authorship around the web, with a view to setting author rank, in the same way it sets page rank.

That means if you blog on sites like Huff Post, national magazines, newspapers, or anything with credibility, you’ll soon show up in the Knowledge Graph.

MCi Tours; travel the USA on two wheels.

Or rather, your content, complete with backlinks, alt tagged photos and You Tube/Spreecast videos will.

What do you mean, you don’t know what an alt tag is for..? Oh #FFS.

Did you know I have a client called MCi Tours who gets 30% of his blog traffic from Google Images searches alone?

So yes, alt tag your photos with some sense, logic, keyword research and creative elan. Then cap it at about 15 tags per picture. It works.

It will work even better in the future, when more people browse from small tablets and smartphones, which means image search will be more finger/thumb friendly than typing quesries.

Edison would call it a light bulb moment. But it’s just SEO baby; a slippery chameleon of content.

So let’s all say goodbye to Facebook in 2013 and hello to creative thinking I generally do mine down the disco, so see you on the dancefloor. I’m the guy in the crazy shoes.

Saturday Night Fever. Right moves, right time. There’s a lesson there.

SEO Case Study: News Values Really Do Matter After Penguin

After Google’s recent Panda and Penguin updates, the relevance and timing of your content is even more important in SEO terms. Keyword density in the text, tags, alt tags on your photos, keyword rich H1/H2 headings and authorship all matter too.

But good journalism matters. It can get your content to position 2, Page 1 of Google for a highly searched term.

The bad news is that a news related spike in traffic doesn’t last. But the upside is that once you understand more about how Google’s algorithm has changed in 2012, you can produce topical, well written content and get on Page 1.

Or you can syndicate some tedious PR/cheap blogs online. It’s up to you.

CASE STUDY; IS COMET CLOSING DOWN?

Recently, news broke that the receivers were due to be called in at Comet electricals. I put together a short news story which was headlined `Comet On The Brink; Spend Your Vouchers ASAP.’

Always read the news before you create your content, but get your story uploaded as fast as possible. Surf that traffic wave.

That isn’t a keyword optimised headline. It’s a human headline. When people are scared of losing money, they pay attention.

However I added a H2 sub heading in the body copy, along the lines of `Is There a Comet Closing Down Sale?’

Again, this ticks the human nature box. People are greedy, and they love to profit from the misfortunes of others. But I also guessed that the phrase would be a high volume search term the moment the receivers were called in at Comet.

The story was uploaded on a Friday lunchtime.

GOOD TRAFFIC SPIKE? HELL YES

Friday saw 980 visitors – 88% of all traffic was to the Comet story.

Saturday and Sunday saw a drop in page position on P1 of Google. Mostly we were overtaken by `old media’ sites, such as daily papers. Partly I would guess Google sees their massive traffic compared to our site and there’s the question of trust – our site was founded back in March. The national papers have been online for a decade or more.

Traffic dropped to about 650 per day over the weekend. We updated the story on Monday, then posted another story once Comet administrators announced that vouchers and gift cards WOULD be accepted again in stores.

The net result over the week was an overall rise of 100% in search engine impressions – our content became more visible with Google. Our traffic was up around 120% for the week.

POINTS WORTH NOTING

You cannot search Google Insights, or use any other tools to monitor a traffic spike that hasn’t happened yet. If a volcano erupts, a shop goes bust, or a new product is launched you often need a journalist’s instinct for the likely search terms.

Don’t forget other Google channels; You Tube, Images, Google News.

To get indexed on Google News you need to add an author biog page to your site. Get your authors blogging and active on social networks. Here’s where you can find me on Twitter andLinkedIn

In terms of site referrals to the Comet story, Facebook was far and away the most successful. Twitter second – but Twitter users are more fickle and spend less time on the page, plus `bounce’ at a much higher rate.

News is tough. It requires planning, lots of reading, accurate research (you may be sued) and money – good writers have to be paid more than the pittance that outsourced `Copyscape farms’ cost the typical UK business.

You might not always guess right when it comes to news stories. I certainly don’t. But when it all comes together your site will gain new readers and guess what? Some of them stick around, or come back next week to see your moneysaving news.

Greed is also good SEO; understand human nature and you can add the magic keywords. Sometimes.

