Online Marketing

Ever notice that the results of nearly every Google search you make contain a Wikipedia entry?

A study by Conductor revealed that 46% of every search on Google will result in a Wikipedia reference on the first page, whereas it occurs in only 31% of searches conducted on Bing. The research model included both transactional and information keywords, and also measured various word combinations and search term lengths.

Despite there being no evidence of untoward alliances or favoritism, Google honchos are still quick to defend their altruistic algorithms. When asked about the heavy Wikipedia visibility, one rep noted that other studies circulating show the popular information website popping up more frequently on Bing, and that regardless of today’s results the vagaries of the search world practically guarantee that there will be different results tomorrow.

That may be true for users in the U.S., but Googlers in the United Kingdom may not agree. One research study conducted in Brighton, England, around the same time as the aforementioned study revealed Wikipedia appeared on the first search engine results page (SERP) in 99% of searches using 1,000 random keyword nouns (compared to 2,000 specifically chosen keywords in the Conductor research).

The UK researchers took the issue one step further by asking whether the high level of visibility enjoyed by Wikipedia was deserved. This is obviously a matter of opinion, but with nearly 500 million unique visitors each month to its English site it is a very relevant matter to consider, especially if the assumption is that these people are disseminating Wikipedia’s information as a means to validate arguments, make points and essentially drive conversation.

Ever since Wikipedia’s inception in 2001, the debate has raged over whether the website is reliable enough to use as a vetted source given its open-access approach to developing content. The fact that there is also Scholarpedia, an open-access peer-reviewed version of Wikipedia, suggests that there is a market and desire for a more reliable source of free information.

The fact that Scholarpedia never shows up in Google or Bing search results, however, demonstrates Wikipedia’s dominance across search engines; dominance so pervasive that information sources like Scholarpedia would be hard-pressed to compete against it.

Even fans of Wikipedia would have to admit there is a problem with that. When the ubiquitous nature of an inferior product is so complete that it hampers the possibility of a superior product emerging, it leaves questions regarding marketplace mechanics and Google’s influence on it.

Thinking back to every math class I’ve ever had, from memorizing multiplication tables in 3rd grade to dissecting trig functions in college, there’s always been that one student who at some midpoint through the year raises his / her hand and begrudgingly asks “Wait, when am I ever going to use this stuff?”

Dependent on the instructor, we’d either get an answer ranging from sit down, shut up, and learn it anyways, to a halfhearted explanation along the lines of how math can get us out of a jam when we’re doing taxes or find ourselves in the never going to happen in a million years scenario of trying to make some odd configuration of change out of a dollar.

Truth be told – there’s many reasons, much more than I’m qualified to talk about, why mathematics is and should be taught frequently, especially starting from a young age. Apart from the basic principle that math serves as a significant chunk in the foundation of many social, natural, and engineering sciences, the sheer challenge and discipline alone of learning how to analyse and solve problems makes the time put in worth it in the long run.

This is why whenever I see someone saying that learning to code is a waste of time, it makes me cringe. Even though I’m an online marketing a guy through and through, I can’t understand the logic behind why anyone would want to put a limit on what they currently know and what they should learn.

Coding is challenging
Coding is fun
Coding is fun, because it’s challenging!

End of story. For me, this is reason enough.

Not convinced?

What about the fact that every piece of technology that makes online marketing even possible, is only here because at some point someone programmed it?

What about the fact that a basic knowledge of coding helps with communication? If online marketing is a part of your job to any degree, someday you’re going to have to work with programmers. It’s not a question of if, but when. You’re only kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

Some kids don’t want to learn math and it’s sad, because someday they might need it, and if they don’t, well at least they learned a thing or two about problem solving and grow to become more well-rounded individuals in the process.

Some people didn’t want to learn web design, PPC, SEO, and social when they first came around either, however a number of people did, who then eventually excelled and used what the learned to move their ideas, products, and businesses forward in a big way.

Some people don’t want to learn how to code; maybe because it isn’t a part of their job description, or it’s too difficult, or they don’t have the time for it, or some other excuse that doesn’t hold much weight. I’m still searching for a logical counter argument.

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In his recent “2012 Update from the CEO” Larry Page, co-founder of Google, addressed Google’s present and future. Google is essentially saying that personalization, identity and relationship will be the currency of the web. That’s the reason why signals such as anchor texts are become less valuable when compared to social signals.

He began his update by writing, “Sergey and I founded Google because we believed that building a great search experience would improve people’s lives and, hopefully, the world. And in the decade-plus that’s followed, we’ve been constantly delighted by the ways in which people have used our technology—such as making an artificial limb using old designs discovered online.”

