Internet | Search Engine Optimization

How to Create a Text Marketing Campaign

Posted by: Date: March 16, 2010

by Sage Lewis

American Express OPEN Forum has a good article on how to create a solid text marketing campaign. This gives you some good, concrete tips on how to get started.

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How to Create a Text Marketing Campaign

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Online Brand Management: Optimizing Facebook

Posted by: Date: March 16, 2010

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Online Brand Management: Optimizing Facebook

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SEO 101 - Part 11: Everything You Need to Know About SEO Copywriting

Posted by: Date: March 16, 2010

by Stoney deGeyter

The following series is pulled from a presentation I gave to a group of beauty bloggers hosted by L’Oreal in New York. Most of the presentation is geared toward how to make a blog more search engine and user-friendly, however I will expand many of the concepts here to include tips and strategies for sites selling products or services across all industries.

Copywriting

Copywriting

No SEO is complete without good content. You can stuff keywords into the text all you want, and that might be okay to get you some decent keyword rankings for a time, but it won’t do anything to improve the long-term success of your business.

A website without good copywriting is a sports car with an engine that doesn’t run. It doesn’t matter how pretty it is, the content is what is needed to provide your visitors the information they need in order for you to make the sale (or conversion, or whatever else you want your visitors to do.)

Understanding Copy

Understanding Copy

To the search engines the content on the page is just a bunch of words. Without making this too complex, the engines analyze the words in an attempt to determine what each page is about. If the web page covers too many different topics then it makes it difficult for the engines to determine which topic is prominent and deserves ranking. It creates a dilution of focus.

The search engines have analyzed millions of web pages and from that have been able to gather significant knowledge of the human languages. They have an idea of how words and topics work together. It’s not really about the number of times a keyword is used but the focus of the content. If you use a word or phrase too much then it’ll be seen as manipulation. Too little and it’s not enough to be relevant. Write as much or as little text as is needed in order to make the point you need for your visitors.

Draw Them In

Draw Them In

SEO copywriting isn’t all that different from normal copywriting except that you have to pay particular attention to keywords. Actually, non-seo copywriting would be better if keywords were paid attention to anyway. Not for search engines per se, but in order to use the key phrases that attracts and appeals to the readers. In that light, SEO copywriting and “normal” copywriting would be no different.

There are four basic things that the content of each of your web pages must do, regardless if its the home page, a category page, a product page, an article or a blog post.

Grab Attention

If the reader hits the page and the content is unable to get and keep their attention, then all is lost. They move on to another page or another site and you lost the possibility of a conversion.

Appeal to their Needs

Once you have their attention then you have to make your case. The simplest way to do that is to appeal to them on their terms. You already have what they want, but you have to write your content that shows them you understand their needs.

What motivated them to search for what you offer? By clearly re-iterating the need, you are then in a position to show that you have the solution. Go into great detail on why your solution is the right one and then move on to explain all the benefits of selecting you as that solution.

Ask questions

Questions make people think. Often times asking a question first and then providing an answer is far more effective than just providing an answer. Question make your readers consider what they are reading and then seek an answer to a question that they didn’t even know they had.

What kind of questions should you ask? Just go back to the basics. Who? What? When? Why? Where? How? Each of these can provide an avenue for a good amount of additional information that may be important to the reader.

Inform

Finally, your content must inform. The visitor has to walk away having learned something valuable. And not just about you or your product or service, but about them as well. The visitor needs to know that you have exactly what they need and you must provide enough information to justify making a purchase from you both intellectually and emotionally.

Ways to inform are to show how your product or service can make their lives better, give them more time, money or freedom. You can also give them ideas on how to use your product or service which gives them additional incentives to make the purchase.

Five Rules of Copywriting

Five Rules of Copywriting

There are five basic rules to writing good website content that is appealing to both visitors and the search engines.

1. Avoid graphics in text.

Search engines are not so good about reading text in a graphic format. They are getting better at it but I think that it will always be problematic, especially when it comes to busy graphics or non-standard fonts. So for now, and the foreseeable future, it’s a good idea to keep your text outside of graphics.

You also have to consider the user. Some users search with images off or the small screens of their mobile phones. Text in those graphics may be difficult or impossible to read. If the content is worth reading then it’s worth ensuring that it is in the most readable format.

2. Think users before engines.

Your visitors come first. The search engines don’t buy from you, they don’t write comments, and they don’t retweet your message. People do. The search engines only want what people want so give the people what they want and the search engines will, in most cases, reward you for that.