As Gordon Gekko noted in Wall Street; Greed is good. Greed is also good SEO.

Pandas, Penguins and Learning To Love Disavowed Links

Two key changes to Google’s search algorithm this year have, at long last, tipped the balance away from SEO `experts’ and put the emphasis back on readable, sharable content.  Penguin and the Disavow Links tool.

Here’s a team of SEO experts, on a team-building day at Alton Towers. They don’t understand why they can’t jump the queue by using meta tags.

In the beginning, the internet was an information resource; a way of connecting people’s ideas and gleaning nuggets of knowledge.

But over the last decade, SEO has become a Harry Potter-esque black art. Basically smart-arsed geeks have spent all their waking hours trying to figure out ways to bend Google’s rules.

Well, there’s a load of money at stake for the websites that make page 1, positions 1-5, so who can blame them?

But now, it seems, Google’s had enough of all that sh*t.

 

Pandas and Penguins are Really Bitches From Hell

Google pushed ahead with both the Panda and Penguin updates earlier in 2012. In essence, both changes were about rewarding fresh, original content and high quality backlinks.

There were a raft of technical changes too, but it’s the emphasis on editorial content above the fold – that’s the top section, or most visible part of your homepage – not marketing, competitions, or spammy links to crappy `Mom Lost 57lbs With This Weird Tip’ adverts that counts.

Penguins put lots of energy, care and attention into one chick. Google’s Penguin will reward site owners who also take time to do things right.

Without doubt that has damaged the ranking of thousands, maybe even millions of websites, but you know what, most of them deserved it. People don’t really want to visit sites stuffed with keywords, copy written by machines, or peppered with dodgy links.

Fact is, the old methods of employing SEO experts to  optimise your site for Google ( and Yahoo and Bing if you’re really thorough) are rapidly coming to an end. Which in my opinion, is long overdue and a good thing.

Google is Going Back To Its Roots Baby

For those of you too young to recall the internet pre-1998, there were search engines which didn’t provide much relevant content in their results. Search then was like a fairground lucky dip. That’s why Google became the dominant player in the market; it just worked better.

Well now, Panda and Penguin are doing the same job – delivering relevant information to those who search for it. The bottom line is that if you don’t put truly relevant information on your website or blog, and write your copy for humans, not search crawlers, then your site is toast.

By all means, keep wasting money on link farms, syndicating the same dull PR via content scraping `news’ sites and paying outsourced bloggers 58p per page for 4% keyword-rich drivel if you like. It won’t work.

So What The Hell is A Disavow Link Tool and Why Does It Matter?

Glad you asked.

There was another little Google tweak a few weeks back. A Disavow link facility was launched and this means that webmaster can stop crappy sites from linking up with them.

Now links matter, big time. Probably 70-80% of your site’s page rank is determined by the quality, as well as the volume of your inbound links. So for example, a link from Salford University, the BBC, or Huffington Post carries more weight with Google than say a link from weBuyAnyPreOwnedMeds.com

I hope that site doesn’t actually exist. But you never know.

Worse still, low quality links can damage your site. Google sets store by `trust and authority,’ so poor links from dodgy sites will shove your home page back down to page 37 of Google’s SERPs.

So now, you can take action and Disavow the link. Break that daisy chain of pills, porn, gambling, or tedious home insurance adverts. Excellent. You can use Google Analytics to see which sites are linking in each week, test their page rank using SEO Majestic or Alexa, maybe even visit the site, and then if you don’t feel it’s a quality website, Disavow.

Nail those bitches into the cellar of spam. And throw away the hammer.

Be A Real Person, Be Social

Now, I’m going stick my neck out and say few people will disavow a link from Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, You Tube and a whole load more social networks.

This is me, Alastair Walker. Introduce the author, because this is going to matter more than a few snippets of code from now on.

All of which should mean that traffic from those networks will become intrinsically more valuable as far as Google is concerned – no matter what they say in public.

If Google wants to maintain its credibility, then real, human interaction – the water cooler effect – has to have a defined SEO value. It also means that a site’s rank for say `best deals in iPhone covers’ will ebb and flow, according to how viral their content is. We should see SERPs evolve into a kind of Top 40, with sites going up and down pages 1-3 with more volatility.

In theory.

