SEO Heresy!

Want to be #1 on Google?

It's not about search!

Heresy

I know I know – the SEO gurus will have me shot at dawn, but really, until your website is established and you have a digital network that is happy and eager to share your content - who is actually going to see those blog posts that you slave over?

Word of mouth

If you’re not getting found in the search engines, the only way people will be exposed to your content is through word of mouth. The number 1 behavior you are looking for is when someone asks their friend if they know of a solution and that friend recommends you.

The best word of mouth happens face to face, however nowadays word of mouth can also manifest as a Tweet, a Facebook share, a Yelp review or a Foursquare check-in, and best of all, these digital events will ultimately raise you up in the search engines.

Where to start?

How about people who already know you, who already feel good about you, who would be happy to hear from you and who, if your content was relevant, would be happy to share it.

Customers & Clients

So long as you’re good at your job, your existing customers and clients should form an integral part of your digital marketing strategy.

• Do you know who they are?
• Do you have their email address?
• Do you have their physical address?
• Do they use social networks?
• Are you connected to them?
• How often do you communicate with them?
• What do you say?

If you’d like to work on the answers to these questions, reply to this email and book a session for 2012.

Happy New Year

This is the last It’s Friday for 2011, we will start up again after the holidays on January 5th.

I wish you a very merry holiday and happy New Year; 2012 is going to be amazing!

More Change (WTF!)

More Change (WTF!)

As Bob said:

The Times They Are A-changing

Better start swimmin'...

Aside from a few tweaks here and there, YouTube, Twitter and to some extent Facebook have looked pretty much the same over the last 3 or 4 years.

In the last 2 weeks alone - here is what has happened:

• YouTube - biggest re-design in its history
• Twitter - biggest re-design in its history
• Facebook - biggest re-design in its history

WTF!

YouTube is the new cable TV, its re-design is all about developing channels and premium content and yes - even if you're not comfortable with it, your business should have a channel

Twitter is driving engagement and wants the entire planet to be onboard, it is launching brand pages and yes - your business should have one.

See last week's It's Friday for Facebook!

What's going on?

As Marvin might say - just 'cos its different and you don't understand it, doesn't mean you can ignore it. This is cultural change happening right before your eyes.

Communication is evolving more rapidly than at any other time in human history; if you're going to beat your younger and more connected competition, you need to get onboard.

Change is opportunity

There are huge synergies to be had when it comes to putting your business in front of prospective clients. A considered content strategy can project a unified message across multiple channels targeting your perfect customer in a way that was impossible a few years ago.

If you'd like to learn how to do this for your business - reply to this email and book a session

Facebook WTF is Timeline? (it's HUGE!)

WTF: Facebook Timeline?

It's changing again,

this time it's HUGE!

Big Change

Facebook is about to undergo the biggest change in its history – and yes – people are going to complain. It’s happening in New Zealand right now and it’s coming your way soon.

What is it?

The layout of people’s personal pages is changing dramatically; as a result of this change people will experience Facebook in a different way.

Yes this is important, with 800 million people on the network, your customers & clients are directly affected.

Here’s a link to a 1 minute 30 second video on what it is and how it will work

http://www.facebook.com/about/timeline

Here’s a screenshot of my developer’s page:

What does this mean?

42

Better Signal to Noise Ratio

It means that it is going to be tougher for businesses to get their message shared – however – when it is shared, the message will have a greater impact.

If you are running a considered content strategy, this is to your advantage.

What do I need to do?

If you’re planning on using Facebook to promote your business – go spend some time on your personal page – get the new timeline when it arrives and become familiar with it. You can bet that timeline is coming to your business page too.

If you have any questions on this or would like to develop a Facebook strategy, reply to this email and book a session.

WTF is Curation? (It's not about Bacon)

WTF: Content Curation?

Be perceived as better

than your competition

What is it?

Just like a curator in a museum, digital content curation is about sorting through a mass of information and presenting only the good stuff.

A good curator develops a reputation for delivering great quality information.

Why is it important?

The average Facebook user creates 90 pieces of content a month, that's 7.2 billion new pieces of content created every 30 days - and that's just on Facebook!

With so much information out there, clients need help when making a decision who to go with; companies that write knowledgeably about the business in general are trusted over companies that only write about themselves.

How do you do it?

There are now a number of free online tools that allow you to scan a huge amount of information in a short space of time and publish only the best content, here are a few examples:

• Scoop.it
• Paper.li
• RSS

Why you should do it

Becoming a content curator of your specific business area gives you a huge advantage over your competition for a number of reasons:

1. Keeps you up to date on your area of business
2. Gives you new information to write about
3. Helps clients find the information they need to make a buying decision
4. Presents you as an expert to clients
5. Enables greater interaction with your digital footprint
6. Develops your digital network

Content curation isn't for everybody but if you can incorporate it into your digital marketing strategy it will make a significant difference.

If you’d like to learn how to do this in 15 minutes a day, reply to this email and book a session.

WTF Jelly Bananas!

Got 2 minutes today?

Here's what you could do...

Get your smart phone

If you don’t have a phone that can run a Twitter app and take a photo then you have two choices:

1. Go and buy one
2. Stop reading – scroll to the bottom of this email and unsubscribe – you don’t need me wasting your time

Download the Twitter App

• iPhone Users
• Blackberry Users
• Android Users

Connect your Twitter account to the App.

Take a photo & post it to Twitter

Don't over think this - the photo can be of anything - literally - anything.Don't worry about a description, just shoot something and post it.Do this every day for a week.

Review after 7 days

Once you have 7 shots, go to your profile on Twitter and look at them.

Spend 7 minutes doing this, 1 minute for each photo

• Think about why you took the shot
• What do you think of it now?
• If you could go back, would you still shoot the same thing?
• What would you have done differently?

15 minutes a week

If you have set up your phone correctly, this whole process should take you no more than 15 minutes a week.

If you don't have 2 minutes a day to devote to digital marketing, please see point 2 above

Repeat with descriptions

The following week, do the same thing, but this time add a short description to the photo.

Again, don't over think this, you're not writing a novel, you have around 120 characters to play with, just write what comes into your head.

Hands up, don't shoot.

Review after 7 days

Spend 7 minutes reviewing the photos and reading your descriptions:

• Think about why you took the shot
• What does the description add to the image?
• What do you think of it now?
• If you could go back, would you still write the same thing?
• What would you have done differently?

Repeat

Do this for another week, then contact me.

WTF are Personas?

Personas are fictional versions of your ideal customers.

They are produced by analyzing your product range and identifying which human beings use which product.

Most companies will typically have around 8 to 10 personas.

Why you need them

You can’t use generic messaging anymore. Try to speak to too many people at the same time and by necessity you write for the lowest common denominator. The result is that your message reads like boring marketing bullshit.

Better to resonate with one than none

It is really hard for people over 40 to get this point. Our entire experience has been shaped by marketing through push channels: Radio, TV, Billboards, and the early Internet.

Marketing is now about pull – it is about putting the right language in front of the right customer and motivating them to pull it into their network.

It's about language

If you don’t know who your customers are, what they like, where they live, their aspirations, what they need and why your service affects them, then, what are you going to say?

That you're great? That you're the best? Do you really think they'll believe you? If you're not writing directly to them, using stories and language that they can relate to, why should they care?

If you’d like to learn more about using personas to drive your business – reply to this email and book a session.