Reader Friendly Content Grows Buyer Trust and Improves Google Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Each of this week’s articles support that theme differently. These experts’ insights show how reader friendly content builds trust and enhances SEO:
Writing naturally benefits the reader and sends a positive signal to Google (versus forcing keywords into our copy).
Gaining a buyer’s trust begins with trusting our instincts. Being ourselves is attainable and healthy. “Being remarkable” can be misleading because it’s a relative standard.
Earning trust in a machine learning age (aka Google’s RankBrain) will continuously redefine what’s “reader friendly content.” Artificial intelligence search applications will line up content marketing and SEO even more closely with personal branding and thought leadership authority.
Trustworthiness and its link to helpfulness is a major signal in Google’s secret sauce.
How the company chooses to measure trust in its search algorithm continues evolving. We better pay close attention because Google wields the monopolistic power to either reward or punish our content.
That’s why I think WHAT we write and HOW we write is a vital SEO tactic. Here’s my take on why reader friendly content is great SEO now (and in the future).
Our Buyers Drive Content Marketing and SEO Decisions
The Theme Pulsing Through This Week’s Article Links. These expert pearls show why the problems keeping our buyers awake at night fuel content marketing and SEO (search engine optimization). Their wisdom touches on:
The devices consumers use to find our businesses and articles online. (Hint: Rhymes with smartphone).
The signals Google looks for and takes into account for ranking our websites and content.
The importance of keyword density. (Hint: Not as much as we thought).
Buyer personas rich with details on the buyer’s pre-buy research behaviors are a strategic advantage.
Check out these article summaries which I know will make us better marketers, writers, and search engine optimization professionals.
HubSpot’s Inbound Certification Video Class 3: “What Does Inbound Look Like?” shares how a real-world company successfully practices inbound marketing. This is a valuable class as a real-world, spot-on buyer persona case study.
This buyer persona case study proves how well-crafted buyer personas can:
Drive inbound marketing strategy and tactics
Link together content marketing and SEO choices
Support a company’s sales and revenue goals
Here’s what to expect from this blog post on these inbound marketing best practices (and future blog posts) as I prepare for the inbound marketing certification exam:
Open Sharing. I’ll publish my study notes on this blog as I review each video in the twelve (12) classes.
Detail. My notes will be very detailed. Many of the slides in the video classes state the learning or take-home-message perfectly. If I think that’s the best way to state the learning, I’ll record the learning in my notes verbatim from the respective slide.
Context. I’ll provide my context whenever it may help us better understand the inbound marketing and sales concept(s).
She shares how Law School Class of 2011 and 2012 J.D.’s from New York Law School, Florida Coastal School of Law, Hofstra Law, Cooley Law School, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, DePaul University College of Law, Widener University School of Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and others filed class action lawsuits against their their alma maters for consumer fraud.
These unhappy graduates claimed their law schools mislead them about their post-graduation employment prospects (direct article quotes):
Disgruntled law-school graduates who filed suits accusing their alma maters of deceiving them about their chances of landing a well-paying job haven’t had much success in court.
More than a dozen class actions were filed in 2011 and 2012, but courts across the country have knocked out the lawsuits one by one, including a recent dismissal in Florida. Only a few remain.
There’s Good News. I see opportunity for these unemployed attorneys. I see solo entrepreneurs with legal expertise to offer clients. Here are three (3) online platform ideas so unemployed lawyers as well as practicing ones can land their own clients and market themselves.
Google Chrome issues continue rearing its ugly head whenever I comment on blog posts or articles in The WSJ, LinkedIn, or Medium. Great. Now, I’m blacklisted as a spammer for multiple publishing attempts.
Here’s the comment I intended to post at The Wall Street Journal. The following quote contains modifications because I’m exceeding the 1000 character limit in WSJ’s commenting system:
Bolota Asmeron, a member of the Linkedin Elite Centipede outs on a temporary Linkedin tattoo before the start of the 2010 Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco.
Important Note: An intelligent and thought-provoking discussion from The Writing on LinkedIn Group inspired this latest post. Matt Sekol initiated the discussion thread, Where’s The Traditional Blog. It’s people like Matt Sekol (and many others) who reaffirm my belief and commitment to why The Writing on LinkedIn Group is one of the most important, intelligent, and enjoyable communities for engaging with and learning from like-minded individuals within LinkedIn.
I submitted a comment stating why limiting our self-publishing investments to third-party platforms like LinkedIn’s Publishing Platform and Medium without investing in a self-hosted, personal website or personal blog is a career and business mistake.
Here are more detailed thoughts expanding on my comment in Alexandra’s post. (more…)
I’m publicly taking and publishing the required exercises in Seth Godin’s Professional Freelancer Course on Udemy. The required exercises force you to ask: “Am I Taking This Path for The Right Reasons.”
Hi Social Media ReInvention Community! Here are your share-worthy links for your enjoyment and discussion. Thanks again for your ongoing support of my work. Enjoy these links and your Sunday Brunch!