He also says in his introduction that there’s much more planned for Google because of technology advances and that the company can achieve more, faster if it has an approach “with the passion and the soul of a start-up.”

He wrote that choosing that approach since last April has meant management reorganization, the closing or combination of products and the updating of others, including Google Search.

Looking at Google+

Part of creating a more intuitive experience for Google users means “products work together seamlessly,” Page wrote.

“People shouldn’t have to navigate Google to get stuff done. It should just happen,” he said in his letter.

This is where Google+ comes in for people to follow, share and recommend items, photos, articles, websites, videos and more with specific circles, or groups of friends.

“Well over 100 million users are active on Google+, and we’re seeing a positive impact across the Web, with Google users being able to recommend search results and videos they like—a goal we’ve had ever since we started the company,” Page wrote.

Google+ is also allowing people to better connect with and search for people they know, find out faster and more accurate search results and shop and compare prices for things like airline tickets or hotels.

“Truly great search is all about turning your needs into actions in the blink of an eye,” he wrote. “It’s all about speeding things up so users can get on with the things that matter in their lives.”

A Need for Speed and Accessibility

Page also wrote about the speed of smaller devices, including mobile phones. He wrote that he’s especially excited about Android and Google Maps and Google Wallet features. Products like Gmail and Google Docs can also be used across Android and desktop devices.

“As devices multiply and usage changes (many users coming online today may never use a desktop machine), it becomes more and more important to ensure that people can access all of their stuff anywhere,” Page wrote.

He reiterated that Google looks forward to working with more hardware partners in the future.

A Strategy That Works

Google places bets on the technology believed to “have a significant impact over time.”

“When we launched Gmail in 2004, most people thought webmail was a toy, but its accessibility—all your email from anywhere, on any device—and insane storage have made it a winner with more than 350 million people,” Page said.

Google faced skepticism when it acquired YouTube in 2006, Page added. Today, YouTube has over 800 million monthly users.

Google is seeing a positive revenue impact from mobile advertising, Page wrote.

“Our goal is long-term growth in revenue and absolute profit—so we invest aggressively in future innovation while tightly managing our short-term costs,” he said.

A Relationship with Users

Google’s direct relationship with its users is an incentive for the company to do the right thing, Page added.

Users place their trust in Google and Google has “always believed that it’s possible to make money without being evil.”

“We take pains to make sure that users know when something is paid for, and we work hard to make these advertisements relevant for users,” Page wrote.

Over one million businesses now use Google’s advertising products,” he added.

Google started with AdSense and has supported its partners by paying out over $30 billion since its launch over a decade ago. The same is true for technologies like DoubleClick for online publishers and AdMob for mobile developers, according to Page.

“YouTube also generates healthy revenue for Google and our content partners—in fact, partner ad revenue has more than doubled for the fourth year in a row,” he said.

Working with the Best

Page went on to write that Google’s goal is to hire the best and keep them. The company invests in employee offerings such as high quality medical care and cool workspaces but also believes that the workplace should be challenging.

“People are more motivated and have more fun when they work on important projects,” Page said.

A Bright Future

Page closed his letter by explaining that he finds it “easier to make progress on mega-ambitious goals than on less risky projects.”

“Few people are crazy enough to try, and the best people always want to work on the biggest challenges,” he said.

Projects that fail can often lead to something that was worth learning and later using, he added.

He mentions that last year, the Google+ team decided to integrate multi-person video into their efforts and Google+ Hangouts was created. Users can now “video chat with anyone, anywhere, even from the Great Barrier Reef,” wrote Page.

He closed his letter with optimism and a sense of responsibility.

“I believe that by producing innovative technology products that touch people deeply, we will enable you to do truly amazing things that change the world,” Page said. “It’s a very exciting time to be at Google, and I take the responsibility I have to all of you very seriously.

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In Above the Fold, an excellent book on the nuts and bolts of web design, author Brian Miller tells the story of how Vince Lombardi, the Packers coaching legend, would start every season.

“Gentleman, this is a football,” he’d say as he it held it up for all to see. He’d describe the football’s size and shape and talk about how it can be thrown, kicked, and carried. He’d then point at the field and say, “This is a football field.” and proceed to describe its dimensions and shape, before eventually arriving at the rules of the game.

It was Lombardi’s commitment towards fundamental football, not gimmicks, that helped make him a legend. Despite how experienced a player already was before joining the team, Lombardi made sure that the very basics were never overlooked.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a big football fan or indifferent to it all, there’s still a big lesson here.

