My short answer?

Forget about the search engines and start thinking about your customer.

To understand why, there’s a quick story for you, a list of fundamental questions you need to consider and then an outline of how you can tie it all together.

Quick story:

Once upon a time, Bluewire Media’s website was nowhere to be found on Google when you typed in “web design brisbane” – a pretty competitive keyword. This was not acceptable for a web strategy consultancy, so we set out to improve our ranking.

We used 2 sources: We posed a few questions to Reload Media and read Glenn Murray’s SEO Secrets e-book.

Armed with a better understanding of how the search engines worked, we were able to get to the first page of results. It was a good step but we still wanted #1.

We then focussed on “thinking like a publisher” courtesy of David Meerman Scott’s “The New Rules of Marketing and PR”. We co-created the Web Strategy Planning Template with him and started to share much more content with our audience. The number of our back links increased dramatically and from high quality web sites like News.com.au courtesy of journalists and other visitors finding our blog and content useful.

In the process, we saw major fluctuations of our rankings and our competitors’. Some websites that had been on the first page for years vanished to the anonymity of page 4 or 5. Our own ranking bounced around as Google changed their search algorithm with countless small tweaks and a couple of major overhauls.

Ultimately our ranking improved over a few months until we were #1 for “web design Brisbane” (where we stayed for 3 years) and quite a few others. We’ve recently dropped to #2 but that’s ok, we’ll be back (my logic is next).

It’s time to consider some fundamental questions:

Why does a person use a search engine?

To find information.

What then is the purpose of a search engine?

The sole purpose of a search engine is to help a searcher find the information they are looking for.

Why will a searcher return to use a search engine again?

A searcher will return if the results of their search are useful.

How will a searcher choose one search engine over another?

Primarily by the usefulness of the results. A secondary consideration is the speed of the delivery of those results.

How does a search engine make money?

By having searchers click on sponsored links or pay per click advertising. The more people search, the more likely they are to click on the paid links. The more often people search, the more often they will click on the paid links. The more often they click, the more money the search engine makes.

Who is the searcher?

The searcher is YOUR customer, YOUR prospect, YOUR future No.1 referrer, a journalist looking for a good story in YOUR industry. The list goes on.

So if the searcher wants useful results and the search engines make money by delivering useful results, what do you think will drive your business’s long term search engine rankings?

USEFULNESS, to your customer or buyer persona, in everything you do on the web will drive your long term search engine rankings.

How can you do this?

• By genuinely knowing your customer or buyer persona.
• By understanding your customers’ problems and providing great content to help them solve it.
• By structuring your web strategy around your searcher or buyer persona not around your products (try using our web strategy planning template if you need help).
• By knowing what they a looking for and knowing what they are typing into the search engines and using their language, not some mumbo jumbo, jargon filled rubbish.
• By providing such interesting/useful/entertaining/valuable content that people will link to it and share it – thereby building QUALITY back links that create long term sustainable rankings, not junk links from an unrelated forum.
• By building content so it will be picked up not just by your customers but by journalists who will share it with a larger audience.
• By having landing pages that your customers find useful and that are relevant to what they are looking for.
• By refreshing your content regularly to demonstrate that you care about the issues your customers are facing.

Yes there is a place for Search Engine Optimisation to achieve short term results using technical changes, backlinking and other techniques. But do you seriously think trying to keep up with every change made to the ultra secret search engine algorithm by Google’s 31,000 employees (qualified by this type of entry exam) is a sustainable strategy?

Their algorithms are going to continue to refine, to reduce the impact of technical details like metadata, to build in the social proof as demonstrated by the number of tweets and likes and comments and check-ins and reviews and ratings and quality of authorship….. Then the next big thing will come along and swamp everything we know about today and demand more change from our businesses.

But the one thing you can count on is that search engines servicing their customers will be at the heart of it.

