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In this presentation on Search and Digital Asset Optimization I cover the various types of search and the specific characteristics of Google Web, image, video, product shopping, news search, real-time Twitter search and the Google Adwords PPC search network.

I am showing where search fits within the overall online marketing eco-system and how and when Google pulls content from those vertical search engine databases into the regular web results (Universal search or blended search).

I also highlight the fact that paid search is still the most effective direct response marketing tactic and dominates the online advertising marketing in terms of annual spending.

Since this Search and Digital Asset Optimization presentation is targeted to local businesses, I spend a large portion of the presentation on local organic (Google Maps) search and how and when the local search results appear in the Google Universal search results (10-box) and what you can do to improve the rankings of your site in Google Maps. I will also highlight that local search is not always trigged by a local keyword anymore and that search engines more and more try to discover the user intend when a search query is performed. At the end I also discuss Google Local Business Ads and provide tips for Web site optimization with local search terms.

In part 3 of Search and Digital Asset Optimization I will focus on an undervalued aspect of search engine optimization (SEO), which is keyword optimization of all digital content a company may posses (PDF’s, online press releases, white papers, video and audio files), the distribution of this content throughout the Web and how business owners and online marketers can benefit when their content it is leveraged in this way. I also explore the differences between hosted and posted content.

Readability of type must be an important subject. Ever since the invention of the printed word and movable type designers and typographers have studied and worked on ways to make type as readable as it can be. Legendary type designers and typographers like Stanley Morison, Jan Tschihold and Paul Renner have spent a large part of their careers on the subject. They very early understood that the primary goal of typography and communication design is to convey information.

With the invention of the computer CRT screen and more recently flat screens and the necessity for people to spend more time on the Web, readability of type has become even more important. Special typefaces have been developed for the Web by Matthew Carter (Verdana and Georgia) and others to better cope with the low resolution of the computer screen and improve the readability of primarily body type.

More recently, usability guru Jakob Nielsen, in his book “Prioritizing Web Usability” (Chapter 7) writes “Remember, reading online is much more difficult than reading on paper. Highly contrasting text and background colors make it easier” and “Avoid using similar colors such as light gray on white background. Low contrast can cause eye strain and discomfort.”

With so much emphasis on readability for more than a century it is surprising that we are seeing a trend in web design towards gray body type on a white background. Even people that write about typography, legibility and readability are making their web site hard to read by reducing the contrast between the type and the background.

Don’t get me wrong, those are often beautiful and professional web designs, but what happened to readability and usability. I cannot be the only person who is finding it hard to read gray text on a white background.

Who else out there is having problems reading gray text on a white background? Who is not having problems and actually find it easier on your eyes? If you have used designs with gray text on a white background, did you perform any usability testing? If so, what were the results?

Recently while tackling a reputation management case for a client, I discovered several key points. First the client is often in an emotional state, wanting to get immediate retaliation and often will end up making the situation worse. Online as opposed to offline, the way you handle a situation may be entirely counter intuitive. For example having conversations with the party that is doing the damage may be exactly what you don’t want to do. Online, that conversation just feeds more online information, which may or may not be what the strategy should be.

Before doing anything, step one is to investigate. You need to investigate the actual incident to determine the parties involved and if there is anything that can be done to easily rectify the situation. After this first step you need to investigate what is happening on the Internet. That means having the deep knowledge to determine how the information is coming up in the places that are causing the damage. In the case I was referring to, it came down to which keywords are searched to get the damaging results. If you didn’t go that deep, you can’t develop a strategy that will help with the solution. Each case is different but you have to have a search specialist on board to do this part of the investigation. You also need to help your client understand that this investigation takes some time. In some cases, a quick turn-around is important so you need to look at that as well. Once you discover the answers to the investigation questions a solution needs to be orchestrated.

The best advise today, in most cases, is to add good content to get the search results off page one in the search engines, because most people go to the search engines as the first step in checking a person’s qualifications for work to hire, especially under a unique search like a person’s name. To do this there are many different tactics but again, the deep knowledge of search and keywords is essential in the solution. So best advice to a client, hire an agency that has a strategy and a good search specialist and then calm down and let them do their job.

Everyone is talking about social media and social networking today. Bringing these concepts to face-to-face women's business networking events is a way of spreading the knowledge to this base of women. Successful businesswomen often attend different kinds of women's business networking events in their local communities throughout the US, sometimes as many as two to three times per month. At a recent event I attended, The Women's Initiative, a group created by the Chamber of Commerce for the MetroWest in Massachusetts, sponsored by Skirt Magazine, successful business women got together to hear author, Jeanne Worrick, discuss key ideas from her book, "sell like a girl".

After her presentation, the discussion centered on digital asset optimization. Bringing a camera to this event, I took some pictures of several attendees. This created some buzz about what I was doing and how could this help with leveraging visibility in search engines. I shared with them some of the methods for media optimization that could work with search. First, one can take a digital image and upload this to an account at Flickr where the image caption can be optimized with relevant keywords and keyword tagging. Also you would want to link it back to your corporate website, blog article or some other landing page. If you took a very short video, you could do the same and upload that video to YouTube in your corporate channel and again optimize the description with relevant keywords and link it back to your site or landing page. With universal or blended search becoming more important any digital asset, like images, videos, press releases, etc. can be searched and appear in prominent positions on the Google search results page when optimized correctly.