I’ve noticed at times an all too common lack of an appreciation and disregard when it comes to online marketing and its fundamentals. Maybe it’s because the whole online marketing space itself is still growing and somewhat of a mystery to the uninitiated, but to be frank that’s only a small technicality, and a fraction of the problem.

The real problem is rooted in education, or a lack thereof.

When a person graduates from a top tier college in a specific field it’s safe to say that no matter where the degree was obtained that the curriculum is somewhat universal. If I get a degree in economics (and assuming I paid attention) I’m going to know like the back of my hand the ins and outs of what a supply and demand curve is and how it apply it.

These fundamentals, the simple building blocks of study, however aren’t always as clear when it comes to online marketing, yet some of the basic should be blatantly obvious.

For example, do you know how a search engine works? Yes, we all know how to use Google, but do you know how it actually works? (what a search engine looks at when determining SERPs, the importance of meta tags, etc…)

Do you understand the difference between CPC and CPM, and how it relates to your CPA (cost per acquisition?)

Do you know how to decipher data within Google Analytics? What do the variables represent and why are they important?

Have you spent any time – any time at all – learning a thing or two about HTML / CSS, Photoshop, or a CMS such as WordPress?

OK, but what if I already know all of this really well?

But do you know how to apply it?
This is the million dollar question.

Your understanding on the fundamentals should be to the point where you’d feel comfortable teaching a class on it if you had to.

Can you build a site up from scratch, one that has clear copy with consistent branding that fulfils a core business objective such as selling a product or servicing customers, and also increase its traffic and unique visitors month over month, while all the while keeping track of its progress and making adjustments as needed? Can you do all of this consistently while also reporting on it periodically?

This material isn’t a quick order. It takes months and years to absorb and you’re never really finished. The basics are always going to be a part of the game, regardless of the many small new rule changes or tricks that emerge.

There’s no shortage of distractions in online marketing, but the brass tacks are here to stay. Fundamentals are fundamentals. Don’t skimp over them.

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A lot of promising startups ended up in the scrap heap of broken dreams because they didn’t understand the importance of marketing. Many entrepreneurs have failed because they believe that building a great product will win the race. While there are always exceptions, building a great product usually only gets you to the starting line. One of the greatest challenges facing startups is convincing enough potential customers that they should trade their hard earned dollars or limited time for the thing you created. Fortunately, we can learn from companies like Facebook who used marketing to gain massive adoption.

Why Facebook Succeeded
How was Facebook able to crush their competitors and gain nearly a billion users? In the early days there were numerous social networks throughout the country and it was hard to argue that Facebook had the very best technology. Sites like Friendster had a huge head start and millions of users while Facebook was being run by a small team of college students out of a dorm room. Yes, Zuckerberg emphasized the importance of creating a great product that rarely went down (unlike Friendster) and keeping it “cool” by being conservative with banner ads. However, a key reason Facebook succeeded was that Zuckerberg was a masterful marketer who understood what people wanted and executed a great marketing strategy. For example, a great move early in the company was to make the site exclusive to people who had a .edu email address to create artificial scarcity and brand themselves as the social network for college students. They also targeted the influencers like students at Harvard and Stanford. They took requests for launching Facebook on campuses and only launched there when they received enough requests. When a university wanted to use their own school social network instead of Facebook, they launched at surrounding schools so all the students’ friends would be on Facebook. This encouraged the students to influence the faculty to support Facebook’s social network instead. Facebook focused on connecting people with their “poke” feature, relationship status, photo albums, messaging, and The Wall, none of which were considered revolutionary technology but aligned perfectly with their brand of connecting people. You could argue that Google Plus is a better product than Facebook in multiple ways, however they have been unable to make much of a dent into Facebook’s share of social media time. According to ComScore, Google Plus users spend an average of 3 minutes per month on the site as of February 2012 while Facebook users spend an average of 405.

Where to Start
To be successful at marketing, the first and most critical step is to develop a marketing strategy. As Sun Tzu said “tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” A lot of companies make the mistake at throwing tactics at the wall to see what sticks or doing whatever tactic is popular or used by their competitors. This is far less effective then using tactics that will support the long term goals of the company while also attracting new customers in the short term. John Jantsch describes strategy as “your marketing reason for being” which inform every marketing decision. The tactics you implement should be aligned with the strategy that you have established.