3. Write enough content.

How much content is enough? Only you know that. You need to write enough content to make the points you need and no more. Each visitor needs a different amount of content to read in order to be convinced. don’t leave anybody out.

4. Target phrases not words.

People rarely search for words, they search for phrases. Knowing what those phrases are is essential to writing content that speaks to your visitor’s desires. The phrases also put the words into context and give meaning to what the visitor is really searching for.

5. Don’t force it.

Writing your content using the rules above should work naturally. Don’t force anything if it just doesn’t work. If you’re trying to work in phrases that are not a fit for the page, then move those phrases to another page. If you’re trying to produce content that will speak to different kinds of visitors, don’t be afraid to break content off into other sections of the site such as articles or tutorials. This goes back to writing for the visitor. Meet their needs first and foremost and don’t try to force anything that doesn’t work.

As I said above, SEO copywriting isn’t all that much different than standard copywriting. It’s all about creating good content that appeals to the visitors and meets certain criteria in terms of keyword usage. In Part 12 I’ll go over some key examples of how to write good content that is good for engines and users alike.

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Online Brand Management: Brand Protection Basics

Posted by: Date: March 12, 2010

One of the greatest strengths of the Web is that it gives everyone with a connection the ability to publish content, period. Anyone can register domain names and build attendant webpages, often for what amounts to a pittance. Some domains cost as little as ten dollars to register, or less if the buyer wishes to bundle the purchase of several names at once. Naturally, this flexibility has attracted the attention of people with less than honest motives for their efforts.

Like it or not, there are individuals online who aren’t content to promote their brand through their own efforts and hard work, but would prefer to profit by the work of others. They accomplish this through a number of unfortunate methods. They domain-squat on names they expect to become famous, use similar names and domains to get attention, and in general rely on the good name of brands they have nothing to do with to draw in business.

As part of the effort to build up a brand into something to be proud of, it’s important to focus on brand protection. It may sound silly on the surface; after all, who could be confused by Makdonolds as opposed to McDonalds? However the issue isn’t always quite so ridiculously clear, and can lead to a number of hassles a brand just doesn’t need. Here we share three common hazards and their solutions for safeguarding your brand.

Hazard 1 – Cybersquatting

In short, cybersquatting is a series of methods for registering and maintaining a domain name solely with the intent to profit from another agency that desires it.

The first method revolves around predicting the need for the domain name itself. As in the above example, suppose in the early days of the Internet someone outside McDonald’s had registered all the relevant domain names. When McDonald’s finally goes to establish a Web presence, they find the names they need are all taken, and thus have to bargain with this individual for terms under which he’ll sell them back, obviously at a profit to himself.

Other methods involve registering similar domain names to existent ones. Suppose again that McDonald’s had possession of McDonald’s.com, but not McDonald’s.net. The squatter picks up the .net domain, knowing that at least some people will come to the page out of curiosity or by accident. Once again, they can bargain with McDonald’s over ownership, or they can provide a link to McDonald’s own webpage, and thus get click-through traffic that can be monetized with ad revenue.

Solutions to Cybersquatting

Due to the fight over free speech and free market rights pertaining to the Web, cybersquatting is not easy to define as illegal. It is certainly unethical, but given the myriad of international laws governing the use of these domain names there is not always a clear recourse in overcoming these activities.

There are always methods that can be used, however. First, there is the legal recourse of going through ICANN for arbitration. However courts can and often have overturned ICANN’s rulings upon further review. The legal fees associated with this process may exceed the cost of simply buying the domain outright from the squatters.

Another option is to be creative with your domain names. Google, Yahoo, icanhascheezburger, and similar domain names share a certain nonsense quality. They aren’t commonly used words, and are less likely to get snapped up by squatters. If your business isn’t tied strongly to a real world word already, consider coming up with something outside the box to prevent yourself from getting squatted. Purchase several of the more common variations on your domain name as well, to prevent the parallel name style of squatting.

Hazard 2 – Typo Squatting

Typo squatting relies on common typing errors or shortcuts to redirect users to a site other than the one they intended to visit. For example, information.com could be typed as iformation.com or info.com, and lead to the squatting site instead of the intended location. While this may seem like a variant on cybersquatting, it ends up being rather different in practice.

As with parallel naming, the intent here is to use a similar name to draw in users looking for one site. However the intent is very rarely to sell the url to the parent company. More frequently, these sites direct to ‘gripe’ pages, spambots, malware propagators and other malicious activities.

Solutions to Typo Squatting

Once again, legal action can be taken to protect a brand (particularly if the squatters are profiting from the venture), but can quickly become expensive. A more cost-effective route for a smaller brand just getting started would be to post information to your Social Media News Room and webpage about any such sites you come across, with warnings and information on how to circumvent them. Taking responsibility for your brand is the best way to protect it and cement its value in your audience’s mind.

