Welcome Back to Sunday Links with Social Media ReInvention
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Your conscious decision to invest your Sunday time and attention here humbles and inspires me. Thank YOU!
Today’s Sunday Links summaries revolve around a specific storyline — Personalization.
Summary 1 — Email Marketing: 1. If You’re Automating Your Emails, Please Personalize Them
Summary 2 — Inbound Marketing: 2. Personalized Blog Posts are the New Unique
Summary 3 — Strategy: 3. Amazon HQ2 Selection Is Personal for the Cities Who Lost
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).
Successful Inbound Marketing and Public Relations Requires Content Marketing and SEO Work Together
This past week, I attended webinars, started studying books, and read articles with a common theme: When content marketing and SEO work together, long term, impactful business goals are achieved.
This resounding theme also touches upon another key element: a publishing strategy integrating content marketing and SEO (search engine optimization) is sustainable. These experts share their views on important changes in marketing organization (and individual) skills, mindsets, and organizational structures.
That’s a huge deal for all businesses:
Large Corporations
Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
Freelance Professionals
Here are links to these great articles on where inbound marketing and public relations are heading to deliver more meaningful business outcomes and results.
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).
Hi Social Media ReInvention Community. Sorry for not publishing and keeping in touch over the last few months. Some personal hiccups derailed and distracted me. Writing about these share-worthy links and sharing my take on why you’ll find them valuable is part of the process to get myself on track. (more…)
* Number of Members: Tens of thousands of companies, agencies and institutions worldwide
* Audiences Served: Thousands of media points through satellite delivery, tens of thousands more through email and fax delivery, more than 600 television stations, and reporters and bloggers from 27,000 news organizations registered for PR Newswire for Journalists, http://www.prnewswire.com/media, plus the general public and millions of investment professionals through more than 5,500 websites, online databases and financial networks.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Benefits. Earning coverage and an inbound link from PR Newswire provides important SEO and Google Rank benefits. Each one builds authority in Google's search engine algorithm:
* SEO Benefit #1: The PR Newswire inbound link equates to an influential and authoritative online vote because many websites link to PR Newswire's site.
* SEO Benefit #2: PR Newswire's inbound link helps increase Social Media ReInvention Blog's online reputation and credibility in social media marketing, social media strategy, and public relations strategy.
* SEO Benefit #3: Social Media ReInvention Blog's exposure to PR Newswire's wide audience increases the likelihood of more people discovering this blog.
What a Way to Start the Weekend! Achieving this online milestone is both thrilling and humbling. It's taken hard work and commitment. And, that hard work and commitment will continue.
In a recent post, 3 Findings on Real-Time Trust and Influence in Online Communities, I wrote about how an inbound link from a very popular Facebook Fan Page, positively impacted my site traffic. Here's a screen shot of the Facebook Fan Page's inbound link, and the referral to its Fans about my blog post:
This Inbound Link and Relevant Keywords Helped One of My Blog Posts Achieve Page-One Results in Google Searches
This inbound link also had another important effect on my blog: placement of my blog post, 3 Social Media Tips for Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love, on the first page of organic Google search results. The post shows up in different places on the first page of organic Google Searches and Google Blog Searches (depending on the keywords typed into Google).
Here are some example screenshots where my blog post or my blog has shown up on the coveted Google 1st Page:
Page-One Google Results Drive the Most Click Traffic …
* Potential customers begin their decision making process with a search engine
* These customers trust that a search engine will bring forth the best and most relavent results
* On average, 95.3% of all non-branded natural search traffic comes from a Page-One result from a search conducted in Google, Yahoo!, or Bing
* If your search result lands on the second or third page, you're likely to garner only 1.6% to 3.4% of the natural search traffic to your website – minimal impact
* The other way to look at this data — 95% of all users aren't going that deep into their search results because they stop after search result #10
… and the #1 Ranked Search Result Drives 34% of that Traffic
This picture further reinforces the importance of gaining a Page-One Organic Search Result. If you can't achieve the #1 search position, your goal is to earn positions #2 through #10. Why? Your opportunity to earn search traffic drops significantly if your search result land in positions #11 to #20 (e.g., your search result lands on page 2).
Conclusion
Google rewarded my blog post with Page-One organic search results for different keyword searches for two (2) reasons:
#1: A High Authority Inbound Link from a Popular Facebook Page
#2: Relevant Keywords in the Blog Post Title and/or URL.