Don’t waste your time trying to keep up with every tweak made by collective brain power of the world’s best and brightest – get the basics right and then focus on your customer. If what you do is in their best interests, if you’re genuinely adding value with everything you do, then you can be sure the search engines will catch up and reward you handsomely for it.

So… what do you think? Is SEO dead?

Learning to share is crucial.

Did your Mummy teach you to share?

Here’s hoping she did because in the new world of marketing on the web, sharing is key. When I started working at Bluewire Media the first thing I noticed was how much “stuff” they gave away — I’m talking seriously helpful information, expert knowledge and wisdom, practical advice and guidance on all things web, just given away. Free! I don’t know about you but I thought I was living in a world where nothing comes for free.

Here is the conversation that repeated regularly in my first few weeks until it sunk into my thick skull.

“Great information, how much to buy it?”

“Nothing, it’s a free download.”

“You’re kidding?”

“No, we’re serious.”

Building trust online

This cynical old bird had to recheck her attitude. Seems you can get something for nothing. As potential clients come to realise the same thing, they will begin to trust your business. Trust is priceless for a business-client relationship— it simply can’t be bought. Welcome to the brave new world of web marketing. You really can create a meaningful relationship online with your potential clients — seems cyber space doesn’t preclude intimate emotions such as trust and respect.

Remarkable content for free

The client is no longer some passive entity that you approach and pitch to. Rather, they are active participants on the web usually seeking a conversation with prospective business partners. For you to stand out in the crowd you need to reciprocate that request for engagement. Spark a conversation, continue a conversation, solve problems and provide solutions for your prospective clients. You do this by giving some things away. How can a prospective client know if you are trustworthy or know what you are talking about without evidence? The courage to give away some of your expertise for free, and provide remarkable and useful content on your website, is the way to your clients heart. That e-book they are downloading for free right now may well be the beginning of a very beautiful relationship.

Convert trust into sales

Obviously finally you want to convert the trust into sales and profit for your business. This happens naturally as you build trust and the relationship improves. Thanks to the initial sharing of knowledge for free, you earn yourself the position to sell premium intellectual property. Here at Bluewire we give plenty of free information but for our premium IP releases, like our DIY Web Strategy Toolkit, the client must part with some cash. Just today a team of us have been putting the final touches on our DIY Website Blueprint Toolkit, all part of our premium IP. Keep an eye out for its upcoming release.

What do you think? Has the provision of remarkable content and free information improved your client relationships?

Why publish videos?

To quote David Meerman Scott, “On the web, you are what you publish”

I must confess i am a Mac advocate, owning an iPod, iPhone and Macbook completing the trifecta of Mac products. So what i have to say may be bias towards iMovie. There are many great products and software out there which are useful for editing and creating movies and video content. Whether you choose to create and publish videos with iMovie or not there are many great benefits publishing videos online can have for your company.

Benefits of YouTube

By publishing to YouTube you can show people that you are credible user and this also ads to your SEO as you can use the content you publish to link to and from your website and also the fact that YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine online makes publishing and having interesting and relevant video content great for marketing and using it to strengthen your online presence.

So the one big thing you need to know first is that iMovie works with files that are MP4 and I had this exact problem early on. The simple fix to this problem is download the software Handbrake which is great and easy to use just ask Sarah McVeigh.

How to use iMovie to create a video

iMovie is a great tool. Simple to use, comes already installed on Macbooks and iMacs and allows you to publish straight from iMovie to YouTube!

Firstly you’ll need to add the video into the events section which is great way to organise the videos sort them out and store the videos within iMovie. The events feature is great way to visualise and store all your iMovie footage making it easy to simply drag and drop to videos into projects in the top half of the screen.

After having organised your videos into events you simply drag and drop the videos from events into the top half where they become a project. You can add multiple videos into a single project and also edit and trim within here.

How to start editing with iMovie

Ok so now you are ready to start editing and the best tool to use is the precision editor which breaks the footage right down so you can see exactly where you need to the clip to start or end. After getting through trimming your clip there are various features you can add to enhance your video footage.

