Monthly Archives: June 2012

SEO? That’s so last year!

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For more than a decade now, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been growing in importance. Getting a high ranking in search results, the thinking goes, will lead to more traffic which in turn will lead to a larger list and more sales.

Much of that is out the window now.

Google, still the 800 pound gorilla in the search engine space, went and changed the rules of the game. Again.

I’m not blaming Google. The changes they made are actually good for web surfers. Just because they’re not so great for web site owners isn’t really all that much of a problem. Web sites who are doing things right shouldn’t suffer too much from the changes Google made.

It was really a series of changes each of which, taken in isolation, wasn’t all that big a deal. It’s only when looked at in combination that one begins to see just how much has changed.

Google makes changes to its search algorithms all the time but they’ve made at least ten major changes in the last year. Three of those are significant in the ways that they’ve undermined website owner’s ability to game the system through keyword optimization.

1. Personalized Search – This is arguably the most significant change to the way search results are displayed that has ever happened. Users with a Google account (Gmail, Google+, etc.) who are logged in at the time of performing a search using Google’s search engine will see personalized results. Google will take into account what it already knows about such users — their interests and preferences — and personalize the search results accordingly.

This means that two different users, both in the same geographic area and both searching for the exact same terms, may now see different results. This effectively erases almost every single advantage of SEO. No longer does optimizing for keywords automatically mean high rankings. Not even when those keywords are highly specific nor when the search terms very closely match the keywords.

Of course from a user perspective, this is terrific news. To throw out a completely hypothetical example, two users in the same town search for ice cream shops. If Google knows my favorite ice cream flavor is caramel mango fudge while the other person’s favorite is mint pecan truffle, we may each see different listings. At the very least, our listings may be presented in a different order. The results will be customized based on our individual preferences.

2. Recency – As if personalized search weren’t enough of a game changer, Google now also gives preference to recency of publication. Obvious examples include sports scores and election results but recency could even be applied to such things as solar eclipses and illness outbreaks.

In a nutshell, more recently published content gets preferential treatment over older content. So someone looking for NCAA scores will see this year’s scores, not those from previous years.

Some SEO “experts” have suggested periodically making minor tweaks to existing content so that it always appears to be fresh. I can’t imagine that the hundreds of brainiacs at Google haven’t already thought of that and taken it into account. I think the only way to remain at the top of the heap is to continually keep putting out genuinely fresh new content. And naturally that content must be valuable and relevant to your niche.

3. Private Searching – One biggie that isn’t necessarily visible to surfers but which nonetheless will have a huge effect on SEO is what Google calls private searching. Again, this is extended only to those users who have some type of Google account and are logged in when they perform their search.

When directed to a web page, Google will not pass along the search terms or even where those users came from. This makes for a gaping hole in website owners’ analytics. Suddenly, a large percentage of visitors are an unknown quantity. The owners’ don’t know where those users came from or what brought them, therefore they can’t effectively optimize to bring in more such users.

Taken together, these and other ongoing Google tweaks make for a better internet experience for users while frustrating online entrepreneurs. No longer can entrepreneurs simply optimize pages for a few keywords and expect to generate traffic. Now they have to work harder than ever to stay current and relevant.

 

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Retweet this passage SEO? That’s so last year!

Retweet this passage Google went and changed the rules of the game. Again.

Retweet this passage 3 recent Google changes have undermined the ability to game the system through SEO.

Retweet this passage This is arguably the most significant change to online search that has ever happened.

Retweet this passage This effectively erases almost every single advantage of SEO.

Retweet this passage No longer does optimizing for keywords mean high rankings. This is terrific news.

Retweet this passage This Google change could be applied to such things as solar eclipses and illness outbreaks.

Retweet this passage The only way to remain on top of the heap is to keep putting out genuinely fresh new content.

Retweet this passage This makes for a gaping hole in website owners’ analytics.

Why Should I Do My Best?

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Sometimes, it’s tempting to think that it’s okay to turn in a ho-hum performance. Especially when there’s “clearly” no payoff for doing your best work.

Indulging in such thinking is a trap that will sentence you to a life of mediocrity and failure.

Let me use a real-life example that happened to me recently to illustrate the value of always doing your best.

One of my primary means of promoting myself locally is through public speaking. I go out to civic organizations and other groups to give free presentations on topics related to copywriting, marketing and advertising. I never charge for such speeches and I never try to sell anything. I go there on a purely educational basis.

That alone limits my upside, right?

It gets worse. Recently I was asked to give a presentation to a Kiwanis Club in a town about thirty miles away. Of all things, they asked me to talk about QR Tags.

When I arrived, I found that the club only had seven members and all but one of them was well over retirement age!

If ever there was a case where there was clearly no payoff for me turning in my best performace, surely this was it. I could just coast through this little speech, take the free lunch they offered me and be on my way.

Instead, I told myself that a professional turns in his best perfomance every time no matter what. I would use this as an opportunity to further hone my speaking skills.

I spoke to that group as though there were seventy people in the audience instead of seven. Without treading on anyone’s vanity, I spoke loudly and enunciated clearly for those whose hearing had already succumbed to the ravages of time. I was gracious and professional. I patiently answered every single question, even when they began to go a bit off-topic.

Unbeknownst to me, one of those seven people in the audience was the Regional Lieutenant Governor of Kiwanis International. He had tremendous influence over twenty-two other nearby Kiwanis clubs in the region.

I was still blissfully unaware of this fact when I asked for a testimonial and a referral.

What I got was a glowing email sent out to the heads of all twenty-two of the other clubs in the region.