What Can A Small Business Do to Combat The Big Boys?

Get an editor on your website listed as an author, with a Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter and WordPress or Tumblr profile. You really do want that author to pop up in the new Knowledge Graph search feature that Google is rolling out soon.

They should aim to become an authority info resource, in old journo parlance, the ‘go to’ person for a quote on a topic.

Another key point; make sure the social sharing buttons on your home/news pages are at the top of the page – in 20 years working in old media, I can tell you that advertisers paid more for those page positions because IT WORKED.

Don’t put the sharing buttons at the bottom of a news story – lots of people simply NEVER scroll down the web page. Here’s a little web page eye-tracking research for you.

Your site has to push people’s buttons, make the content worth sharing.

You absolutely have to – no excuses – get your content shared via Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, Pinterest etc. That social aspect of your news section on your website is crucial now. There’s no dodging around it.

You need quality copy, sharp images, all alt tagged so they pop up in Google Images, plus a You Tube channel – Google owns it and you can see YT results popping up on P1 of SERPs.

But you want your YT clip to be shared right? So you’d be crazy to think your video content doesn’t need a strategy, a HD camera, a decent audio track – professional editing basically. Stop cheap skating and get on with it. Or die in the search rankings.

The internet is becoming a place where credibility, honesty, authorship and the craft of writing relevant copy, not keyword-infested rubbish, is going to be rewarded in search algorithms – praise the Lord and pass me the ammunition.

You Cannot Code Human Interest Stories, Someone Has To Write Them

Your site needs news, which has to be topical, informative and – like San Diego – classy.

The thing is, good content goes viral and site visibility is becoming a fight to the death for our attention span. Why does this matter? Well, where our eyes go, our money often follows.

Hire yourself a damn good, creative, news-hungry writer – or watch your site wither and fade and lose business. We are all deserting the High Street and shopping via mobile phones, tablets, Kindles and apps over the next decade. It’s an unstoppable, structural shift in our economic way of life.

Your website isn’t primarily about clever code, sitemaps, meta descriptions, tags and 101 other pieces of geeky, trivial architecture. Without beautiful, seductive words and images, it is nothing.

Stay classy.

 

#TEDxSalford 2012: Ray Hammond Tells Us When SkyNet Will Become Self Aware

Ray Hammond illuminates the digital possibilities of our collective futures. Heady stuff.

I like Ray Hammond. He thinks about the future as a kaleidoscope of the past – as a DJ might say, history remixed.

Ray’s talk at TEDx was the highlight for me.

A glorious sweep through human history, bookmarked with our quantum leaps into virtual existence. Speech, writing, the invention of money, settled agriculture and so on.

“Money is virtual, it isn’t real. It only exists if you believe in it.” says Ray.

He’s spot-on there.

So now we live in a virtual world, where we are all connected on social networks, mobile phones track our movements, we all learn via Google and Wikipedia, transfer money without paper – all currency ultimately becoming just zeroes and ones on a screen.

Odd thing is, Ray predicted all this back in 1984. When computers were still basically dumb adding machines, with some graphic bells and whistles. Since then computing power has skyrocketed at an exponential rate. The internet connects these ever more potent, versatile computer chips and applications.

Where is it going?

This guy has come back from the future to destroy Gmail. I’m not arguing with him…

Ray Hammond reckons that sometime around 2050-2060 computers will be as capable as humans. Think about that for a second. Anything we can do, dream, desire, invent or design in precise, visionary detail, will be a Da Vinci code for the Intels of tomorrow. An Apple that Newton could never foresee…

Ray makes the point that in the past Victorians called cars ‘horseless carriages,’ railway engines were ‘iron horses.’

They couldn’t truly define the new technologies they were inventing as they progressed. It was impossible to name them because they were signposts on the road to an unknown future.

We are at the same point with smartphones, tablets or computers. We will not recognise the smartphone of 2050 and we won’t call it that either.

“This century marks the turning point for the virtual ape,” says Ray, “we will soon have the capacity to invent new systems of money exchange, healthcare, transport and communications. What we do with that power is up to us.”

When Ray finished speaking I could sense almost everyone in the Lowry theatre turned to each other, and thought much the same thing;

‘What are we gonna do when Skynet becomes self aware – run for it??’

