Bernie Borges on Tampa Bay CEO Lounge Radio Show

 

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Bernie appeared as a guest on the CEO Lounge radio show on March 29, 2008. Following is an excerpt of the interview.

What is Web 2.0?

Analogy: the world was once considered flat.  When the world was discovered to be round the flat world became obsolete.  Web 1.0 is like a flat world.  Web 2.0 (coined in 2004) is like a round world….In Web 2.0 people can subscribe and get involved in communities.  The value to marketers is the collective influence of these communities.

Important for businesses to understand Web 2.0.  Marketers can harness the power of the collective influence of communities in Web 2.0.

Blogosphere: You can be a speaker or a listener.  Visit or participate or both.   People subscribe to blog conversations.  blogs are two way conversations.  People subscribe to the blog (the conversations). 

Podcasting: it is a media file (audio or video).  People subscribe to a podcast as a series of episodes.  Study: July 2006 Knowledgestorm & Universal McCann surveyed 3900 business and IT professionals.  They are increasing using podcasts.  73% listened to business podcasts more than once.  More than half want more podcast content for white papers, case studies.  Their biggest frustration is scarcity of content. 

Post podcasts to a blog with show notes which are indexed by search engines.  Post podcasts in podcast directories such as iTunes.  Plus the search engine indexing of show notes can drive traffic to your website.

Search engine optimization and Internet Marketing is much more than it was ever before.   With the advent of Web 2.0, many more avenues are available.  But, it takes more strategy and effort.  But, the results can be awesome!

Tags: blogosphere, podcasting, search engine optimization, Tampa Bay CEO Lounge, Web 2.0

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SEO: The Perfect Storm

I often talk with marketers about the difference between SEO (search engine optimization) and PPC (pay per click advertising).   I remind myself that, unlike me and my team at Find and Convert (and others in our business), most marketers don’t spend their days thinking about Internet marketing strategies as we do.

So, when we look at the difference between SEO and PPC, it goes beyond the costs.  After all, most marketers understand that PPC can cost a lot more than SEO.  But, for so many marketers PPC (also known as SEM) is the path of least resistance. 

Many marketers believe they can measure results from PPC easier than from SEO strategies.  But, let’s examine some of the facts.

We spend a lot of our time producing reports for clients.  These reports summarize (usually in painstaking detail) many statistics.  For the sake of this blog post I’ll hone in on the most telling stats which really point to the advantages of SEO over PPC. 

Time and again we see that visitors to our client’s websites which come from organic searches spend more time on the website, visit more pages and have lower bounce rates than paid search traffic.  The first two stats mentioned here should be self evident.  A bounce rate refers to someone who visits a web page on your site and does not visit another page, essentially “bouncing” off your site.

Moreover, when we provide reports on our PPC plans for clients, we track the cost of conversion (the desired action for the client).  Such conversion costs are tracked for the ads and for the keywords.  The most telling conversion cost is for the keywords we track.  This metric really tells us the cost to produce a lead for the most desirable keywords.

All too often we see marketers show the most interest in the most competitive keywords.  They wind up paying dearly for these keywords simply because they are competitive.

In SEO strategies, we are able to (with a lot of hard work) build optimization strategies for select keywords which are less competitive (long tail keywords).  For example, we work hard for a client to rank on page one for “project accounting software.”  But, the software client we represent has a product that runs only on Oracle.  So, when someone searches for “oracle project accounting software,” we hit a home run in ranking and in a qualified website visitor.

So, the message in this post is to think long term with SEO strategies.  Do the hard work which will require ongoing care and feeding, but can have long lasting and cost effective sales results through organic search traffic.  And, don’t be afraid to target lower searched, less competitive and long-tail keywords. 

I’ve always said I’d rather be found by the 10 people who are a perfect fit, than targeting 1000 people who may be a fit but are harder to reach and therefore a higher risk search strategy. 

Tags: long tail keywords, pay per click advertising, PPC, search engine optimization, SEO, SEO strategies

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Juiced Up Press Releases

I’ve written before about the importance of merit based link building.  I talk about it everyday with our clients.  So, here I go again writing about it.

Wait a minute - the title of this post says it’s about press releases.  Right….

Too many marketers have a one dimensional view of their press releases. They think a press release is an announcement designed to produce some public relations (that other “PR”) value.  Once upon a time, I hawked press releases in a previous life, working the editors and analysts hoping to get ink and win kudos from my boss and my sales counterparts.

Marketers should think of their press releases as content for their website.  Even more, they should think of press releases as content that can be syndicated across the web.  And, it is a great opportunity for merit based links back to your website, ie., SEO, ie., Google juice!

Those of us in the Internet Marketing business refer to “Google juice” as any content which helps us get indexed by Google.  The most powerful Google juice is content which has valuable links anchored from our desirable keyword phrases on a web page of relevant content.