Hazard 3 – Complacency

It’s tempting to register a domain name and trademark, and think that’s all you need to do. However, neither of these confers automatic protection. Yes, they allow for recourse to the law in the event a case goes to court, but the Internet is a place where information moves quickly. By the time you fight things out in a court case that you may or may not actually win, people already have associated your brand with the spambot they accidentally got directed to.

Solutions to Complacency

Be proactive. Education is your best defense on the Web. Learn about common cybersquatting and typosquatting tactics. Check your domain and see if others are using these tricks to hurt your brand (consciously or inadvertently). Be aware, be informed, and take every step you can. The Internet is a dynamic place, and it falls to you to make sure that benefits you, rather than blemishes your brand.

Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the “voice” of our client’s brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/

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Online Brand Management: Brand Protection Basics

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Online Brand Management: Brand Protection Basics

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Online Brand Protection: Don’t Get Crazy

Posted by: Date: March 11, 2010

Previously we discussed some of the issues surrounding the protection of your online brand. It is true that there are people out there who intend to misuse and abuse brand associations that others worked hard to create, and there are steps to take to limit them. After all, hard work should be protected, and there’s no reason to let someone trash your brand just because you didn’t consider every single eventuality.

However, there is such a thing as overzealousness. Planning ahead is good, but the Internet is a dynamic and fluid place that has its own rules. It is in many ways a living entity, growing and evolving as more input is provided and refined by the collective efforts of billions of minds working together, or even at cross-purposes. Attempting to outright control the Web is an exercise in folly, and we provide a clear example of when going too far can go wrong.

Living Language

Language is an odd thing. It requires a certain degree of agreed definition otherwise it’s worthless. So consider the interesting case of Adobe Systems and the trademark usage document they recently published on their site. In short, the document goes into the various approved ways to use the names of their products such as Reader, Acrobat, and Photoshop, as well as ways not to use them.

Adobe’s Photoshop and other Adobe products have been driving forces on the Web, leading toward greater standardization of document and file types. As the popularity of the format grew, the language surrounding them adapted.

Creating an image using Photoshop became ‘Photoshopping,’ and then just, ’shopping.’ These words entered into the popular use of language on the Internet fairly quickly, leading to Adobe’s decision to publish a trademark guideline document. Now, before going further, this is both an example of good and bad efforts to protect a brand.

The Good

The document does clearly state that these are guidelines for official promotional uses of the Adobe trademarks. This is their legal right – having trademarked the term, they can provide information on how they are to be appropriately used. Adobe is clearly making an effort to ensure their brand is presented in the spirit they intended.

The Bad

The document addresses some issues that seem somewhat nitpicky, and outside the realm of official trademark uses. The portion on ‘don’t abbreviate Photoshop to PS’ in particular doesn’t seem like something that would come up in official promotional material, and really comes across as a jab at popular forum culture.

As we’ve discussed before, people on the Internet are not robots, but people with a sense of individuality, their own rights, and quite frequently an ironic sense of humor. Again remember the infamous 4chan protests of Scientology. These were not a protest in the traditional sense – these users got together to do this as a lark. The average Internet user doesn’t respond well to patronizing commentary, and such efforts usually backfire.

Something Old, Something New

The phenomenon we are discussing is not unique to the Internet, either. Before the Internet was created, people were calling every tissue a Kleenex, despite this referring to only one brand out of many (Puffs, Scott, etc). Making a photocopy is still called Xeroxing in many circles, because Xerox made the first major breakthroughs in office photocopying. Both of these occurred before the Internet provided the tools to speed the process along, so consider how much harder it would be to arrest the process now.

Measured Steps

Again, the Adobe document provides both some good and some bad elements. Having information available is never a bad thing, especially where official trademarks are concerned. Letting people know how you want them to use your trademark on official documents is a good step. Instead of requiring time to be wasted contacting people and looking the information up, they can go to your resources page and find what they need without a hitch. You’ve made their lives easier and given your brand a positive image.

On the other hand, there is something to be said for letting pop culture have its way. People might call it Xeroxing, but if they’re buying Canon machines has anything really been lost? Make allowances for the whims of pop culture, and consider contacting your user base.

When you’re putting your trademark document together, run it by your audience for consideration. Put up a comment page and ask for feedback, jokes included. Then you may just find you have the most honest evaluation you could have ever asked for, free of charge.

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Online Brand Protection: Don’t Get Crazy

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