Transitions in iMovie

The transition feature is great with over wide range of different styles to suit each individual. Transitions are great way to neatly move from a still image to your live video content or even to move from one piece of video content to another or to end your video content,

Still slides in iMovie

Using still images or slides is another simple and basic feature within imovie which allows you to add a nice touch to your video you are creating. The use of still images also helps to build your brand and can create consistency in the content you are publishing. Just like adding a transition effect adding photos can be done the same way and can be found in the same space as the transitions.  The main thing to remember when using this tool is and imagery you would like to use the image has to be stored in iphoto as this syncs directly with iMovie.

Adding text to still slides and video footage in iMovie

Adding text can enhance your video content whether that’s laying the text on a still slide or onto live video footage. When you go to add text it appears in the project as a blue tab above the video reel. To change the length of time you want the text to appear simply select the blue bar drag the text where you want it to start and finish.

Adding audio effects to iMovie

The final useful feature that will enhance and add a professional look to your video content is adding audio effects. audio effects appear beneath the video in the same way that text appears above but only that the audio appears in green. Audio can be added much the same way, iMovie syncs directly with iTunes if you are looking to add a song in aswell as any recorded audio you have in the other Mac app Garageband. There are also basic audio effects within iMovie which can also be used.

Now you have trimmed, edited and added the various features to your video project you are ready to publish directly to YouTube. It’s that easy to use iMovie to edit and publish videos.

My tips for iMovie:

• Make sure the video files are in MP4 format, if not convert using the software Handbrake which is FREE to download
• Have patience when trimming your clip to the exact spot you want
• Trial afew different combinations of transitions, still images, music and text you want to use and see what works best for you
• Make sure what you decide on you stick with as this will help and serve to build your brand and online presence by creating consistency. we have our outline and we stick to it in all our videos.
• if you are looking for more help visit the find out how tutorial site through Apple. I found this very useful when starting out with iMovie

By using a tool such as iMovie to edit and create videos you can add fresh and relevant content linking directly to and from your site making iMovie or any other video editing software a great offline Marketing and SEO tool.

How do you use videos to enhance your online presence? Do you use iMovie or another program?

It’s a bit of a Monday night ritual for me – a glass of wine, Twitter and the ABC show Q&A hosted by Tony Jones.

The show is “live and interactive” and that means Twitter is alive with comments and questions, with viewers using the hashtag #qanda while the show is on.

The Queensland Premier’s marketing team has recognised that those monitoring and contributing to the #qanda hashtag are generally likely to be interested in politics and have given them a chance to ask Anna Bligh a question. They released the following tweet during the show on Monday night.

The link takes you to Anna Bligh’s Facebook page where you can submit your question. If people then choose to “like” the Facebook page, Bligh’s team can use this connection in the future to send more news or information their way. It’s a sort of social database of interested people if you will.

From a marketing perspective, I think the Premier’s team have leveraged a fabulous opportunity to get a message to a targeted audience who are likely to want to take up the offer. The videos will then be available on the web for all to see and the Premier doesn’t even have to answer in real time – unlike Q and A’s panelists.

Take away

In a broader sense, this reinforces the need to target your message to a specific audience who will find it relevant. It’s also a lesson in creating content you know will matter to your audience.

More specifically though, is there a popular hashtag being used within your target audience? Could you leverage that?

Tip

Monitor what’s trending on Twitter and leverage areas of relevance in a timely way.

Copywriting Sydney and Brisbane: Need help crafting content that your taregt audience will love? Call 1300 258 394.

Besides the fact that Steph Bowe is seventeen years old and her first book was published when she was sixteen (I think I was selling ice-cream) she has also appeared at prestigious writers’ festivals and contributed pieces to The Age (I got to wear a pink hat.)

And she is now guest blogging for Brisbane City Council.

