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Why Online Marketers Should Act Like Scientists

By Dan Mckee | Published December 9th, 2011

Scientific research lives and dies by the scientific method. Perhaps you learned about it in middle school chemistry class. The process can vaguely be summed up in the following steps:

1. Ask a question
2. Gather data in relation to the question
3. Form a hypothesis
4. Conduct an experiment to test the hypothesis
5. Analyze the data
6. Come to a conclusion
7. Repeat as necessary

By leaning on this time tested methodology scientists can push their research forward. Online marketers would be wise to act under a similar type of rigor. SEO, social, paid search, and email marketing; it’s all just a big experiment. The problem is that we often neglect to treat it as such. We become victims of our successes or poisoned through the knowledge we’ve acquired over time. Eventually we give up and stop experimenting.

Think like a scientist

Opportunities for improvement are abundant. It’s your job to seek out an opportunity, isolate it, and begin asking questions.

Should I send an email newsletter out bi-weekly, weekly, or daily?
How many times per day should I Tweet?
Am I targeting the right key words?

All of these questions can be scrutinized using the scientific method. Let’s use an example:

1. Ask a question

I want to find out if long blog posts are worth the extra effort as opposed to short blog posts for the purpose of inbound marketing. To put this in question form I can ask:

Are long 1000+ word blog posts more valuable than short 250 word posts?

2. Gather data

How long are my current blog posts? What does Google Analytics reveal? Are my longer and more detailed posts attracting more traffic and inbound links, or are the short and quick posts just as valuable? What types of information can I find by looking at trusted resources?

Blog Tyrant: Writing One Post for a Week: Are Long Articles Best?
ProBlogger: Post Length – How Long Should a Post Be?
ViperChill: Bloggers: This Is How Long Your Posts Should Be

3. Form a hypothesis

Based on the data available, I’m going to hypothesize that longer blog posts are more valuable than shorter blog posts.

4. Conduct an experiment to test the hypothesis

For the next 6 weeks I decide to write 2 posts a week that are over 1000 words in length.

5. Analyze the data

What does Google Analytics reveal? How much new traffic, social media mentions, or inbound links was I able to gather over 6 weeks?

6. Come to a conclusion

After the experiment is over I should be able to determine if longer posts were in fact more beneficial than shorter posts. I can listen to what trusted resources have to say, but without conducting the experiment myself I wouldn’t know with absolute certainty what length of blog works best for my blog.

7. Repeat

Was 6 weeks a long enough testing period? Should I try again except with shorter or even longer posts? Was there any outside contributing factors that may have led to the data being misconstrued? If so it may be smart to repeat the test.

Never stop experimenting

By conduct regular experiments and leaning on the scientific method, online marketers can push the boundaries of efficiency and make their dollar and time investment stretch farther. At minimum it sure beats shooting from the hip and falling victim to assumptions.

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The Biggest Advantages of SEO for New Businesses and Startups

By Young | Published December 4th, 2011

New businesses and startups have two advantages larger competitors often can’t match with search engine optimization and those are creativity and agility.

Owners of new businesses and founders of startups can compose a marketing campaign that will allow them to compete with larger businesses if they incorporate the two philosophies as part of their digital marketing DNA. Creativity is a search marketing advantage because large businesses have more risk management then small businesses. Most large businesses won’t create blogs that take sides on issues, create controversy or allow individuality.

There are fewer stakeholders for a small business so it’s easier to sell creative, controversial or compelling ideas. To use this benefit to its fullest, start by developing creative linkbait. Larger companies will mostly follow proven business models and methods and a small business can break out of that mold with clever ideas. It’s an opportunity to create the kind of linkbait social web influencers are looking for but larger competitors do not understand.

Success for businesses often comes from employees who are passionate about their industry and want to do good work. They often have strong feelings about the industry they are in. A smart small business owner can help their employees share those feelings on the web to attract others who feel similar. Even those who disagree bring more traffic to your site by their responses. This is one way small businesses can direct and use controversy to their advantage.

A startup can also take advantage of cheap and free SEO-friendly online publishing tools such as WordPress. Web developer scan make WordPress an entire CMS to power a site at a reasonable cost.

A CMS like Expression Engine is more powerful but also affordable and search engine friendly. The agility of a small business can also be a search market advantage. Larger corporations have layers of approval processes, lawyers and committees. Smaller businesses have an opportunity to exploit this by being first because they don’t have all these layers.

According to the recent Marketing Survey on Blogging and SEO, 94 percent of bloggers reported seeing measurable SEO benefits from blogging within one year. By having an agile content development process, smaller companies can and do outpace larger competitors who have more resources available to them.

If a small company encourages their employees to have personal brands, this will also provide a search marketing advantage. When an employee has their own blog and social media networks, the company and individual are often linked or mentioned together. Larger corporations use partners as an advantage for links but small businesses can encourage their dedicated employees to develop personal brands in their industry.

