Well, you know what they say, “like mother like daughter”.  I’ve become the mouthpiece for that same broken record, only this time its reference is different – concerning ad placement on search engine results pages (SERP).

There are approximately 30 ad placements on any given search engine results page.  This really isn’t a lot when you consider how many businesses offer identical services in a given area.  There are three (3) sponsored links- usually the first three ads listed in a shaded box on the upper left hand side of the page, seven (7) local listings- known as map sponsorship ads, ten (10) organic listings- which are placed below the map listings, and ten (10) sponsored links on the right side of the page.

Phew!  Hope I didn’t lose you there!

With all of these search results, sponsorships ads, and sponsored links, it brings about the following question: How are people searching on Google?

LOCAL BUSINESS LISTINGS

99.9999% of the time searchers will go directly to the map sponsorship, also known as the local business listings.  How do I know this? Because, I have conducted a lot of competitive user tests where our clients hire us to compare their website with those of their competitors (see attached video).  Most of the time searchers want to know who provides the services they need within the closest proximity to where they live.  It may seem like an archaic way to go about hiring someone, but with the average person’s busy schedule, it’s not too surprising that this is how people are conducting and using online searches.

To get your business listed under the map sponsorship, you must first have a physical address within a given area.  So, if your business is located in Wichita, Kansas, but you would instead like to be listed in Topeka, you may have an issue.  This can be overridden by providing “extras” within a listing.  I recommend that people load their listings with coupons, videos (for which you’ll need a URL), photos, and legitimate customer reviews.

Advantages: The service is free right now.  However, there are rumors of Google changing this to a Pay-Per-Click model.

Disadvantages: Map sponsorship placement is at the mercy of Google, and is a little bit of a wild card.

ORGANIC LISTINGS

The second place people look for a service is in the organics.  People often refer to this section as the “free listings.”  However, it’s most likely that the listings in this section are getting placed there because businesses have hired an SEO guru to get them there — so in reality they’re not really free.

Advantages: Good ROI.  Typically an agency will charge a flat monthly fee regardless of the clicks that have been generated.  Searchers tend to trust the organics more than sponsored ads, therefore they can generate huge amounts of traffic to a website.

Disadvantages: Getting an organic listing requires a strategic approach that is not always instantaneous.  Sometimes it can take months to build a good campaign.   SEO requires a site that is properly organized with landing pages that are geared towards specific keywords.

SPONSORED LISTINGS

The last resource for most searchers are the sponsored links. These are also known as Pay-Per-Click ads, in which the advertiser pays for each click generated.

Advantages: Instantaneous results!  You can have a campaign up and running on the search engines within a couple of hours.  Pay-Per-Click campaigns are reactionary, meaning if you want to promote a certain product or service, or if something is amuck in the campaign, it can be fixed instantly.

PPC can accommodate any budget.  If you have a small budget, you can modify and go after “less-popular” keywords, which will cost you less money.

Disadvantages: These types of campaigns can get pricey if you’re in a competitive field. (Note:  It’s a benefit to hire someone to manage your campaign, as it will save you money.  We recently took over an account in which the advertiser was paying a whopping $76.00 per conversion.  Our approach slimmed that down to a sweet $5.41.  A good agency knows all the little tricks.)

According to comscore.com, paid search results have gone down 22%, predominantly because people have a greater trust in organic search results.

So, what does all of this have to do with location?  If you can occupy all three spots, you have obtained 30% of the Internet’s top search real estate.  It’s all about percentages.  The more Internet land you occupy, the more traffic you’ll garner to your website, which in turn, will result in more conversions.

After that, it’s all a matter of will.  The companies who are willing and able to invest in their stake of online real estate will reap the rewards.  And the ones who don’t will be left behind.

How much Internet do you own?

…

“No, son, you cast long – there you’ve got it!” I said.  ”That’s a good boy, we’ll have fish for supper no doubt!”  I pat his head.  What a wonderful morning, so long ago – me and my boy, IE6, out fishing over the mighty Platte.  Breath in that air, let it pass over your pallet and taste the salt of the catch. But, no… not any more. Today, my wife catches me just standing there, watching the rain, cold cup of coffee in my right hand, IE6’s old favorite fishing lure in the left.  I’m a little more gray, and I’m a little more lonely.  She places a shawl over my shoulders.  