A couple of questions:

1. What on earth have I been doing with my time?
2. Whose clever idea is this guest blog thing?

GUEST POSTS FOR VARIETY

A friend sent me a link to ibrary, Brisbane City Council’s new, dedicated website for high school students. Ibrary (great name) began in February 2011 and is dedicated to making BCC libraries accessible and attractive to high school students.

Steph Bowe is their inaugural guest blogger for the month of May. So far she has written fantastic weekly posts about her own experiences as a young writer, her favourite books and how much she loves hearing from her fans.

I was browsing one of Brisbane’s bricks-and-mortar libraries the other day and found myself alongside a surprising number of high school students at tables doing their homework, or reading among the bookshelves. Ibrary is a perfect way for Brisbane City Council to engage with its young readers. There’s an online forum to discuss books and films, a calendar of local events and library resources at teenagers’ fingertips.

GUEST POSTS FOR AUTHENTICITY

And then there’s this guest blog by Victorian teen Steph Bowe. Insightful blog posts by a successful, bright teenager (one of their readers’ “own”) equal authenticity for ibrary. Who knows the number of young people she’ll encourage to write or the number who will now pick up her book?

Guest blogging is a brilliant way for your blog to remain fresh, relevant and perhaps target a new group. Could your guest blogger be a customer? An employee? A client? A fan? An expert? Who can say what you want better than you?

What is the best post by a guest blogger you’ve ever read?

1o. Brand.

I’ve never heard anyone agree upon the definition of what a ‘brand‘ really is.  I’ve heard all of the following:

• Your name is your brand- eg. ‘brand name’ products vs generic.
• Your logo is your brand.
• Your brand is your product or service.
• Your brand is what people say about you.
• Your brand is people’s perception of you based on your marketing.
• Your people are your brand.

I’ve also heard it as an excuse when there are no results to speak of…  ”hey at least we got your brand out there!”

So what exactly is branding? Other than what cattle go through…

9. Account Manager.

In a marketing, PR  or advertising company,  I have often wondered what value Account Managers actually add.

Typically they are described as the ‘translator’ between the client & the technical person doing the work. My issue is that we all know what happens in a game of Chinese Whispers — every time a message gets passed from one person to another, it loses its original meaning.

And since we’re all speaking English, why can’t the technical people talk directly to the client? Why do we need Account Managers? Or more importantly if your technical people can’t communicate with fellow humans (your clients) what value are they adding?

8. Full service.

I often wonder why marketing and advertising types insist on being everything to everyone.  If you’ve got two people in your organisation, there’s no possible way you can do TV production, digital, press ads, radio ads, outdoor, direct mail, logos, pr, branding, stationery, brochures, annual reports & copywriting — surely you’re outsourcing some of  it.  Call a spade a spade.

There’s no shame in specialising in one area. Why not do one thing and do it well?

7. Creative.

It is strange how so many marketers pride themselves on being creative.  Yet check out how 5 of  Brisbane’s top ‘creative’ agencies describe themselves?  Can you tell the difference between any of these?

• award-winning brand strategy and communications agency.
• strategy based award-winning creative advertising and communications agency.
• award-winning Brisbane based advertising agency creating strategy-based campaigns
• independent advertising agency offering genuine integrated communications
• full service creative, brand, advertising, marketing and communications agency

6. Fully integrated.

I have to confess I’ve never known what this jargon means… but that is probably more a reflection of me!

Does fully integrated mean every different marketing medium is used and they all echo the same message?  Do the different marketing activities complement one another? …it is a fancy way to say consistent? Or do all the company departments agree to work together?

For companies that are communications specialists, I’m sure there’s a simpler way to say it.

5. Award winning.

My problem with ‘award-winning‘ isn’t the fact that you’ve won an award, it’s the fact that you strive to win awards — usually at the clients’ expense. I believe if marketers weren’t so focused on winning awards to show off and stroke their own ego, I suspect the clients may get way better results.

Given the choice of an original, clever ad that may win an award or a tried and tested technique to get better results… the typical marketer in my experience will usually choice the first.