#TEDxSalford: Dreaming Big? Start Small, Says Julie Meyer

Julie Meyer likes money. It’s in her eyes.

If you have a business idea, Julie Meyer has some useful advice for you.

You can sense a certain coldness, an icy will, which underpins her relentless gaze and steel trap mind. I imagine she gives two things in life very short shrift; dubious company accounting updates and lazy people who expect life on a plate.

I admire highly driven people in some ways. The powerful focus they have on goals, the hunger for knowledge, the ability to draw in others to their cause. Without feeling we are part of something bigger than our own selves, few people will truly go the extra mile, as they say in Powerpoint presentations…

As she speaks at TEDx Salford Julie makes a very telling point, that most of us would probably agree with;

“Financial services is not an industry within itself, it should be working to support industry, to enable entrepreneurs.”

She’s right, the banking system has become a casino, a parody of the kind of nonsense so accurately satirised decades ago in Trading Places; betting the farm on frozen orange juice or pork bellies.

Instead, the UK banking industry should be closer to what it was for centuries; a way for capital to find adventurers, dreamers, manufacturers, merchants – doers, not sayers.

The Power of Disruptive Technology

Julie also touched on another interesting point; every 50 or 60 years a disruptive technology comes along which changes the game. The internet, oil, coal, microchips, railways, printing presses, cars – at some point they’ve all had their own place in the sun.

‘Financial services is NOT an industry, it should be helping industry…’

The trick is to spot a disruptive tech and get in early. Be an enabler, a partner to existing big business. The trick is not to battle large corporations, but to ferry them towards new methods of working, new audiences.

If you innovate small scale and then sell your services to large scale operations, you can succeed. Basically, you’re selling products to those who feel threatened by your upstart existence.

You have to agree Julie has a valid point; why else would Facebook pay $1billion for Instagram, unless they were scared their core audience was deserting them for something hipper, cooler, more fun..?

Good Morning from TEDx Salford

I will be posting photos and live blog snippets throughout the day, should be some inspiring stuff today.

SEO is Shakespeare, but Google doesn’t know Romeo

If you want to understand SEO, read Shakespeare.

The thing about old Bill is that he possessed both a beautifully sharp, direct economy of prose, whilst also being capable of expressing complex, poetic ideas. The sparks fly from Shakespeare’s text, igniting fireworks within our souls, even today.

SEO is, like Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth or Julius Caesar, ultimately about human nature. We search to have our needs sated, our questions answered, our dreams fulfilled. Unwittingly, we define ourselves, for no matter how we paint a portrait of ourselves in real life, our search histories encode a great part of what makes us tick.

Where our eyes covet, our money follows.

SEARCH ENGINES DON’T KNOW SHAKESPEARE

Google can read Shakespeare, but it doesn’t understand it. Humans do that.

It’s been said many times before, but computers are dumb. They have to be taught stuff by geeks, which is why they keep breaking down. In real life, geeks tend to lack humanity – they just don’t care enough.

Search engines, designed originally by academic geeks who wanted a kind of peer-to-peer equation which rated their metaphorical willies, have now evolved into a frenetic, never-sleeping global marketplace.

People sell stuff, they meet for a chat, or perhaps they gamble, view potential lovers or purchase things which make them feel happy.

Google is exactly like a 16^th century marketplace in Southwark, except it doesn’t understand the nuances of language like Bill Shakespeare. Google struggles with layers of meaning, it’s still learning to sift wheat from chaff.

When you look at the blunt, `short tail’ keywords which bring people to web pages, you don’t get the full story. `Car insurance’ on its own is almost meaningless. Ranking on page 1 for it, is nothing more than a start, a jumping off point.

What matters are the couplets that follow – or as SEO geeks call them, the keyword modifiers.

What did they add next; `car insurance for under 25s, older drivers, banned, drink drivers, women, over 70s, London, one day, student, overseas visitors etc?

CONSORT! WHAT, DOST THOU MAKE US MINSTRELS?

When Mercutio shoots his verbal barbs at Tybalt’s cat-proud ego, he uses a double meaning popular in Shakespeare’s era.

