SEO can be a very nebulous and frightening concept, especially with all that talk about spiders and robots.  During the seminal stages of an SEO campaign, it is much easier to regard the big picture before even considering the meticulous pixels. Starting with the latter can lead to confusion, and possibly dramatic increases in blood pressure, so slow your roll, tap into your brain’s bored and lonely right hemisphere, and prepare yourself for search engine enlightenment.

There are three high level disciplines that ought to be pondered at the inception of any SEO campaign:

Content

Content is the ruler, and it will remain so as long as the relevance party is in power. When examining the content discipline at a high level, the first step is to find peace with the fact that if you do not commit to creating original, useful content, then your SEO efforts will be vitiated from the start. All you have to do is identify some opportune keywords that you want to rank for and implant them within your unique content in a concentrated way that does not take away from the user reading experience. Don’t forget that you are going to have to conjure up some keyword rich, fresh content for all of your online outlets, not just your company site. But that’s a little too granular for this overview so breathe easy.

Code

Search engine algorithms follow certain protocols when crawling sites, and there are plenty of ways to optimize your site’s source code to acquiesce to those algorithmic impulses. The key here is to understand that you will need to alter the underlying structure of your website so that it is properly optimized to be found and completely indexed by search engines.

External 

Your online authority will be search engine scrutinized and appraised, which will of course have an effect on your site’s rankings. Online authority is measured by how much of a presence your site has across the internet and the quantity (but more importantly quality) of other sites linking back to you. Google uses an evaluation called PageRank, which can be regarded as a link popularity score. See to it that your site has shed the appropriate pounds, applied the most auspicious amount of makeup, and schmoozed the right individuals (or in this case websites), because these judges can’t be paid off.

See, SEO is easy! Upon diving into all of the tiny tweaks and specifications that make up a successful SEO campaign, if you find yourself drowning in a sea of augmented reality, just think back to these three simple disciplines. Take a sip of coconut water, center your chi, and get back to it – the site isn’t going to optimize itself.

What does the remainder of 2011 hold in store for us humbly enraptured internet peoples? Well, I’m no Miss Cleo but I do have a few inklings as to what kind of exciting and further reality shrouding online fun is on the horizon. Read more →

Online advertising spend is continuing to grow and it shows no sign of ever slowing down. eMarketer forecasts that by 2015, total online ad spend in the US will be around a whopping $50 billion. Search and display ad dollars have seen solid growth over the last few years and the positive trends are only getting stronger. Video is the newest heavy hitter and it is increasing at a faster rate than all other online ad formats. Read more →

Back for another installment of ‘As the Video Spreads.’ Sorry, that was bad even for me….

Anyway, we left off last week by taking a closer look at how important emotion is to viral videos. Last week’s exercise in making the user feel something is a great reminder of Advertising 101. Here is another reminder: Have something novel to say! Or at least deliver the message in a novel way!

The concept of having a unique message is one that most advertisers support. Though the concept is admirable, most do not actually pull this off in their video content.  Let’s take a look at another viral video that is actually a commercial for a popular men’s product: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ3oHpup-pk

Analysis of Video

I chose this video because a common objection to creating great video content is production budget. Many will say that this is the ‘worst commercial ever.’ I say to those people, “7 million views” and countless residents of Montgomery disagree. With obviously little budget, this advertiser delivered his message in one of the most novel ways, a furniture rap.

The message here is simple.

(Funky rap beat)

Standout, be novel.

Don’t put you message in a bottle.

It’s just like, the video, for a Mini Mall!

(Sorry)

Adage’s B.L. Ochman wrote an interesting article, “Why Apple, Ford and Zappos Have All Invested in Branded Mobile Codes,” in which Ochman discusses that these companies, plus a few others, are at the leading edge of the next mobile marketing trend.

Why you ask? They all have branded StarStar Numbers, or vanity short codes, which enable consumers to connect and interact with a brand by linking to games, contests, videos, registering, making mobile payments, amongst numerous other applications.

What is it? StarStar Numbers are simply common short codes (CSC), which are customized five- or six-digit numbers that people request information from by sending a text message.

Ochman continues by arguing that these CSC’s will become very common in mobile marketing campaigns over the next two years and that all mobile campaigns should include the following:

1.       Messaging Strategy

2.       Mobile Website

3.       Mobile App

Unfortunately, these StarStar Numbers can be quite costly, ranging from $1,500 to $7,500 per month.

The following quotes Ochman’s top eight reasons, explaining why mobile campaigns should include a CSC:

1. Both inherently offer the holy grail of marketing: precisely measurable ROI statistics including consumer participation per the dollar spent.
2. Branded vanity codes and StarStar codes are easy for consumers to use and understand.
3. Texting is mainstream. I think vanity text codes will become the dominant marketing technology. In fact, according to a January 2011 Nielsen study, text message use continues to grow while mobile phone calls (remember them) have been relatively static for the past five years.
4. Mobile marketing is here to stay. Today, people not only have text-enabled phones, but in the U.S. and Western Europe, 90% of mobile subscribers have an internet-ready phone. Gartner last year predicted that in 2011, over 85% of handsets shipped globally will include some form of web browser.
5. “Text messaging is the key communication tool of the modern era,” said Neil Strother, practice director at ABI Research in Oyster Bay, NY. “It is a great place for marketers to communicate with consumers.”
6. Both technologies are brilliant ways to unify internet, print, TV, and billboard ads, making them more interesting and actionable for the consumer.
7. An advantage of a dedicated vanity short code is that you have unlimited keywords and you maintain control over routing inbound and outbound messages. Since you own the code and all of the data captured, you can map directly into your existing database without having to input information from a different source. (A keyword is the first “word” that is sent in a text message, for example “Go” or “Join.”)
8. Both technologies are cost-effective. They include web-based content management system that brands can use to upload their digital assets for their campaigns, and they provide metrics on call volume, etc. Because consumers want and request brands’ information, engagement is generally exponentially higher than with more traditional forms of advertising and marketing.

To learn more about how to attain a StarStar Number, continue reading here: https://adage.com/article/digitalnext/apple-ford-zappos-invested-branded-mobile-codes/227920/.