Going to face-to-face networking events with a camera can give you one additional opportunity to leverage that image or video for search and put your company or brand name in front of your target audience.

Notable Attendee's

Maria Babb, Nancy Cantor and Janet Drummey

Jacy Cardoza and Nancy Cantor

Integrating Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) into the Advertising Mix
Webmaster World PubCon 2008, November 2008

Louise Rijk
Vice President of Marketing and Sales
Advanced Media Productions

The rising influence of word of mouth marketing (WOMM) - when consumers exchange ideas and recommendations about products, services and brands – especially online, may be relatively small, but is quickly growing. According to TalkTrack™, when people receive a word-of-mouth endorsement of a product by a true user, they are more impressed. In fact, when the product has been advertised before, the user is even more apt to recommend the product and the prospect is equally more inclined to try it.

Defining Social Media

MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn: The Major Social Networking Players

Profile Maintenance and Content Updates

Social Media Optimization and Reputation Management

Search Internet leads that have been generated from organic search results or paid search ads have unique characteristics that differentiate them from leads that were originated from traditional media such as TV, radio, or direct mail. I recently discovered that often sales representatives are not aware of this.

In our world of marketing and lead generation, keeping the queue full may be done in many ways. Let me highlight 3; traditional media leads (TV and Radio), direct mail, and Internet leads from search specifically.

The first two ways of generating business involves getting in front of clients who are not or may not even be in the buying cycle. They are served a TV or Radio commercial or receive a print mailing and need to be persuaded to give it any attention. Once they make the effort to react to that piece of advertising it is a good lead because there is often no competition vying for that client at that exact same moment. The Internet lead from search targets a potential client who has intent so they are in some phase of the buying cycle. However, even if they are in the final stage of the buying cycle and are ready to buy, the nature of this lead is what I want to address. Typically an Internet buyer starts with search and research so a characteristic of an Internet lead is that you are probably not the only recipient of that lead at that time because the lead generated from a search results page has various other competitors present when that search result page comes up. The potential client may have made inquires or has done research on several other sites. So the characteristic would be that a search Internet lead has to be acted on quickly because several of your competitors may have also gotten that same lead. Another characteristic is that a lead from search requires persistence. Often the person is not available at the phone number they entered in the lead form when the sales person calls, while the first human contact is essential in moving the sale along.

Sales people may find search Internet leads frustrating and they may then feel it is not a very good lead and treat it that way from the start. Another important characteristic is that every search lead has value. You may not make that sale on the first pass, but if you treat that lead with value, you may be able to find a way to use it as a first contract and think of it as building a new relationship with future sales potential. Use that call to capture information or capture an email address and use that information to create future touch points. Just as there is value in networking, it is often suggested that you treat networking “as a marathon, not a sprint.”

Since search is often the first step in research, the client may also be in the very early stage of the buying cycle, so a sales person making a compelling case and finding a way to be helpful and give information and then capture even an email address would be a worthy next step. The key here is to keep in contact by adding their email contact address to a value newsletter or great offer down the road. In other words try to establish a relationship for future business, again treating that first contact in a similar way to the first stage of networking and building your future client base.

As a sales professional, I realize that the leads generated on the Internet from search present new challenges for us. We have to examine our attitude if we are not seeing their value. We also need to develop new methods of handling them so we can successfully use this channel.

To summarize, think of search leads positively, move on them quickly, be aggressive and tenacious and think of them as not only a sale, but as a new relationship that you are building with a future client.

If you are out there and have some additional tips to offer, we would all welcome the input.

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I’m Louise Rijk, and we’re back with the latest installment of AMP Talk. This time, it’s all about blogging. I start with a brief history of blogging, and some tips for creating a better business blog. Our Social Media Marketing Manager, Dan Zarrella, fills us in on what it takes to make a blog successful. Last but not least, Paid Search Manager David DiMartino gives us the ins and outs on using content networks to add advertising value to a blog.

A “blog” (a portmanteau of weblog) is written in journal-style and usually has a single focus or theme. Originally used as online diaries, blogs and “vlogs” (video blogs) are now used by major companies in a variety of industries, making corporate blogs big business. There are a few key points to remember when blogging, especially for business: post often and on-topic, use links frequently and optimize your posts.

It takes time and talent to make a blog really work, and not every blog is successful. Companies need their blog to support their brand, and business blogs can be even trickier to maintain effectively. SEM Manager Dan Zarrella explains what goes into a blog and what types of business should—and shouldn’t—blog.

The question for a lot of people is how to get their blog to “show them the money.” Paid Search Manager David DiMartino outlines how to do that with content networks, and provides insight on who this should work well for (and who it won’t) and what it takes to run a profitable ad campaign on a blog.