It only takes one high authority inbound link or careful placement of relavent keywords in your blog post title and/or URL to improve your Google Search Rankings. These examples also underscore the SEO implications for carefully choosing the blog post titles and wordings in the URLs.
Furthermore, the research data reinforces why earning a Page-One search engine drives website or blog traffic. If you're fortunate to earn the #1 position, the top ranking search result always gains a disproportionate share of the click traffic. Therefore, looking for and understanding opportunities to improve keyword selection with our blog titles, URLs, and website content increases the likelihood of achieving a Page-One Search Result and earning more click-generated traffic.
BONUS SECTION
If you read this far in my post, I thank you. Here are links to the research I found on the value of Page-One Organic Google Results:
My wife and I recently discovered a wonderful and touching book: Oogy – The Dog Only a Family Could Love. It was a complete accident how my wife and I randomly found Oogy's book in a local Barnes & Noble.
The author, Larry Levin, describes how he and his family fell in love with Oogy and learned about his horrific life as a bait dog in an illegal dogfighting operation. If you're an animal and dog lover like I am, you will love this book and fall in love with Oogy just as Mr. Levin's family did. Oogy's remarkable story is one of redemption and how we can all find love, inspiration, and hope after enduring significant tragedy.
I want others to discover this great book and experience the joy it brought me. So I started thinking, how are Mr. Levin and Hatchette Book Group (the book's publishers)leveraging social media as part of the overall marketing strategy? After doing some Google searches, I learned they are using different social media channels (i.e., YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter) as part of a traditional book tour where Mr. Levin and Oogy make personal appearances at bookstores and various animal protection events in the Philadelphia area.
So here are my quick thoughts on the current use (and maybe some potential future use) of social media to build public awareness of the book, Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love …
Tip #1: Create an Oogy the Book YouTube Channel
I love how Mr. Levin and the publishers are consistently using this YouTube video to promote the book. We get to meet and hear Mr. Levin talk about Oogy, and he shares pictures of Oogy with Mr. Levin's family. The video has currently racked up ~38,000 views!
Video is such a great online medium that I suggest Mr. Levin and the publishers create their own YouTube Channel (i.e., Oogy The Dog or Oogy The Book) and build a big video library showing:
* Mr. Levin speak during the promotional tour or animal protection awareness events * Impromptu interviews with attendees of these events (i.e., what do they love about Oogy?) * Oogy affectionately interacting with children and other dogs at these events
The Oogy Facebook Fan Page has lots of great pictures showing how much children love seeing and petting Oogy. But, wouldn't it be great to see this interaction captured on video?
The book describes in great detail Oogy's affectionate and loving nature, and I think seeing these behaviors in video would have a huge impact for people who can't travel to a Philadelphia-area event to meet Oogy and Mr. Levin. Oogy and Mr. Levin's ability to travel to other parts of the U.S. are limited because Oogy associates being placed in a crate with having his ear torn off. This means any promotional appearances beyond reasonable driving distance of the Philadelphia area (i.e., the Midwest and West Coast) are highly unlikely.
I think giving people "virtual access" to Oogy via videos would expand "the reach" currently limited by where Mr. Levin and Oogy can drive to.
Tip #2: Publish an Oogy Blog to Improve His Google Search Rankings
Blogging still continues to be the Number 1 way to improve your online presence and increase your Google search engine results pages (i.e., SERPs). The creative content Mr. Levin could publish in a blog are limitless, and the search engine optimization rewards (i.e., SEO) would be huge. In addition, I did a quick search on the name "Larry Levin" and it appears there's already another "Larry Levin" who has already built a large and visible online presence through his own online activities. So, publishing the blog provides Oogy another channel for increasing his Google Search Rankings through other keywords (i.e., illegal dogfighting, animal rights, animal protection) beyond his author's name.
1. A blog adds naturally occuring, keyword-rich pages 2. A blog increases the potential for incoming links from high-quality websites
Blog Posts Increase Your Number of Indexed Pages in Google. Over the course of a year, let's say Mr. Levin publishes two (2) blog posts per month (so roughly 24 pages per year). That investment of time is already significant because the average small business website includes anywhere from 10-20 static web pages. By maintaining the blog and with each new blog post, Oogy gets a new indexed page in Google. The analogy that the Social Media Examiner article provides is that every new indexed page in Google is like buying a ticket in a lottery. The more tickets you hold, the better chance of winning the top spot in the Google Search Engine Rankings. That's the big difference between websites that remain static versus those that are more dynamic (e.g., keep adding new web pages for indexing by publishing blog posts).