Several of them contacted me on the strength of that testimonial. I ended up doing several more free speeches. All of them to much larger and younger audiences. Audiences filled with small business owners who were still in the trenches.

Ultimately, several of those who heard my later speeches hired me to help them with marketing their businesses.

That one speech to seven elderly audience members, in which there was “clearly” nothing in it for me, has led to many thousands of dollars in ongoing business leads. All thanks to my being a professional and putting forth my best effort.

No matter what.

100,000 Stories

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Imagine for just a moment…

You’re out for the day in town. Perhaps shopping, perhaps just browsing. You meet someone on the street and he convinces you to go to a theater to check out a show.

So you go to the theater. There was no set start time for this show. The guy just told you about it and you went there immediately. But someone else had arrived at the theater before you so the show already started. You don’t really know what you missed or even how much of the show you missed.

Think of the situation from the performer’s viewpoint: There is no designated start time. He doesn’t know how many people will show up. But he can’t keep his audience waiting so when the first person shows up he starts the show. But then a second person shows up; does he start over again from the beginning? What if a third person arrives? Or a 50th? At what point does he cut it off?

He only has the ability to tell one story at a time.

But what if you could tell more than one story at a time? What if you could tell ten stories at once? Or 100? Or 100,000? What if it was the same story but you were telling it, individually, to 100,000 different people? Even though they may know that they are not the only ones hearing this story, each one gets a sense that it is personalized especially for them. You start when they’re ready. You call each one by name. You add personal little touches that are unique to each audience member. And only that audience member hears those bits of uniqueness. Other audience members hear their own bits of uniqueness.

That’s exactly what an email autoresponder lets you do!

You create a series of emails — a story, if you will. Each person who comes to your website and signs up to hear your story gets it from the beginning. A specialized computer program or email service keeps track of everything for you. It will send each person his or her own story in installments. The service will add personalized touches along the way.

From the perspective of each “audience” member, you are having a one-on-one conversation. You are telling the story just to them and them alone.

It’s the ultimate personalized experience for your customers and the easiest way for you to deliver 100,000 personalized experiences without cloning yourself.

 

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Your Name in Rice

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I’d like to share with you the story of how I proposed to my wife. I want to tell this true story partly because it makes me look like a much better salesman than I actually am but mostly because it has a lot to do with making the sale through memorable customer service.

To understand the story, you must first realize that my then-girlfriend worked one weekend a month. There just happened to be a big outdoor arts and crafts fair going on the weekend she was scheduled to work. She was interested in seeing it so I met her at work with a change of clothes and we went to the fair directly from her workplace.

It was a typical arts and crafts fair with many vendors offering creative and beautiful items. Strictly speaking, none of the items were necessities so we were really just browsing.

We passed a tent with a sign out front that said:

“WRITE ON RICE”

I was familiar with these people who will write your name on a grain of rice then put the rice into cheap jewelry. My girlfriend had never seen such a thing and was curious. So we went in.

Then she became fascinated.

The woman inside the tent was a master at sales. She was warm and genuine. She loved what she did. She had created many display pieces including Bart Simpson’s entire family tree written on grains of rice and mounted to a cardboard tree.

She demonstrated her craft by making a grain of rice (sans the cheap jewelry) for us for free. We spent at least 20 minutes in the tent and even sold some other visitors on getting their names on rice. Then we left without buying anything.

And that’s where our real story begins…

The next day, while my girlfriend was back at work, I snuck back over to the fair and went back to the rice tent.

I asked the woman if she would write “MARRY ME” on a grain of rice.

The woman broke out in tears.

Not just tears. I think she was going into hysterics. A friend of hers plus several would-be customers who were in the tent at the time also all started crying. Apparently I was on to something here.

It took the woman several tries and nearly half an hour to create my grain of rice. She couldn’t see clearly through her tears and her hand was shaking almost violently. During this time, a crowd began to gather. She told every browser who came into the tent what I was doing and most of them stayed to watch.

Finally I had my grain of rice. But I wasn’t done yet. Not a single one of her acrylic vials that holds the rice was small enough to make a decent ring so my Plan A was out the window. Time to move on to Plan B. I chose the least objectionable necklace vial that she had but declined the cheap silver chain that came with it.

Instead I went to a real jewelry store and bought a very nice sterling silver chain.

Then, because it was rice, I went to a Chinese restaurant and got a take-out container and had them fill it with fortune cookies. I draped the necklace over the cookies and sealed it up.

I sent a text message to my girlfriend, telling her I had something for her and asking her to stop by after she got off work.

When she arrived, I handed her the take-out container.

“You got me leftovers?” she asked. “Good. I’m starving.”

She opened the container and saw the necklace. Once she recognized the vial, but before she’d read what was on the rice, she stopped and asked me, “You went back to the rice lady?” And then she held it up to the light and read what was on the rice.

And she cried.

So how does this tie back to marketing?

You have to understand that there were two sales made that weekend. The rice lady sold us on buying a grain of rice and I sold my girlfriend on marrying me.

Both the rice lady and I worked hard at creating an unforgettable experience for the “buyer”.

Neither of us spent much money. The rice lady gave us a free grain of rice; costing her far less than $0.01. All told, I spent a little less than $150; dirt cheap compared to a diamond engagement ring.

Yet in both cases, the imagination and the specialness that went into creating a memorable experience all but guaranteed a sale.

Not just a sale, in both cases the experience was special enough to make us want to tell others about it. That’s word of mouth advertising at its best.

What are you doing to guarantee a sale — and an endorsement — from your prospects?

 

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