I'll be the first to admit that when I was asked to take over our smaller pay-per-click clients, I was less than thrilled.

However, while I was starting to "get" it, the idea of number crunching, bid management, position placement, and ad copy writing didn't scream "enjoyable 8-hour day" to me.

I was wrong.

I've come to thoroughly enjoy helping people with their accounts. And not only that, I've actually become pretty good at it (at least I think I have; check back to see if Dave's posts tell a different story).

I've always been a slave to keeping things painfully organized (thanks, Mom, for the O.C.D.), and have found that it translates beautifully to account-proactivity. Self-help websites like PPC Hero help to solidify newly acquired knowledge and provide up-to-the-minute updates on what's new, while tools like Google AdWords Editor (which I highly recommend you download if you're running any kind of PPC account of your own) are a lifesaver when it comes to a user-friendly ad building and bid management system.

As "the n00b", I figured I could win over some readers with some free advice. I'm learning a lot as I go, but here are a few things I've already figured out can make a world of difference in a PPC campaign. Without further adieu I give you: Ken's Epic Tips!

• Patience Really Is A Virtue...
  PPC campaigns need a few weeks to get to a point where you can see what they are truly capable of. Don't give up or expect too much early on; the internet is fast, but not that fast. Gather a few months of data before making any major campaign changes or decisions.
• Refrain From Searching Yourself On Google...
  Every click costs money, so you are wasting it if you click through to your own site through one of your pay-per-click ads. Deliberately searching for your ads interferes with the data being collected on impressions too, so if you must peek, use "Fake Google" or Google Preview Search.
• Develop An Honest Keyword List...
  Every phrase should be a product or service that you really offer, not something "sort of similar" that gets a lot of traffic. Your Quality Score will go down if you have a lot of irrelevant terms, causing you to pay more but get less. If you're unsure ask yourself; "Would I pay to have people find me by searching for this?". If the answer is no, toss it.

Webmaster World PubCon 2007: Word of Mouth Marketing

I’ve spoken at Webmaster World’s marketing convention the past few years. PubCon 2007 was held in November, in Las Vegas, Nevada, and I once again attended had the honor of attending as a speaker. Here’s a summary of my presentation on Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM), along with the full video.

What is Word of Mouth Marketing?

WOMM can be organic, when consumers start talking about a product or service naturally, or amplified by marketers driving campaigns in order to create buzz and accelerate the discussion. Either way, consumers must be given a reason to talk about something in order for word to spread; in order for the “buzz” to become viral, it needs to be worth buzzing about.

The Internet’s Role in WOMM

WOMM works by getting “influencers”—highly regarded, in-the-know consumers—to talk about the product, both online and off. The internet allows influencers to reach a wider audience much more quickly through email, instant message, social networks, chat rooms, social news sites and any other form of social media on the web.

Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Social Media Marketing operates on many of the same principles as Word of Mouth Marketing, but does not rely on human influencers as much as online communication channels. SMM is strictly an online tactic and generally more outrageous and less brand specific than WOMM.

Planning, Integrating and Implementing a WOMM Campaign

A WOMM or SMM campaign generates more buzz when supported by traditional media buys and a larger marketing or advertising campaign. Successful integration requires extensive planning, carefully timed execution and comprehensive tracking and measuring.

Watch my full presentation (24 minutes) for a more in-depth look at the ins and outs of planning and executing a successful WOMM or SMM campaign.

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I’m Louise Rijk, and I’ll be your host once again for the latest installment of AMP Talk. In this special holiday edition, we dive into the holiday shopping madness, kicking off with my comparison of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Then, Social Media Marketing Manager Dan Zarrella will explain what goes into a seasonal SEO campaign—and how soon to start it. In a special interview segment, our producer Alison Driscoll will try out the mic to get a rundown on PubCon, a convention I recently spoke at. Finally, our Paid Search Manager David DiMartino breaks out a PPC budget for the holidays.

“Cyber Monday,” the new “it” day of internet shopping, fall on the Monday after Thanksgiving and is the web equivalent of the cultural phenomenon “Black Friday,” the biggest day of the year for retail. To capitalize on the online shopping marketplace, etailers need to develop web promotions like free shipping and free gifts with purchase in order to drive traffic and compete with the big mall stores.

SEO campaigns need to be revamped for the holidays just like any traditional advertising campaign or promotion. However, the how and when are a little different on the internet and effective holiday Search Engine Optimization techniques and strategies can vary widely for different types of online businesses. Dan Zarrella gives businesses of all sizes an early gift with SEO tips for the holiday season.

AMP Talk producer Alison Driscoll puts me in the hot seat for an interview on the recent PubCon Search Marketing Conference in Las Vegas, where I caught up with Matt Cutts to get the inside scoop on social media, link building and other hot topics industry insiders were buzzing about. I also give a recap of my presentation on Word of Mouth Marketing.

David DiMartino gives etailers the scoop on seasonal PPC ads and promotions, detailing what to do and when to start planning. Take notes for next year, because holiday PPC campaigns are all about strategy and preparation early on, especially for smaller businesses.