`Minstrels’ was slang for gay lovers and Mercutio knows Tybalt won’t be able to handle the jibe. If you google the word `minstrels’ you will eventually discover this literary reference. But only after reading about medieval lute pluckers, racist variety shows from the 70s, Richard the Lionheart’s Blondel buddy, or the chocolate sweet formerly known as Treets.

The point is, Google doesn’t know your website. Or your business. It doesn’t understand what the words on your pages actually mean, it only really sees the structure of the site and views the traffic patterns which drive visitors to your pages – or pictures/videos for that matter. As regards content, it takes an educated guess, based on other sites which feature similar keywords to yours.

So always explain things for Google. Tag every photo with relevant keywords and have a theme to those magic words. Write a meta description based on KEYWORD RESEARCH, not a hunch your marketing girl Sophie had whilst chinning another bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.

Be methodical, but be creative too. Be unique.

CREATING CONTENT MEANS LEARNING, BEFORE WRITING

Google is dumb. Fact.

Create content based on search patterns relevant for your business. Study your customers carefully, listen to the language they use, watch where their eyes take them online, learn from the layers of meaning they type into Google.

Google Analytics is agreat place to start this process. But email records, phone conversations, news sites consumed, social media photos shared and a dozen other metric analysis tools and apps can all help.

Again, sifting wheat from chaff is the art of understanding.

ALL THAT GLISTERS…

The story of your customers true lives; the passions they pursue, the fears they assuage with medicines, alcohol, food, cars or a hundred other trinkets, contain the code which links them to you.

The way your content is consumed, and crucially, shared online, is the real gold dust within your site. Ask `what is the nature of this person, what do they do with my site?’ Don’t set too much store by what they say. Half of that is bullshit.

Never stop studying your customer search volumes, always test keywords relentlessly, watch how people refine and develop their search term language as new interests hook them, because human nature never sleeps. It endures.

Like Shakespeare.

 

 

Automated social media for business: A total #fail

AUTOMATED SOCIAL MEDIA? A TOTAL #FAIL

Many companies have jumped on the social media bandwagon. Trouble is, when you think of it as a bandwagon, then you are likely to fail right from the start. Going social means marketing with a human face.

People click like. It doesn’t mean they really like your brand OK?

Any business or public sector department which deals with the public should be using social media, but it differs from old fashioned company media. The crowd are talking back and you had better have a plan to deal with that, or your brand will end up looking like it’s being managed by idiots.

AUTOMATION IS FOR ROBOTS, HUMANS COMMUNICATE

Many social media `gurus’ will explain to marketing managers or managing directors of SMEs that using Hootsuite, Tweetdeck or many other fashionable social media tools can save `wasted man-hours’ and amplify their brand values online.

Well, up to a point.

It’s true that Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Rippla, Monitter and many more can keep tabs on your chosen topics, what’s being said about your brand online etc. All good. But where they fall down is encouraging `scheduled’ tweets or posts.

Research using Tweetdeck, don’t schedule 87 samey tweets each day.

Imagine for a moment you run a shop on a High Street, then try and picture your sales staff uttering exactly the same banal questions, marketing-speak updates or cheesy polls in the shop doorway at 12 noon every day. Pretty soon, your customers would start punching the staff in the face.

NEVER USE FAKE PEOPLE

Some companies even employ outsourcers who plant tweets on your pages, in a pathetic attempt to spark conversations with real people. Real cheapskates will employ semi-literate people who pepper your Facebook and Twitter feed with spelling and grammar errors too.

Thing is, once people twig who your fake followers are, your social media channel is finished – nobody will believe anything they see in your company feed.

Game over.

Here’s some basic stuff you should avoid:

Scheduled tweets, Facebook or blog posts

Buying `off the shelf’ polls instead of properly researching your sector

Using third party social media staff who have no understanding or affinity with your brand – and paying them peanuts

Spamming LinkedIn with the same marketing messages in three or four groups

Lying. A typical case was a recruitment consultancy which tweeted the same `We’ve just filled two vacancies in Liverpool today’ at 8.30am every single day

Using real people, to express opinions and hold live conversations is risky. But in the long run, it is the only way to succeed on Twitter.

Give your social media a human voice and never think that automating it is making the entire operation super-slick and groovy.

Automating your social media is far more likely to kill your brand reputation. Employ skilled, trained, staff to manage your channels. Work out a strategy and stick with it, build a loyal following.