“Stare all you want,” she says, “but warm fast or you’ll catch your death at this window.”  She smiles, grips my index finger with her hand, then returns to her day.  Time moves slower after the ebb and flow of a tragedy.

“Dad?” he once asked me. “Am I a good internet browser?”

“Of course you are my boy,” I replied. “Now just keep your eyes out on your line.”  Ah, his smile is so wide.

I didn’t know what he would become.  Neither of us did.  In therapy, they tell us it’s called a diagnostic bereavement-denial syndrome.  To me that’s just a bunch of fancy talk, the horrid wars of my yesteryears couldn’t dissolve the nightmare I’d birthed to this world, and into the next – God forgive me and angels be at peace.

It was like any normal Sunday morning.  I was mowing the yard – fresh sunshine on my face and a hearty plate of pancakes mucking around in my stomach juices.  As I turned to the house, I could see into IE6’s bedroom.  We’d always respected his privacy, but what I caught that day was the beginning, I can see it clearly now.  IE6 was holding a long page of code, a pet project of his – he always did so well with it, such a natural talent.  He raised it over his head, then started slowly moving over the code with an object in his other hand – what I know now to be a coat hanger he heated up in the fireplace.  He threw his head back while doing this, cackling into the ceiling and spouting loud curse words from dead languages while his eyes went black.  I stopped the lawnmower, said a small prayer, then threw up in my neighbors bushes.

As the years passed it got worse – the ways he acted and how he treated his code.  I’d pound my palm on the dinner table and order him to his room while my wife silently picked up all of the overturned glasses.  I’d strip the code from his pale hands and tape it back together the only way I knew I could – my sheet full of stars.  I’d find my wife sobbing on the bathroom floor gripping her sharpest Kanetsune for the last time.  I planned a fishing trip.

IE6 was nine or ten, still a young one but far more capable for harm then this world would ever know.  He fought the idea, but hadn’t been to school for months so he reluctantly agreed if not for the boredom, and I made peace with what I’d say to him.  I feel so old now, my bones, so… dry.  Our boat drifts out onto the water.  My line is cast.

“IE6, my son.  We need to talk,” I began.

He leans over, spits into the lake, and looks at his lace-less shoes.  He mutters, “What, you idiot, what?  Just leave me alone.”

Nervously, I continued.  “You know I love you son, and I always will.  Your mother and I are concerned about your behavior.  You won’t go to school, you won’t move in with your uncle, you won’t leave people’s code alone.  Those tattoos don’t help, and your hair – IE6, just tell me my boy, why are you so angry?”

My eyes well up on that last one.  My heart hurts.  My son.  I taste tears through my mustache.

“Just leave it alone Dad.  I like to shift things, I like to cut things, I am my own beast.  You’ll never understand, and you’ll never be free.”  As he says this, his eyes shift hues from red, to mauve, to jet black.

The deed must come now.  It’ll be here soon. “So just leave – me – alone!” he screams.  On this, I move forward and shove him from the tiny boat.  His arms flail as he splashes into the brown water, near black with this overcast sky.  “Dad!” he screams, arms reaching for invisible nothings.  My eyes are mulled fresh with salty tears, as I lean over the boat, and slowly push his shoulders down into the water.  Screams, muffled.

“I love you!” I scream into the bubbling froth my hands have disappeared into. “This is for the best, I love you, I’ll always-”

The bubbles stop.  He doesn’t float, just sinks – a testament to the black underbelly he’d grown – his disdain and self encouraged apathy toward the world, and his code.

…

The days are less grim now.  Mowing the yard on a Sunday morning, I’ll pass his old room – only storage.  

I keep mowing, and reflect on the spot in my neighbors bushes that never grows back.

My background is in architecture.  Not the digital architecture that includes wireframing, or the mapping out of websites and applications, but the kind that deals with gravity, building materials and a team of engineers (I know, I should write an article on the journey from architecture to internet marketing).

Thinking about a social media strategy for my own business, I am reminded of a project I did in my undergraduate years (many years ago), while attending SCI-Arc- a little architecture school in Los Angeles.  I thought I would share.