Every company is now a media company. By breaking news, a business attracts links and referral traffic. As it does this, a company will start to become a trusted source as its own brand of media.

The more businesses and startups take advantage of their ability to be more creative and agile than larger competitors, the more their online content marketing and SEO programs are likely to succeed.

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The End of Business as Usual Book Review

By Dan Mckee | Published November 8th, 2011

When reading the words of Brian Solis it’s rather normal to feel like you’ve just been handed an all access glimpse into the future, not one that’s decades away or substantially out of reach, but rather a tomorrow that appears as if it’s just around the corner. Like many high level social strategists, Solis has a way of putting the here and now into context in a way that the average web consumer can relate to. He’s never complex for the sake of being complex, but to the contrary has a knack for taking on the big picture questions and breaking them down into bite sized pieces. Engage, perhaps Solis’s best known work thus far, was an appropriate precursor to some of the high level concepts presented in The End of Business as Usual. Regular Solis readers are going to feel right at home with this one.

The End of Business as Usual is a book for the over achievers; those who aren’t nearly satisfied with the idea of being taught how to fish, but rather would like to know how the rod is built, what type of bait to use, and how to attract the biggest catch. There are plenty of smart books on the market that teach readers how to set up a Facebook page, or why blogging is important, or why a revolution in journalism is happening, and thankfully The End of Business isn’t one them. Solis spends little time treading in shallow water and instead leaps right into the tough and relevant questions.

What are the trends in behaviors of millennials that businesses should be most aware of?
What does it look like for a brand to be a part of the conversation?
How can organizations use real time data to their advantage?

After reading The End of Business the first time through it felt as if I had just attended several university level classes on digital communications and organizational psychology. There’s a lot of material here that will likely require several reads over to fully grasp. The variety of charts and graphics, along with end of chapter bullet points makes the journey that much more enjoyable. This is a book that demands concentration; it rarely lets readers off the hook and assumes that we’re not only ready, but aslo excited to change the way we approach the fundamentals of business in order to reach a growing connected and digital savvy audience.

The End of Business as Usual is a little dense, but to those who have some pull within their organizations or have been thinking about making some big changes, the topics presented here are worth their weight in gold. If you’re the person who would lose sleep over the notion of being left behind in a rapidly changing digital world, this book will be far from disappointing. If you’re a practical, level headed decision maker and are bit on the fence when it comes to making some fundamental adjustments on how your business operates and communicates, this book makes for an excellent companion and should be required reading.

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7 SEO Tips Learned at Seattle Interactive

By Charles Sipe | Published November 4th, 2011

Seattle Interactive had its inaugural conference this week and the lineup was full of great SEO speakers including Rand Fishkin (@randfish), Duane Forrester (@duaneforrester), Michael King (@ipullrank), and Kent Lewis (@kentjlewis).

Leverage Social Followers for Potential Links
Rand Fishkin from SEOMoz talked about using a tool like Export.ly to export your Twitter followers into Excel and then compare to a list of linking domains exported from a tool like Opensite Explorer to see which of your followers have not linked to you yet. Your followers have already shown an interest in you and are more likely to be willing to link to you.

Rel=Author Can Help Increase CTR
Rand Fishkin also showed how adding the Rel=Author tag will put your profile picture from Google Plus next to search results of articles you write which can make your search result stand out.

Sharing Your Data Can Be Linkworthy Content
Putting data that you might already have into an interesting and visual format can create great content that people will link to.

Stumbleupon Can Help With Retargeting Ads
While Stumbleupon traffic is typically low quality, it can put a cookie on visitors’ browser that triggers impressions from retargeted ads.

Building User Experience Without SEO in Mind is like Building a Car Without An Engine
Michael King from Publicis Modem had a great short presentation during the SEO Panel and discussed how UX and SEO should work together. A great point he made was that SEO only compromises UX when it is retrofitted.

Use Short Paragraphs to Encourage Readers to Read Your Content
Chris Pearson from DIYthemes shared a great tip to make content appear easy to digest. People might not engage with your article if there are large intimidating paragraphs. Shorter paragraphs are often more inviting and can keep readers engaged with your content since unlike a book, people have no investment in your webpage and can easily leave.

Bing Webmaster Tools Can Email You If Juicy Content Is Being Blocked
Duane Forrester from Bing shared breaking news on the latest changes at Bing. One helpful tip is that Bing Webmaster Tools can email you when it detects that content is being blocked that Bing thinks is juicy.

Charles Sipe is the Director of Search at Sparkplug Digital. You can follow him on Twitter at @charlessipe.

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How to Make Content Writing a Regular Habit

By Dan Mckee | Published November 1st, 2011

November is National Write a Novel Month and is as good time as any to sit down and do some writing. For an internet marketer writing is a valuable skill that constantly needs to be refined and improved on. It doesn’t matter if you’ve published 10 books or have absolutely no writing experience outside of high school; it’s never too late or impossible to sharpen your skills.