3) LinkedIn Pulse: Club Ed: How Some Colleges Became $41k-a-Year Gyms. Point-of-view from LinkedIn Influencer and Bain & Company's Jeff Denneen on the escalating costs at American universities. The article discusses "the arms race" or "Law of More" for student amenities at competing private schools (e.g., gourmet, organic-ingredient meals, student athletic facilities, enhanced student housing, etc.). Denneen poses the question on the ROI these costs deliver to students upon graduation. Why? Thousands of students from private universities can no longer afford these amenitiies post-graduation because of either A) Unemployment or B) Under-employment (accepting jobs not requiring a college degrees).
4) MarketingLand: Ford Motor Company Takes A Newsjacking Bite Out Of #Applelive Event. My fave article in this post.This is brilliant, timely, and funny newsjacking. Ford flipped on its head the attributes of the ballyhooed Apple Watch and apply them to their brands in real-time, laugh-out-loud, newsjacking examples. Denny's and Crest also delivered creative #AppleLive newsjacks.
5)Fortune Magazine: How Google Works.Eric Schmidt (Google's Chairman) and Jonathan Rosenberg (Google's former Head of Product Development and Senior Vice President of Product Management) provide excerpts and thoughts from their upcoming book How Google Works. Key insights shared include why Google's approach to sustaining its growth (systematizing innovation into company culture), identifying talent (hiring the smartest people possible who critically think and continuously adapt versus hiring for specific job position criteria), and nurturing talent (aggressively rotate the most passionate people into different organizations — e.g., "pass the M&Ms and not the raisins."
Did you enjoy this post? If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!
The New Rules of Sales & Service by David Meerman Scott
"Sooner or later the world will be interested in your area of expertise." —David Meerman Scott from The New Rules of Sales and Service: How to Use Agile Selling, Real-Time Customer Engagement, Big Data, Content, and Storytelling to Grow Your Business.
But, will YOU (companies or individuals) be able to deliver YOUR expertise at PRECISELY the RIGHT time when the customer needs it?
That's just one of several game-changing concepts David Meerman Scott describes in hs latest book.
BOTTOM LINE: Buy and study it. The New Rules of Sales and Service (NRSS) ROCKS!! It's destined to become another Meerman Scott classic.
Social Media ReInvention Community Members know I'm a huge fan and student of David's teachings.
I own and constantly refer to these classic books:
The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, News Releases, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly
Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History
As soon as I learned about this book, I pre-ordered the NRSS hardcover and Kindle versions. My review is based on an advance, draft copy of The New Rules of Sales and Service on which I'm basing this review.
A Rebel with a Cause
The New Rules of Sales and Service is written in David's trademark style: challenging marketing strategy's status quo (with a rebel's heart). His thoughtful, entertaining, and case study-rich content applies to Fortune 100, small businesses, and individuals who genuinely desire to competitively differentiate themselves.
Game Changing Rules in Selling and Customer Service
Among the game changing arguments David makes in numerous case studies (~10 per chapter) is how marketing, sales, and service can no longer exist in functional silos. Every employee is (and should be) accountable for marketing, selling, and servicing new and existing customers because the social tools are available online to everyone.
The New Rules of Sales and Service extend beyond it's a "cross-functional" thing. It's now an "all-hands-on-deck" thing.
Executing and sustaining an NRSS-driven culture requires top-down, CEO-driven leadership. Successful New Rules of Sales and Service practitioners instill a participative and trusting company culture. These leaders enable all employees to capitalize in social, one-to-one, real-time, customer communications throughout the entire buying process. David interviewed company leaders who trust and expect their team members (regardless of departmental function) to:
1. Acquire NEW customers and MAINTAIN existing customer relationships using social tools in real-time interactions (e.g., concepts of AGILE selling and real-time speed & engagement; Case Study: Avaya)
2. Contribute and share valuable content to educate and inform customers in the pre- and post-sale process AT THE PRECISE TIME THE CUSTOMER NEEDS IT (e.g., CONTEXTUAL & consultative selling vs. hard-selling tactics; Case Study: Kendall PRess)
3. Collect and analyze real-time customer data to support real-time content delivery, service actions, and sales interactions (e.g., salesperson comes in later in buying process OR no salesperson; Case Study:GadCAD)
4. Convey stories about the company's products / services aligning with the customer's view of themselves (e.g., buyer persona research, newsjacking; Case Study: MultiCare Health Systems)
That opportunistic mindset drives competitive differentiation at both a tactical and strategic level.
By the way, David's research confirms blogging is far from dead. Long form content may be the best social tool in authentically demonstrating one company's "truth" to a competitor's public relations "spin."
Closing Thoughts
Will more and future leaders trust their teams and David's rich teachings in NRSS? Time will tell. But, why wait? Gain the upper hand by buying and studying David's work. The hardcover book officially ships today, September 2nd.
Bonus #3: (STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS) Mind Maps of Chapters 1-7. The goal is to have the remaining Chapters 8-10 completed by the end of next weekend. I'm still experimenting w/ the XMind Mind Mapping Software to make the maps easier to read in slide show mode.
Please be patient, and I'll update this post as quickly as I can. Here's what they look like so far (I know I can't read'em either):
