SEO FIRE

It is the first thing you see when you go to any website and it is the #1 element in any SEO effort. It is website content. All online marketing efforts begin and end with the content that is being promoted. Your website content is the foundation of everything you are hoping to achieve through online marketing. So lets ask some questions that may illuminate shortcomings in your website content.

Why is this important to me? Look at your home page and ask that question. You had better have a good answer. For every visitor to your website this is the first thing that enters their mind. How do you personally answer that question? How does your website answer that question?  Sadly for most company websites the answer is not easy to find. Companies will pile on product lines and bestow the virtues of their quality service and still never answer that question.

Complete this sentence: We help our customers to…

Customer-Centric Content

Are you a customer centric company? Most business marketers would reflexively answer yes but your website may not be carrying that message in an effective manner. Take a look at your high traffic web pages (home page, product pages). How many times do you use the words I, We and Our? - (I have the experience, We are the largest, Our features and benefits). Now how many times do you use the words You and Your? - (You will achieve, All you need, Your solutions partner). This simple exercise can shine a light on what is missing from most business websites.  Writing from a technical knowledge of the products perspective rather than an understanding of the customer needs perspective.

Do your customers go looking for features and benefits? Probably not, most customer relationships begin with a challenge and a search for a solution. Your copy should target the challenges faced by your customers. This is the core of customer-centric copy writing. When you focus on the customer challenges two things occur that both work in your favor. First you will be speaking the language of your customers. Saying what they want to hear at the time of their greatest need. Second and most importantly you will have properly defined your target demographic.

With both challenge based customer-centric copy and an understanding of your target (challenge) audience you now have a core foundation that will resonate with your target customers and the focus to target your marketing effort where it will be most effective.

SEO Keyword Selection

Your website copy is also a prime target for search engine optimization (SEO). Try to create copy with keyword phrases that are relevant to your target audience. Keyword phrase selection should follow the same customer-centric approach. Focus on the customer challenges not your features and benefits.

Key Takeaways

1. Your website copy is priority #1 in online marketing
2. Focus on customer challenges not features and benefits
3. Use page relevant challenge focused keyword phrases in your copy

A client recently asked us for an overview and recommendations for a Web 2.0 strategy. I thought I would provide an outline of that report for all who might be interested. In short Web 2.0 is what could be referred to as the 5th “P” in marketing (Participation). So any strategy for implementing Web 2.0 could be considered as building a portfolio of “Participation” mediums. 

Blog – regular postings on keyword relevant topics creates a scenario where users are invited to comment using topical language. This in turn generates more keyword relevant content which drives SEO. Best usage is to drive conversations with topical questions and opinionated commentary rather than reported sales speak and event wrap ups. etc…

Forum – This drives community and networked participation generating the most keyword relevant content for driving SEO efforts. Using predefined subject threads can broaden the scope of content generated.

Viral Video– This is a less controlled medium which requires creative innovation to be successful. The video player must be branded with the company URL and closing screens can also be used to supply contact information though this can turn off the audience as being too salesy.

 Setup Considerations:

To be effective as dynamic SEO generating vehicles the Blog and Forum MUST be run locally on the www.yourdomain.com. General public Blog and Forum services do not support the SEO tactics we are hoping to engage.  

Software Recommendations: 

Blog– WordPress, http://wordpress.org/  No Cost. Open Source. It has built in RSS capability and is easy to use for distributed editor/contributor management.

Forum – PHPBB, http://www.phpbb.com/ No Cost. Open Source. This is the highest rated forum tool available. Supports SEO with the proper setup.

Video- YouTube accepts video files from most digital cameras, camcorders, and cell phones in the .WMV, .AVI, .MOV, and .MPG file formats. 

Most computers come with some sort of video editing application already installed, such as Apple iMovie or Microsoft Movie Maker. Using these programs, you can easily edit your videos, add soundtracks, change the file type, compress the file size, etc.

There are also more advanced editing programs available for purchase or download online. My personal favorite is CyberLink PowerDirector 6

Implementation Considerations:

Blog and Forum software can be easily acquired and set up in a matter of days precluding any missing server requirements which our ISP would need to provide.

The style and voice of the blog in particular needs to be decided and adhered to. As I said previously we are striving to generate viewer responses to posts. So avoid PR and other uninteresting subject matter i.e. “This product is the greatest…Just released the latest…” Instead focus on being original, generating controversy or opinion i.e. “Is a distributed ODBMS really better? …Who does Oracle think they are?.. Top 10 Tips on Dating an RDBMS Developer… 

Both the blog and forum will require some moderator/administrator time to manage rude and spam postings. The tools outlined above have features that prevent most kinds of spam but you still need to watch what is being said on a daily basis.

Video production will require some trial and error up front. You want to strive for a simple repeatable process. Pre-production planning is 90% of this effort. A system for generating ideas, storyboarding the outline, acquiring talent, filming, and editing will be required.

Stylistically I would recommend you develop a highbred home movie newscast where you brand the opening and closing scenes with a standard shell that will encapsulate any content you create.