_____________________________________

SCI-Arc’s move to a freight yard in downtown Los Angeles was the largest alteration to the Artist District at that time.  The school now found itself situated in a culturally diverse and active community. How the institution and community adapted to accommodate this transplant was a delicate subject. I and two other classmates, decided to address the school on the architectural level and its cultural responsibility- incognito.  Since the new building was spatially unique (having a nearly two dimensional floor plan that is ¼ mile long and 60’ wide) the building’s skin had the potential and responsibility to function not only as the barrier existing between interior and exterior, but also as a major visual and social presence.  We figured the social responsibility of this façade must establish communication with its new environment and neighbors.

We initially considered creating this communication by covering the façade with school news and activities by projecting exhibition dates, reviews, and student work.  However this uni-directional conversation- the institution speaking to the community, would do little to develop a true relationship with the public.  After realizing that transforming the façade into an overwhelming billboard was not the solution, we understood that we had to create a skin that became involved in the community by somehow creating a public forum.  We began thinking of the school not as a fixed concrete object, but as something far more ephemeral, visualizing skins that blurred the confinement and inclusion of the school itself. Knowing that our goal was to create a condition that encouraged dialogue, action, and reaction by the students and community without bias- we began the following project.

“I will purr for you- lonely swf” was the first message we posted.  It appeared early one February morning atop the freight yard building.  The sign was constructed of 10 sheets of whitewashed plywood spanning 40’ x 8’ with three foot black and white Helvetica lettering.  This initial sign was an attempt to cause intrigue and the opening line in a semester long conversation.  Within a week “I will purr for you” disappeared from the roof and “you are dumb” appeared on a neighboring fence. The message carried no apparent relation to the previous sign, yet the format was identical- 40’ x 8’ of whitewashed plywood with Helvetica lettering.  From this point on, approximately 75 t-shirts and hundreds of stickers using the same white background and Helvetica font complemented the weekly signs.  They were left at random locations throughout the community from the school bathrooms to art district town meetings.  They carried messages that conversed with the 40’ plywood message- “not dumb” “am dumb” and “dumber” etc.  This created a media conversation in which a sticker on a light post would relate to a person wearing one of the T-shirts that then corresponded to the sign in the area. The focus was never on the message itself, but its location and effect, encouraging any response whether it is compliment or criticism.  Though the messages discretely provoked communication at some level they did not directly relate to each other in order to keep the publics intrigue high and turn their ambiguous meanings into conversation topics.

By constantly changing the location of the signs in the community they redefined boundaries within the area involving the habitants in a common conversation.  By the fourth week accusations of the possible culprit were so high, we responded by placing a sign in a vacant lot adjacent to SCI-Arc, which read, “it wasn’t me.”  By the end of the week the sign had been changed to “it was me,” then to “it was meat,” and “it was neal” (referring to the director of the school, Neal Denari) by various unknown parties.  Ultimately numerous conversations, web postings, and two other graffiti projects were created as reactions.  We began seeing people unaffiliated with SCI-Arc wearing the T-shirts and placing stickers on their personal property.  In collaboration with a local art gallery, variations of the weekly message appeared on its sign above the gallery.  This weekly transformation continued for the next nine weeks culminating with a final sign that was backlit by fluorescent lights in a grassy vacant lot.  The sign read “purrr- swm” in correspondence with the first sign that sat above the freight yard building.  On the final day of the semester anonymous artist hung a 18’ x 20’ banner from a neighboring loft building with a large bulls eye painted area with the word “hôm” in the center, signifying the school’s acceptance to the neighborhood.

The ultimate goal was to create a skin that was not defined by any tangible constraints, but by creating a dialogue with the community.  The skin was now anywhere that the message was identifiable or discussed, with no constant beginning or end.

_____________________________________

…So how does this apply to my thoughts on social media?

#1. The best conversations are often ones that standout because they are unique, showing personality which in return provoke conversation.

#2.  Engaging in authentic conversations isn’t just about yourself, your company, or about self-service.  It can’t be a unilateral discussion, or a daily quote from a famous dead person (who cares about that- right?).

#3.  Social media is about getting attention by focusing on a specific community with a strategy in mind.

#4.  Your voice needs to be strong enough for people to want to follow and collaborate with you.

#5.  The results of a good social media strategy are that people will start to get interested in your dialogue and they will start to tell others about it.

…Hopefully all those years of school have paid off!