Another term for this simply is an optimized press release.  If we optimize our web content for search engine optimization (SEO), then an optimized press release is just another form of optimized content.

The difference is that an optimized press release can get distributed over a search engine friendly wire service such as PRWeb and BusinessWire.  And, it can produce valuable and juiced up links, anchored from some of your favorite keywords.

Understanding this should inspire marketers not to limit press releases to the most newsworthy stories in their company.  A good marketer should be thinking of press releases as a key component to their SEO strategy.  That’s because a good marketer understands that in SEO content is king, and press releases can make for great content.  And, great content produces merit based links.  This is the SEO circle of life!

Take for example this press release.  In this release we announced a client engagement.  Regardless of your opinion of the news value, note the anchor text linking in this press release.  By optimizing it for keywords such as “SEO strategy” with links back to our website, we are producing valuable one-way links from news services such as PRWeb: http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2008/3/prweb774424.htm. 

So, juice up your press releases by optimizing them and creating great content and great links for SEO value.  It’s not too hard to do it and definitely worth the effort.

Tags: Google juice, Link Building, optimized press release, search engine optimization, SEO strategy

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Making PDF Content Search Engine Friendly

We often see web content in PDF format.  In most cases PDF content can be read by search engines.  But, if the content is made up of something that was scanned and saved in a PDF format, that content is image based.  And, of course you already know that image based content can NOT be read by search engines. 

To ensure your PDF content is SEF (search engine friendly) make sure the content can be read by search engines.  Start by saving a plain text document (word processing, spreadsheets, etc.) in a PDF format.

To get the maximum SEO value from your PDF content, link important keywords from your PDF document into relevant pages on your website containing those keywords (don’t over do it though). 

In your PDF document, select File, Properties.  In the Description tab type in meta data including a Title comprised of a few keyword phrases which represent the main theme of your document.  Enter the subject (a short sentence) and a description using the main keywords in the document (once again, don’t over do it). 

Once you’ve done this, you have optimized your PDF document and when it is placed on your website you will get search engine optimization value from your PDF content! 

BTW, you need Adobe Acrobat Professional to do this, but it is well worth the price if you place PDF content on your website.

Tags: Adobe Acrobat Professional, PDF, search engine optimization, SEO

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Podcasting Basics

 

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Podcasting Basics Show Notes:  To listen to the podcast click the play button above, download it or subscribe to our podcasts below to the right. 

What is a Podcast?

A podcast is digital file which can be audio or video, that someone can subscribe to, download-able, or listen to on the spot on their computer.

A podcast can be played on a PC or portable MP3 player.

A podcast is time shifted delivery of content similar to a VCR.

Why should marketers care about podcasting?

Podcasts are in the top 10 of most frequently accessed types of online content.

Survey conducted by KnowledgeStorm and Univeral McCann of 3900 B2B professionals summer 2006 (highlights):

32% said they listen to more podcasts than before.

B2B technology buyers are listening to podcasts for business interests.

72% said they have listened to downloaded or subscribed to podcasts on technology topics.

23% said they listen to podcasts on technology topics frequently.

About 60% said they want more content delivered in podcast format, specifically they named white papers and analyst reports.

55% said they would be more likely to consume white papers and analyst reports if delivered in podcast format.

57% said their biggest frustration with podcasts is the scarcity of interesting content (opportunity).

Conclusion: podcasts are not just for entertainment, they are a bonafide business tool!

Podcast strategy considerations for marketers:
Define your marketing objective.
Consider your audience and the topics of interest to them.
Identify the content subjects for podcasting to your audience that meets your objective.
Consider content on tips, trends, thought leadership ideas, case studies, white papers, analyst reports, etc.
The content for podcasting has to be manageable. Not too much in one podcast episode. Segment content into episodes.

Decide on the podcast show format.
Interview style: 2 or 3 people.
Or a solo approach if the personality is appropriate for a solo podcast.

Post your podcasts to a web page or blog post.
Include keyword rich text show notes for search engine optimization (SEO) benefits. Show notes can serve as “spider food.” People can link to your show notes which is also good for SEO.

Offer subscription options to your podcast in directories such as iTunes, and other podcast directories. iTunes is the biggest directory. But, it will only display the top 150 results per keyword phrase, e.g., search on “Web 2.0.”

Track your podcast statistics an episode by episodes basis. Measure which podcast topics have been popular. Track downloads and subscriptions through iTunes. Track podcast blog pages in your web analytics.