4. Digital

When you ask the layman on the street what ‘digital’ is, they usually say “Digital watch, Digital radio or Digital TV.”

I much prefer using the words ‘web’ or ‘online’ – so at least normal people know what you mean.

3. Engaging

In marketing speak, ‘engaging’ often ends up translating into complicated website flash animations,  in your face banner ads or an advert so mysterious you have no idea who its for.

In the new web world, I believe ‘engaging’ should refer to remarkable content -- blog posts, ebooks & useful videos. Stuff that actually helps people rather than distract or confuse them.

2. Campaign.

My biggest frustration with a ‘campaign’ is that it generally has a start & a finish date. It is flurry of activity designed to get short term action – which is fundamentally good.  But it’s the stop part that worries me.

Sure I know great campaigns can last years, even decades, but often they are 3-6 months efforts that then get yanked & a new one put in its place, making it very hard to build momentum over the long term.

1. Big Idea.

‘Ideas are free. Execution is priceless’ says Scott Ginsberg. Or to paraphrase Thomas Edison, “Ideas are 1%, Execution is 99%.  Marketers’ relentless focus  on ‘big ideas’ drives me insane.

Every good idea has been done (in some capacity) before, so I reckon a better way forward is focusing on using the most effective idea and then executing like crazy.  Strangely ‘originality’ is more sacred than ‘results’ among marketers. But I believe emulating proven techniques is a much better option.  Just put your own twist on it, if you have to be ‘original’.

If I had a dollar for every billboard’s text I couldn’t read, every bus shelter with no contact info, every so clever it hurts TV ad, every website that takes 60 seconds to load…  Well I reckon I’d have a lot of dollars!

Is it just me…?  Or does anyone else get annoyed by these words too?

In my experience, David is quite simply the best marketing presenter you’ll hear.  He completely understands the power of the web and $695 to spend a day with him is the best money you’ll spend this year (I promise).  I hope to see you there!

Watch David Meerman Scott explain what you’ll learn at his Australian Masterclass!

WHEN

Sydney: Thursday, 31 March 2011. 8am – 4pm. The Ivy (Building 2)
Brisbane: Monday, 4 April 2011. 9am – 5pm (Sofitel Brisbane Central)
Melbourne: Wednesday, 6 April 2011. 9am – 5pm (Sofitel Melbourne on Collins)

Tickets $595 with BWIRE discount code

Signed copy for first 5 people

You can book early bird rates for $695 until March 4.  And enter the discount code BWIRE to get a further $100 off!

Simply enter your credit card details, but if you have any problems call The Growth Faculty on (02) 8399 0044.

Bonus

For the first five people to register with the BWIRE code, we’ll send you a signed copy of David’s best selling book Real-Time Marketing & PR.

Web Strategy Planning Template

Web Strategy Planning Template

Finally to get a head-start on what David will be covering, download the Web Strategy Planning Template.  It’s free and no registration is required.

In fact, this template was co-created with David Meerman Scott & is designed to help you get your web (or marketing strategy) down in writing!

Thanks to our friends at The Growth Faculty for bringing David Meerman Scott out to Australia.

Follow @DMScott or his blog Web Ink Now.

As a sneak peak, here’s an interesting talk by Malcolm Gladwell about how one psycho physicist brought about a change in the way that food companies thought about their products.

Malcolm tells the story of how food companies came to realise that there isn’t one perfect formula for their product. That different people have different tastes, and by diversifying your product line you can satisfy more people.

How can you adapt this way of thinking to your product line?

To watch the rest of the talks head to the hubspot blog.

It is well worth setting 45 minutes aside to watch the entire presentation. But if you don’t have time just skip to the video that sounds most interesting!

PLEASE NOTE:  Due to David’s Australian speaking tour commitments in 2011, we’ll be setting these videos to private in 2011.