Do you agree that marketing is just as important as technology for startups? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Photo by Robert Scoble

Charles Sipe writes for Sparkplug Digital, an online marketing company that helps tech companies execute effective online marketing campaigns. You can contact us at info(at)sparkplugdigital.com. Charles tweets about marketing and SEO at @charlessipe

Ben Elowitz, CEO of Wetpaint, recently found that users who arrive via social stay longer and visit more often than users who arrive via search. With Facebook in particular, Elowitz gathered data proving that site visitors return 70% more often in comparison to those who visited Wetpaint through Google.

These findings shouldn’t come as a surprise, but should rather serve as another case study proving that a loyal audience built through social media can pay off big in the long run. Unlike visitors via search, traffic via social tends to be more vested and willing to commit to a long term brand to customer relationship, provided that the opportunity is present and there’s a compelling reason to do so.

Success rarely happens overnight

When starting out from scratch, earning traffic through social typically costs more than search (in both terms of monetary expense and man hours), and also subsequently takes longer to develop. This double edged sword has lead many to believe that search always trumps social and therefore deserves the bulk of attention and marketing spend.

Apart from obvious flaws in execution or a lack of commitment, many campaigns involving social media ultimately fail because they aren’t given enough time. It’s not that social isn’t as valuable as search (both organic and paid), but rather that the rewards aren’t as quick or as obvious. Building an audience that’s actually committed takes time, thought, and hard work.

And while it’s certainly naive to think that there’s a universal plan to building indefinite brand loyalty, it usually takes much more than just showing up to the party and expecting immediate results.

Putting data into context

To to get a grasp on how search compares to social, first the value of each traffic source needs to be established. The more data specific you can get, the clearer a picture you’ll have.

Using a combo toolset such as Optify and Google analytics, evaluate the following for each medium:

How long do visitors stay on my site?
How often do they return?
How often do they convert?
How many pages on average are they viewing?
What’s the bounce rate?

From here you’ll be able to piece together the benefits of having a dedicated, as opposed to a casual audience. If social lacks heavily in comparison to search, the data is a strong indicator that either your efforts are misaligned, misjudged, or at minimum need to be reevaluated.

Until some type of large shakeup warrants drastic change, committing heavily to both search and social, and finding a balanced diet between the two, makes for the most logical and safe approach.

 

Photo by Emilie Eagon 

…*Bounce rate*… Just the utterance of this compound noun can make a once confident marketing manager turn queasy. It’s a word that, perhaps unlike another other, has the power to bring even the most experienced of online marketers to their knees.

OK, maybe this is a slight exaggeration (or maybe not?), but no matter how you slice it, bounce rate is a significant barometer of relevancy in relation to your marketing message, design, and site copy.

But what if it’s not my fault?

Well… a high bounce rate is always technically your fault, but what if your bounce rate is high for a reason that’s well within your control? What if you’re crippling your chances for success and you don’t even know it?

If this sounds all too familiar, here are some common sticking points worth double checking:

Loading Speed

If your site takes forever to load, people will get annoyed and leave. On the web even a brief moment can feel like an eternity. It’s been found that 47% of consumers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less.

Flash

I hate Flash. Don’t put flash on your site. Search engines can’t crawl it, it often looks tacky, and it’s just not worth the effort. If you must use Flash, let it be a side dish and not the entire meal. But seriously, get rid of the Flash.

Retro / cheap / out of touch design that looks like it’s from 1996

Yes design is highly subjective, but lazy design always sticks out like a sore thumb. If your site looks like it hasn’t been touched in a decade, do you really expect visitors to brush it off and show you some love (in the form of sticking around)? Not going to happen.

Complicated or unclear call to actions

This is a personal pet peeve. If I land on your page, especially one that’s driven by paid search, I want to know exactly what I’m supposed to do next. Are you trying to convince me to open my wallet? Subscribe to a newsletter? Fill out a form? The clearer this is communicated the happier the visitor will be.

Hapless site architecture

How are your internal links stacking up? How can person A, move from page A, to page B, to page C, and so on. Stay mindful of this sort of stuff. Hire a good UX specialist if need be.

Not a definitive list by any means, but a starting point nonetheless.
Fix just one of these five problems and you’re well on your way to a lower bounce rate.

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There was a time not too long ago when acquiring information always had a definite cost associated with it, by way of not just opportunity cost, such as in investing several months of free time to attend a class, but also in the form of cold hard cash (books, seminars, high ed, etc…). As of recent though, the tables have started to turn. Information has become democratized and pockets of it have become free for the taking. Wikipedia, Google, Twitter, YouTube, and countless blogs have become a gateway to information that wasn’t always readily available 10+ years ago (for better and for worse).