Writing, like all art, takes patience, practice, and repetition. Here are some tips to get started:

Set defined goals

Everyone has goals, such as creating more blog content, writing an eBook, or starting an email newsletter, but without specificity goals are more difficult to grasp and accomplish. Set a defined goal that sits just out of your perceived comfort zone; something that’s obtainable, yet still challenging.

Maybe it’s to write 3 blog posts a week for an entire month or to write a 20 page eBook in 2 weeks. Choose goals that push your writing to new levels.

Commit to a scheduled routine

When do you write? Is it whenever you have a moment of free time or only when inspiration strikes? The problem with not having a set writing schedule is that writing tends to fall to the wayside and never happens.

Choose days and times that fit within your schedule

Every morning at 9am.
Monday through Friday, just before leaving the office.
Every Sunday for 3 hours between 12pm and 3pm.

Pick a topic that resonates

If content writing feels like a chore as opposed to a passion, it’ll always be a struggle to keep from falling off the wagon. Only write about topics that are of interest and only write in a manner that will stay true to your ideals. If your company specializes in niche B2B technology products and the idea of writing a 5000+ word eBook sounds like a college essay assignment nightmare, why not change the angle of the story and instead write a compelling case study about how one of your customers found success using the product. Tell the story of how customer A was able to double revenue almost overnight or how customer B was able to make a big impact changing employee productivity using your product. Find a topic that people actually want to read.

Create the perfect work environment

The perfect writing environment looks a little different for each of us depending on preference. Maybe yours is a clutter free desk, in a still and silent room, with no outside distractions or browser windows open. Maybe it’s working directly across from a group of people for quick feedback or sitting next to a stash of notes and a pile of books for reference.

Music on or off?
Coffee shop, office, or home?
Crowded or secluded?

Find what works best for you.

I recommend trying out OmmWriter for minimal and distraction free text editing.

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Customer Service is the Problem, Not Social Media

By Dan Mckee | Published October 31st, 2011

Many people, this writer included, fall into the camp of believers that think customer service is one of, if not possibly the most crucial parts of every business. Call me old fashioned, but I still see the value in customer service. I’m actually quite obsessed with it. Why? Because I’m a customer to many companies and like anyone else who has ever been a customer at some point in their life, I can quickly differentiate between good customer service, poor customer service, and absolutely outstanding customer service. It’s one of those things that just doesn’t hide very well.

Social media is either a blessing or a curse in that it exposes gigantic flaws in an organizations commitment or lack thereof when it comes to genuinely serving customers. A large number of us have fallen victim to the myth that social media has been a magic bullet of sorts that has made businesses friendlier, more trustworthy, and customer oriented.

This, I’m sad to say, is a gigantic lie.

The one thing social media has done is that it has made everything much much much more transparent. The glass is clearer than ever these days and customers are gaining uncharted glimpses into the personality and culture of the businesses that they give their money and time to.

This is an incredible advantage for some, but a liability and big problem for most. If social media gives consumers an unprecedented opportunity to see a business for what it truly is, what happens when consumers don’t like what they see? What happens when a business puts customer service last on their list of priorities?

When a customer has a problem and decides to pick up the phone to dial a 1-800 number, it’s natural and expected to receive at least some notion of help on the other line. If the customer is fortunate and doesn’t get stuck with an automated answering system or put on hold for 20 minutes, he or she will get an opportunity to voice their problem and interact with a real flesh and blood human being, maybe even a manager if the problem is severe enough. Large organizations spend a lot resources refining this archaic complaint system in hopes of minimizing it down to as little of an expense as possible. Small businesses, solo entrepreneurs included, can act in the exact same way when they knowingly choose to put off or completely ignore voicemails or emails from customers.

Social media is dangerous, and possibly fatal, to the businesses that don’t care or don’t care enough. Some of the problem is still ignorance in that a large number of mid to small sized businesses are still in the dark when it comes to social media, or that it’s nothing more to them than a irregularly updated Facebook page. This group is shrinking more and more all the time and within the next couple years it’s very possible to that these late adopters will start to become a insignificant chunk of the pie that makes up all businesses. No this message here today is in reference to those who “get” social media, but yet still aren’t answering the call.

If someone comments on the company blog with a question and doesn’t receive a response it’s a customer service fail. If someone writes a blog post mentioning the company and doesn’t receive a response it’s a customer service fail, or what I’d call a customer recognition fail. The same can be said for Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, or any other social network. If customers are present, the business should be there listening and waiting to respond.

Social media doesn’t create the problem of a lack of customer service, it just exposes it and puts it out in the open, often for all to see. Sometimes it’s not the social media strategy that’s broken, it’s that there’s been a dangerous lack of customer service within the entire culture of the company that’s just now rising up to the surface. Trying to get aligned with social media before getting right with customer service is foolish. It’s kind of like trying to run before learning how to walk; it’s just not going to work.

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