Part One: Chilean Miners, Paris Hilton.  ”Social Media are the tools – Real Time is a mind set”

Part Two:
United Breaks Guitars. Dave Carroll’s story of how his Taylor Guitar was broken by United Airlines. Amazon Kindle’s social media lessons.

Part Three: Clinton Bush Haiti Fund  collects $3m in one day. MBAs overlook planning and acting ‘now’.

Part Four: How your organisation can be reacting now by appointing a Chief “Real-Time” Officer.
What is the ROI of social media?

Part Five: Questions & Answers.
- “What are some of your Top 10 plays in your playbook?” by Rob Ryan @robatoscar
- “How does ‘Real Time Marketing & PR’ build upon the ideas in “New Rules of Marketing & PR?” by Anne Sorensen @MarketingIsUs
- “What is the most effective way of convincing CEOs and other decision makers to commit to social media & real-time communication?” by Adam Franklin @Franklin_Adam

Part Six: More Questions & Answers.
- How do ‘real-time’ strategies vary between country to country?
- If a company doesn’t have a real-time strategy in place but sees an opportunity, how might they be disadvantaged? by Angus Russell @ARwebdesign
- “Is the CEO the best person to front these social campaigns?”  by Rob Lovegrove @Rob_Lovegrove
- “Who should be authorised to be tweeting and responding for organisations?” by Jonathan Crossfield @kimota

Thank you David. We all had a blast and learnt plenty!  You can follow @dmscott on twitter.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to David’s Australian speaking tour commitments in 2011, we’ll be setting these videos to private in 2011.

Why? Because the web has a huge demand for content and great PR is about developing interesting, relevant and timely content. I still believe this is the case, that’s why I was really pleased when Catriona Pollard, Director of CP Communications in Sydney and blog author of Public Relations Sydney, happily accepted my challenge of a guest post!

Social Media continues to be a hot topic so… enter Catriona…

+++++++++++++

The collision of social media and PR: why they work so well together

By Catriona Pollard, Director CP Communications

While businesses have been using public relations for years to raise their profile and communicate with their target audiences, social media is still finding its place. Is it a part of IT, a part of marketing or customer service?

After 18 years working in PR, the introduction of social media to our strategies actually came quite naturally, mostly because PR and social media are incredibly similar.

Both offer two way communication between organisations and their target markets. They both provide a way to influence people and communicate with them. Simply, both are about relationships.

When you’re working with traditional PR, the media’s representation of a story can significantly impact on how the public see you, however if it is a positive story, the fact that it is written by a journalist makes the message even more credible.

There is always the risk that you can’t control what the journalist writes so then you consider going straight to the source – via social media.

Using platforms like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, you’re cutting out the third party and offering your messages directly. It is a much quicker, more direct route of communication to a very targeted audience who have chosen to engage with your brand on social media.

You can actually become the direct source of news about your company or brand by writing a blog and posting articles or media releases on your website, this can help raise your profile, increase your credibility as an expert in your field and all that fresh, relevant content being posted online certainly doesn’t hurt your SEO efforts!

Just as there is crisis management within a traditional public relations role, social media can also lead to some negative ‘press’ which is understandable when you have a platform that can become anyone’s soap box. A fear of what people might say about you in the public space is not a reason to avoid using social media.

In reality, people are going to say whatever they want about your company, the difference is whether you are already a part of the conversation with them giving you the chance to intercept and implement damage control before the conversations get out of hand.

Remember it’s all about two way communication.

[Note from Toby: This is a really important point from both a relationship growing point of view and a resourcing point of view. Don't forget that, like in real life, if you start a conversation, you can't just walk away from it...]

By using a combination of both traditional PR and social media as marketing tools you’re giving your business the greatest opportunity to be seen and heard by the audience that matters most to you.

About the Author

Catriona Pollard is director of CP Communications, a PR and social media agency which provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that achieve positive media coverage, increased brand awareness and improved sales results. Catriona also writes the PR blog Public Relations Sydney.