Blog Posts Increase Your Chances for High Authority Incoming Links. Google rewards websites receiving large numbers of incoming links. More importantly, Google highly rewards websites receiving incoming links from high authority websites such as the New York Times, USA Today, or other high-ranking blogs. What if an Oogy blog post received an incoming link from a news story from one of these news outlets or from a high-ranking blogger who writes about animal protection and animal rights? Essentially, Oogy's Google Search Rankings would skyrocket.
Tip #3: A Blog Gives Oogy an On-Line Home Base With Digital Flexibility
Scott Monty recently wrote a great blog post titled: "We'll Always Have Blogging." Even though Scott's article focuses on the benefits of corporate blogging, his key points are highly applicable to things Mr. Levin and his publishers could do in promoting Oogy online.
A Blog Can Give Oogy an Integrated, Online Home Base. Oogy already has his own Facebook and Twitter pages. This is great how Mr. Levin and his publishers are leveraging popular social media channels. But, a blog could further increase Oogy's online visibility by providing an online home base integrating all of Oogy's social media channels (i.e., YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter). "Sharing widgets" on each blog post can make it easy for readers to promote Oogy's blog posts through a channel of their choice. Most of all, an integrated home base and an integrated content plan will allow Oogy's story and content to spread wherever his current fans or new fans happen to search for it.
Blogs Provide Long-Form Content and Context That Twitter and Facebook Can't. When it comes to telling a story (and providing that story's overall context), nothing online can match a blog. Oogy's story, the people who saved him, and the joy and love he brought these same people are very moving. And, you can't express those ideas / feelings in a tweet of 140 characters or less. As Scott's article points out, marketing is about storytelling (and a blog would convey Oogy's story outstandingly).
Oogy's Blog Could Host a Variety of Content.Blogs can support a wide variety of content (i.e., text, videos, photos , or a combination of all of the above). This variety of choices gives Mr. Levin and his publishers multiple ways to deliver content about Oogy:
* Videos: Oogy with children and other dogs; Interviews of book event attendees; Interviews of other key people in the book who were touched by Oogy
* Text: Excerpts from the book; Observations or thoughts from a recent book event; Dates of upcoming events where Oogy and Mr. Levin will be appearing; Guest posts by other authors greatly impacted by Oogy (i.e., members of the Ardmore Animal Hospital who saved Oogy or Mr. Levin's sons)
* Photos: Pictures from book signings; Pictures of Oogy with Mr. Levin's family that didn't make it in the book.
Conclusion
Like so many other fans of this book, I simply can't get enough Oogy! In my opinion, integrating social media strategy (especially a blog) as part of the current traditional book promotional tour could increase Oogy's current popularity to a new level. I want more people to learn about Oogy's gentle soul and the incredible story behind the team of people who saved him, and the significant impact he's had on these people's lives.
Six (6) months have quickly gone by since I started this blog. Without a doubt, it's been one of the most educational, rewarding, and fulfilling experiences I've ever had. For this post, I hope you won't mind me sharing some key lessons.
1. Keyword Phrases / Keywords are Vitally Important in Titles and URLs Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools helped me identify the keywords and keyword phrases currently driving my blog traffic from Google searches. For my posts landing on the first pages of Google searches, it's due to specific keywords or phrases in either the title or post URL. Here are some examples:
* Example A — "state of inbound marketing" * Example B — "best invitation on LinkedIn" * Example C — "inbound marketing by brian halligan and dharmesh shah" * Example D — "charlie rose ken auletta"
Search engine optimization (SEO) plays an important role in blogging. Since I'm not a famous blogger with hundreds of other bloggers linking to my blog, I have to pay close attention to optimizing my titles and URLs for Google searches. In each blog post title, I purposely use a keyword phrase or keyword that I think will have relevance or authority in Google. Each of these blog posts earned a first-page Google search result because of the keyword phrasings I highlighted above:
2. An Idea Collection Process and Writing Schedule Will Increase Your Blogging Frequency Google rewards websites that frequently update their content. This is why blogs perform well in search rankings. Plus, every newly published blog post means another opportunity to index a new page in Google's search engine (which increases your chances of being found in organic searches). That's why you want to publish posts as frequently as possible.
When I first started, I struggled to publish a post once per week. As part of my 2010 New Year's resolution, my weekly goal is two per week. By focusing on this goal, I've seen an 80% increase in my blog traffic in the past four weeks. What's been the biggest difference?