This is how it works…

Share with us your best (and worst) Valentines stories

Your response will be needed by February 11th

_Post your Response

1.  Blog (www.MarketingColab.com)

2.  Twitter (www.Twitter.com/MarketingColab)    

3.  Facebook (find our Facebook page under Marketing Collaborative)

4.  Email (info@MarketingColab.com)

The finest response will win

FLOWERS, CHOCOLATE, BALLOONS AND A CHEESY STUFFED ANIMAL DELIVERED ON FEBRUARY 12TH

Of particular focus (for this short piece) is that of Rocky’s Autos. While I’ve only been a citizen near the mile-high city for roughly four years now, I believe Rocky’s Autos holds in the public group-think a cypher that I’m still yet unable to decode. The Sawaya Law Firm is of similar stock (we’ll leave Hank Azar and Dealin’ Doug in their own bizarre corners for this writing). According to the quickly covered statistics in their commercials, Rocky’s Autos is quite the happening place to buy a used automobile in Colorado, and judging by the frequency of the commercials on television – this may hold a grain or two of truth. Rocky’s Autos is apparently also haunted by an attractive blond named Audra, a police officer, and a mildly rotund high-energy gentlemen (I believe his name is Shaggy) who – on the payroll or not – find joy in spreading the Rocky’s gospel. As far as the commercials tell me, these three wander the car lots at Rocky’s looking with squinted eyes into the sun, hungry, and without aim. Occasionally, from the benefactions of Rocky’s consumer base, a video camera is summoned, and with smiles and renewed purpose the hijinks then ensue.

My point is more of a question, a “royal” question to be floated out into the heat and vapor. Why do these businesses, in the year of our Lord two thousand and ten, spend a great deal (or a partial deal) on television commercials – then clearly neglect such investment their web presence? Surely they understand that the great majority of the populace, when looking to investigate future patronage, use the world-wide-web before visiting said establishment? Before I submitted my body to the expensive torture known as “the dentist” – I did two things: I ate a cheeseburger, and then I used the internet to research local dentists. While the cheeseburger was irrelevant (though tasty) – I chose the dentist that had the best looking, easiest to navigate – and most importantly, the best information at hand on their site.

Rocky’s Autos does indeed have a website, however the Flash intro, the table-based code, poor navigation, and ill-rendered graphical treatment / layout all betray that this site has been sitting here unattended on the web since the late nineties.

Strike that. In the effort of fairness, the Wayback Machine actually says the site hasn’t changed since at least 2003, going on seven years ago.

However, Rocky’s Autos, now that I’ve lambasted you and your good works, call us. We’ll help you with your sorely needed makeover, and render your digital eyesore into something painted with magnificence.

Also, don’t tell my wife I have a crush on Audra.

Take this story from a real estate agent client who hired an SEO provider to increase her traffic and search engine ranking.

Our estate agent client was promised top positioning on all major search engines for a mere $200 a month – an unusually low price.  After an uneventful four month period with no traffic increase to her website, she requested a status report from the SEO marketing firm.  Within that four month period, only 5 incoming links had been placed (a good rule of thumb is to shoot for 10-15 links a week).  To make matters worse, her site was being paired with websites completely unrelated to her industry:  a cookie manufacturer’s site, two limousine company websites, a fabric manufacturer, and a ballroom dancing site.

After requesting more information about why her incoming links were so unrelated to her real estate industry, she received the following response:
“It is not done to get you traffic from people visiting these websites. It is not there to tell the search engines where you are located or what it is that you do. All of that has to do with your keywords and phrases. It does not matter that the site does not do the same thing you do or that the PR (page rank) is different from yours. It is done to make the search engines return to your site more; that is the plan. It is truly as simple as that.”

While it isn’t truly as simple as that, it is still easy to get quantifiable results from an SEO campaign.  Our SEO guru, Toby, says that there are a few basic truths that everyone should be aware of when it comes to SEO marketing.  One is that search engines act as a school counselor, in order to be one of the “cool kids”, you need to have inbound links to your website from similarly related industries.  Not only do these links give search engines a barometer of a site’s popularity, they aid in determining the topic and relevance of a site in relation to its targeted keywords.

Creating backlinks to dubious websites in unrelated industries, such as a cookie manufacturer linking to a real estate site, is a perfect way to cast yourself as the “bad kid”.  And once you’re tagged by the search engines as a bad cookie?  Well, good luck moving over to the good side.