With the spread of information, the problem has turned from that of availability to that of time management and discipline. Does the information that we are taking in have the potential to hurt more than it helps? Is too much of the wrong information, or that of of the time consuming variety, actually standing in the way of the pursuit of valuable and relative information?

Clay Johnson, author of The Information Diet, combats the problem by stressing the need for having a framework to work off of for information consumption.

If garbage in equals garbage out, how do those in the online marketing space, people who are confronted with the real possibility of information overload on a daily basis, learn how to be more selective?

The problem is massive, but here’s 3 questions that can be helpful:

Is this a reputable resource?

Before hitting subscribe, follow, like, or clicking through, ask first if what you’re looking at is as trustworthy as it appears to be. Who is this person or this company, what are they trying to say, and are they actually qualified to be saying it?

Is it worth the time investment?

Every blog post, email newsletter, and Tweet that comes across your radar, no matter how miniscule, takes time out of your day. Your goal shouldn’t be to sift through and judge as much of it as possible, but instead to create filters so that the best material consistently floats to the surface.

What’s the end result?

Spend 15 minutes browsing Inbound.org and you’ll likely learn a thing or two about online marketing. Spend 15 minutes browsing Reddit and you’ll probably find a bunch of cat photos. These choices, as simple as they seem, compound over time and are either reinforcing productive or unproductive habits. If you’re on the fence about whether or not a piece of information is worth consuming, consider defaulting back to the question of what’s the end result. Is this information furthering my career, a project, or a personal goal? If not, it’s likely little more than just another distraction.

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The old adage that a picture is worth 1000 words may ring true for those of us who have a sincere appreciation for photography or tend to gravitate towards art, but from an internet marketer’s point of view an image is worth, well… significantly less than 1000 pieces of text. Web crawlers thrive off of text and thus it should come as no surprise that most sites, especially ones that rank well, are text and not image heavy. Text has always been and for the foreseeable future will continue to be the undisputed king of the web.

Why should I even bother with images?

There are many reasons, but here are 3 that stand out:

1. Images can drive traffic through search

2. Images pair well social media

3. Images enhance content

Let’s dive into the specifics:

Images for search

Aside from Google and Bing both having a separate search vertical dedicated to images, images themselves can, and do so regularly, appear on the first search engine results page. Having at least one image on a page increases the chances of your site showing up in one of these searches.

A couple of best practices from an SEO perspective:

1. Have the file name match the image

Instead of naming a photo something like 10035.jpg or car.jpg, make the file name more specific, such as hondacivic.jpg or hondahatchback.jpg

2. Use the alt attribute

Add the ALT tag to your images to aid the search engines in their pursuit of guessing what it is.
For the picture at the right I would use <img src=”hondacivic.jpg” alt=”1998 red Honda civic 2-door”. WordPress makes this a breeze, but it’s easy enough to add on your own as well.

Images for social

Facebook

When a visitor decides to share one of your pages directly in their feed or by hitting the “like” button within the page, the content appears on the user’s individual profile and possibly in their news feed if they so desire. Provided that your content has an image tied to it, when it’s posted on Facebook it’ll end up having a higher click through rate than the same content without an image.

Stumbleupon

Stumblueupon, perhaps now the undisputed king of social bookmarking sites, is heavily influenced by images. When a “stumbler” is browsing through content, it’s images and not just text, that catch their attention. Having a large image above the fold (at the top of the page) is a useful tactic for grabbing the readers attention and drawing them in.

Pinterest

On pinterest users share and catalog their favorite images for later reference by pinning them. If your pages and blog posts lack images, it makes them irrelevant to this niche, but fast growing network. No image = no pin.

Flickr

Considered to be the world’s largest online photo social network, Flickr has the potential to send traffic in your direction if you happen to be providing your own photos, especially if the work is of high quality.

Tumblr, Dailybooth, and other social networks

Don’t dedicate too much time towards these, but if your images are incredible, and again especially if you’re creating them yourself, pushing them out to a photo hungry social network such as Tumblr or Dailybooth may lead to some additional traffic.

Images for content

Aside from search and social, images enhance the perceived value of your content. There’s a reason why top blogs and news sites regularly include images, it’s because readers simply love and can’t get enough of them. When paired with the right text, an image or collection of images can add that extra touch that makes a piece of content stand out amongst the constant bombardment of choices readers are regularly faced with.

No matter if you’re creating original material or curating it from others, the time spent adding images in support of text is always time well spent. The search engines, the social networks, and – most importantly – the readers, will appreciate the effort.

Image credit: Martin Gommel and Steven Tom