Marketing – how much marketing (promotion) can you do in a podcast?
It depends on your audience and topics. Here are some promotional possibilities.
Consider a show sponsor: “This podcast is brought to you by…”
Consider a short commercial at the beginning of the podcast or at the end or both.
Consider a “commercial” break (word from our sponsor) in the middle of the podcast just like a radio show.
Offer your audience a call to action that is only available to the podcast listeners.
Consider a short form for podcasts on topics of high interest that will interest people to fill out the form.

Podcast idea example:
OTA- over the air delivery of broadcasting. Example: iPhone can download music or a podcast or push a podcast out to subscribers.
Consider this scenario: A VP of Sales assembles internal subject matter experts to record a podcast with up to date product and competitive info that needs to be distributed to their glogal salesforce ASAP.  They then push out the podcast to their salesforce using OTA.  Rather than relying on a long voicemail or email, the podcast is delivered to their sales force quickly because they were previously subscribed to the “sales podcast” for just such occasions. Sales people can listen to the podcast even while traveling and stay up to date on time sensitive information.

There are almost no rules in podcast marketing.  Do whatever makes sense for your audience and your content.

Tags: iTunes, podcasting, Podcasts, search engine optimization, SEO, Web 2.0

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What’s in a (URL) Name?

One of the most overlooked best practices in search engine optimization (SEO) involves naming a web page.  Each website page which is optimized for good content has an opportunity (in SEO terms) to be named after the main theme of the page.

When search engines crawl your website they consider all factors to rate the quality of your content and links.  One way to tell the search engines you care about your website visitors is by naming URLs using specific keywords.

Even competitive keywords can be optimized for good results, especially when combined with a keyword specific URL and a long tail keyword.

Here are two examples:
Find and Convert provides SEO services. While we market our services nationwide, to compete for the keyword “seo” is very difficult. So, one of the long tail keyword phrases we have optimized for is “seo services tampa” since we’re located in Tampa Bay. At the time of this blog post, our search engine listing is in the middle of page 1 in Google for this phrase with “seo” in the URL ranking on page 1. 

SEO Services | Search Engine Website Optimization | SEO Site …

Another example is “outsourced medical transcription.”  The number one position has “outsource” in the URL.

Medical Transcription Services Company Outsourcing, Medical …

Some website’s architecture (or content management system) does not allow specific naming of website URLs.  That can be a very limiting factor.  Website URLs with the exact name of the keyword phrase for which you want to be found can make a big difference, e.g., www.yourcompany.com/outsourced-medical-transcription-services.htm.

A similar idea is to buy domain names based on your most desirable keyword phrases.  You may have to get creative, or buy long domain names.  Don’t be afraid to buy domain names using hyphen separators like the example above.  The way to make this a white hat (legitimate) tactic is to put original content on your new domain and link it back to your main website.  Put this content and URL to work for you using ethical SEO practices through keyword-specific URLs.  You just might see your search engine ranking positions (SERPs) increase significantly!

Tags: ethical SEO practices, search engine optimization, SEO, SERP, white-hat SEO

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The Importance of Measuring Bounce Rates

A bounce rate refers to the rate at which people “reject” a page on which they have landed in your website.  Website analytics tools consider a visitor a bounce if they only see one page and leave your site.  Some tools use time spent on a landing page as a bounce rate criteria, e.g., 10 or 15 seconds. 

Analytics tools provide bounce rate information at several levels.  I’ll use Google Analytics (G.A.) as the reference.  G.A. provides an average bounce rate across your entire website, plus bounce rates for each page.  My favorite bounce rate metric is for keywords. 

Measuring bounce rates for keywords is a very meaningful metric because you can see how well your website visitors are  consuming your content based on keywords delivering traffic to your website.

If you are getting traffic to your website for your top 10 keywords, and one of your top 3 keywords has a high bounce rate, you need to examine the content.  It’s possible your content is not adequately feeding your website visitors what they want.  Perhaps the content doesn’t do a strong enough job of conveying the main thing about this keyword.

Sometimes, content revisions for keywords with high bounce rates can make a big difference in conversions. 
Do the math.  If your bounce rate improves by 10% the conversion rate impact can be substantial on leads or sales.

There are other factors which contribute to bounce rates, including where they came from.  Generally, we pay closest attention to the bounce rates for keywords coming from search engines.  The premise is that someone searched on a keyword phrase and landed on your website.  We like to say, “this person is looking for you.”  So, when they find you, did you do a good job of connecting with the visitor?  Of course, not all visitors will be relevant or qualified.  But, we’re talking about statistics.  So, we like to maximize the statistical probability of delivering a good match between keyword searches and landing page content.

Any search engine optimization or pay-per-click strategy requires paying very close attention to bounce rates.  Studying bounce rates as indicators of the connection between visitor’s searches and your content can play a big role in successful internet marketing practices. 

Tags: bounce rates, Google Analytics, internet marketing, Pay per Click, PPC, search engine optimization

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