A. I started an idea collection process. I now capture blog ideas in Google Docs, Delicious Bookmarks, or a personal email folder. I revisit these collection areas on a periodic basis to remind myself of my original intentions or thoughts for future posts. In the Google Docs file, I usually type out a few bullet points for future reference so I don't forget the idea. I find this tactic especially helpful if it's an idea I that may be one of my next four (4) posts.
B. I follow a writing and publication schedule. To hit the twice per week target, I start writing initial drafts on specific evenings or mornings. When published, the post might not necessarily be perfect and I've learned to revise later. And, that's a huge luxury blogs provide over other publishing mediums.
Here's some of the best advice I've read for improving writing habits and increasing blog post frequency:
HubSpot conducted a webinar on February 18th titled: The State of Inbound Marketing 2010. The webinar focused on key trends in inbound and outbound marketing uncovered from a survey HubSpot conducted in early 2010. Hubspot's analysis reveals many insights on how businesses are using inbound marketing to reinvent and improve their marketing strategies. This is great content so I've posted the slides in case you didn't have the opportunity to attend the webinar.
Mike Volpe (VP Marketing @HubSpot) and Adam Blake (MIT-Sloan MBA Student) presented many thoughtful insights. Here are some golden nuggets that really hit home:
Insight 1 – Cost Per Lead for Inbound Marketing Channels is Significantly Lower Versus Outbound Marketing Channels (Slide 5) Inbound marketing channels (i.e., social media, blogs, SEO – organic / natural search, PPC – paid search / Adwords) cost per lead averaged around $134. Outbound marketing channels (i.e., telemarketing, trade shows, direct mail) cost per lead averaged around $332 per lead. Thus, inbound marketing lowered costs per lead by 60%.
Insight 2 – Almost All Inbound Marketing Channels Generate Lower Costs Compared to Any Outbound Channel (Slides 6, 7) 63% rated social media and blogs as "below average cost" for generating leads. 43% rated SEO as "below average cost." In addition, these three inbound marketing channels performed better than all outbound marketing channels. In slide 7, Mike observed that the outbound channel 2010 results for "below average cost" were better than 2009 for all categories. He noted customers are probably negotiating better terms due to current economic conditions (e.g., a short-term benefit).
Insight 3 - Social Media is One Component of a Healthy Inbound Marketing Mix (Slide 8) The lesson here: Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Although respondents rated social media as their most important source of leads, SEO and blogs rated second and third respectively. In fact, SEO was rated only 1% lower than social media (i.e., 59% to 60%).
Successful Google results via organic search will continue to be important. The eMarketer article, Organic Search Still Reigns, reinforces why landing on the first page results of Google, Yahoo!, and Bing is huge. The rationale: 95% of search-referred traffic comes from first-page results. Less than 2% of search-referred traffic comes from visitors willing to keep looking after the second page of results.
Insight 4 - Blog Post Frequency Significantly Impacts Customer Acquisition (Slides 16, 17) Most respondents said they blog primarily once per week. However, the firms most successful at customer acquisition were those who blogged more (i.e., two to three times per week, daily, multiple times per day). Mike and Adam think this is a result of gaining more experience in blogging. When a firm blogs more frequently, it gets better at writing. This yields better content which attracts more site traffic (and firms begin investing more time in their company blog). When HubSpot was a smaller firm, Mike noted it blogged once per week. When the firm started growing, their blogging frequency increased and they now create blog posts on a daily basis. Insight 5 - Smaller Companies Implement Inbound Marketing (Larger Firms Not So Much) (Slide 13) 44% of smaller firms utilize inbound marketing (versus 32% for larger firms). Mike and Adam cited how smaller firms have more limited marketing budgets (i.e., many are start-ups). In addition, the larger firms are more established, and they probably achieved their status through outbound marketing.
Insight #5 doesn't surprise me. It makes sense why smaller firms would look to blogging, social media, and organic search as natural marketing vehicles. The biggest expense is the investment and prioritization of time to inbound activities. For the larger firms, I think they look at inbound marketing as additional channels to augment traditional marketing activity.
Check out this blog post: The Fortune 500 and Social Media by Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross from reputationXchange.com. It provides some great statistics and data on social media adoption (or lack therof) by the largest US corporations.
What do you think of these findings? Do these results surprise you? Please comment and let me know what you think.
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Comments are open. So let’er rip!
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