To make sure you’re receiving truly unparalleled SEO results, make sure you’re playing on the right team by checking your detailed SEO monthly reports for the following:

• SERP(*) results showing all targeted keywords and their page rank on each search engine.
• Requested Links – Marketing Colab typically goes after 10-15 links per week on average.  Gaining more than this usually tips of search engines and is viewed as “un-natural”.
• Active Links – This list should grow over time.
• Links should all be related in some way to your industry.
• Number of monthly visitors – These numbers should also be growing consistenly over time.
• The paths from which your website traffic is coming.

With a little know-how and the right tools, SEO doesn’t have to be a small business’s marketing nightmare.  It can be as simple as finding the right links.

* Taken from Wikipedia- A search engine results page (SERP), is the listing of web pages returned by a search engine in response to a keyword query. The results normally include a list of web pages with titles, a link to the page, and a short description showing where the keywords have matched content within the page. A SERP may refer to a single page of links returned, or to the set of all links returned for a search query).

Dream experts have long said that this dream is the effect of feeling exposed in real life.

I find that many small business owners feel that same feeling of being exposed when I suggest that they blog about their business.  When I tell them, “create content on your site to keep your website fresh and updated, show that you are an expert in your field, et cetera”, I immediately elicit blank stares and horrified looks – as if they’ve envisioned a big red “F” on the top of their upcoming article.

The phrase “write a blog for your business,” immediately strips them of their clothes, causing them to feel naked.  Is it the act of writing, or is it the time it takes to blog that causes one to feel so exposed?

If you have a business you need to blog.

“Why” many small business owners ask me, “is it necessary to write about my company?”  The answer is simple.  Blogs are a great marketing tool.  All business relationships start with one essential ingredient – trust. Blogging will help potential clients see you differently, which will increase their confidence in your services. This is because blogs are informal.  Readers should never feel like they are being sold.  They should feel that you are giving them useful information, tips, and resources that they need and want.  Blogging = Leads = Sales.

Blogs are also an inexpensive way to promote your company name and help it gain an Internet presence. It’s an economical way to advertise your services, because it allows you to orchestrate your own PR campaign, or even become your own news anchor.

If you have an active search engine optimization (SEO) campaign, blogging can help your website rank higher because search engines love new and updated information.  Content that is constantly changing, or dynamic versus static, will always have a higher rank.  Be strategic about this process with the right content and keywords (an article about this topic is forthcoming!).  The important thing to remember is to think about whom your ideal client is, and what will attract that person to your business.

Give people the opportunity to post comments.  Your responses will show your personality, and how engaged you are (I often find the comments more interesting than the article itself). Be personable in your reply and let your audience see your character.

Writing a good blog that features good, consistent content will ensure that you are found online.  And once that’s done, there’ll be no end to the success it can give you.

So, get comfortable with your nakedness and start blogging!

Onward!

At the height of the industrial revolution, Fredrick Taylor developed a method of detailing time-motion studies in labor workers.  He improved efficiency by reducing each task to the least amount of necessary movements. Henry Ford, committed to manufacturing a reliable and affordable automobile, implemented “Taylorism’ into the production of the Model-T.   This changed increased production drastically while reducing manufacturing costs from $780 per car to $360, making it possible for the average American to afford a Model-T automobile.

So what does this have to do with the User Experience Community?  We can learn much from Taylor’s theories. Three underlying principles are to be considered.  Each a basic element of any sustainable product, and ones that User Experience Designers embrace:

1. Breaking down tasks to the individual elements
2. Eliminating anything unnecessary
3. Developing, implementing and testing

By executing these ideas into digital, physical and environmental interactions, User Experience Designers can encourage our community to stop designing from necessity.  Using this model, successful and easy-to-use design will emerge while enhancing creativity.  Sustainable products will materialize, because excess, or the “unnecessary” will be eliminated.

Instead of continually seeking new and innovative “sustainable” solutions, we have an opportunity to learn from history- considering the success of the Ford Company and Fredrick Taylor to move our ideas and profession forward.  Design can truly become sustainable, accessible, affordable easy to use, and most importantly well designed.  Sounds like the Model-T doesn’t it?

“He who goes to bed hungry…”

1.  …wakes-up with no pillow

2.  …isn’t married

3.  …hasn’t eaten

4.  …hasn’t hired Marketing Collaborative (must say, we like that one!)

…Keep the responses coming to win $50 big ones!