Quality Content Still Matters

Google has seriously been shaking up the world of search engine marketing, but 2012 is bound to get even crazier. Since the introduction of Google Panda that aimed to reward sites with rich and high-quality content rather than those stuffed with keywords, the updates to the Caffeine ranking algorithm that was said to impact 35% of searches to produce more up-to-date and relevant results, and the new SSL rules in Google Analytics that doesn’t allow the entrance keyword to be captured if the user is logged in to his or her account, web marketers have had to find better ways to capture data, measure results, and refine their strategies. However, if Google keeps smacking us upside the head with changes that blow our tried and tested methodologies out of the water, at least we can count on one thing to increase our chances of success: good quality content.

According to Kuno Creative, it is hard to maximize organic search visibility without good quality content. No more are the days in which websites can be stuffed with keywords or links to bump up their Google rank and claim the prize of being the top result on the search results page. Since the introduction of Panda, bloated websites like this don’t stand a chance. Website owners must consistently update their websites with fresh content to “keep the Panda happy” and to maintain their prime real estate. For many web marketers, this opened doors to yet another opportunity to optimize: content marketing.

Content marketing, in a nutshell, is one of the most important strategies to have in place right now. Along with social media, it is what keeps your content relevant in Google’s ranking index and increases organic traffic. To maximize results, establish a plan to update certain content areas of your website on a weekly or monthly basis. Whether that means dusting off your blog and utilizing your best writers to create top-notch content or keeping your portfolio up-to-date with case studies, videos of client testimonials, or digital e-books, your target audience is waiting for you to create meaningful and insightful content.

One of the most important things I have learned while creating content is that if you want to blog, you should blog because you want to. You should write genuinely and honestly to your target audience. Remember that every word is a direct reflection of not only your brand, but yourself. By producing content that is real, it will speak to users. It will get them to act. It will inspire you to create more, and in return, it will attract more listeners. It sounds easy, doesn’t it?

To web marketers, it will always be a challenge to set the right content marketing strategy in motion. There is not a “one size fits all” approach to content marketing that guarantees a safe spot in Google’s search engine indexing system. It will be a continuous cycle of measuring and refining to find the strategy that not only works well with your overall marketing plan, but also increases your brand’s online visibility and influence.

Other Game-Changers?

2012 will surely be a year in which everyone can agree that content – whether it is Tweets, videos, or blog articles – truly matters. I look forward to seeing what trends and technologies will emerge in fast-paced world of web and search engine marketing this year. What do you think will be a game-changer in 2012?

In case you missed it, here are my game-changers for 2012:

• Part I: Social Integrates with Search
• Part II: Video Content Explodes
• Part III: Quality Content Still Matters

Video Content Explodes

Did you know that videos account for 50% of all online traffic as of January 2012? Did you also know that 85% of Americans watch 1.3 billion videos a day? These statistics may seem surprising at first, but in reality, they make perfect sense. With websites like YouTube, Vimeo, Hulu, and Netflix, it has become increasingly easy for users to access high-quality video content either for free or at the cost of a fast food lunch at Arby’s.

How many times have you researched a product online to only find that there are no video demonstrations or tutorials to aid you in your final decision? According to GoMo News, users who are exposed to videos are 437% more likely to engage with your brand. This number is significant and speaks to the importance of video content. I know that as a consumer, I am more likely to make an online purchase if I see a video that shares more detail and offers me a solution to my problem.

As a user of these aforementioned online video services, it does not surprise me that video usage is skyrocketing. After all, people are visual creatures. We are more influenced by brands that engage us with color, texture, sound, and stunning theatrics that speak to our needs. Likewise, we are often charmed by companies that can offer us a solution by showing us a story with real characters and real problems.

This does not mean, however, that a video must be produced to fit Hollywood’s standards or be on par with an Oscar-worthy plot line. A simple 1- to 2-minute video usually tells a better story than three paragraphs of incredibly descriptive sentences that would make even Virginia Woolf cringe.

Not sure where to start or what your first online video should be about? Here’s a couple of questions to get you started:

• Who are you?
• What do you believe in?
• What is your culture like?

If you remember from a previous article, it was once said that your culture is your brand. If this still doesn’t click or ignite a quick response from you or a co-worker, then now is the perfect opportunity to rethink your marketing strategy for the new year. You should really think long and hard about this before jumping onto the video bandwagon.

If you’ve exhausted your brainstorming sessions and are still scrambling to create a video that aligns with your company’s marketing goals and overall message, then click here to check out some basic video ideas that will work well with any brand or industry.

Stay tuned for part III of III!

The Internet landscape is constantly sprouting successful ideas, innovations, and technologies and growing despite a less than stellar economy. This gives us reason to look ahead to what the new year will bring. If you’re anything like me, you look forward to the surge of predictions for how the next 365 days will pan out. Not only does it give us an idea of where the web is heading, but it also gives us room to prepare.

The year 2012 will be an exciting and interesting year for web marketers, SEO experts, content creators, analytics gurus, and the like. While we cannot predict how the year will turn out exactly, we can anticipate and start to plan for the impact of Google’s social search, the explosion of video content, and the emphasis on meaningful content.

Social Integrates With Search

Last week, Google introduced a little something to the web that got most web marketers in an uproar. The update, also known as Google Search, Plus Your World, was introduced as a way for Google to continue its transformation of the search engine into something more. According to Google, the transformation will not only allow the world’s most popular search engine to not only understand content, but also people and relationships as well.

The reason why most web marketers have spoken up about this is because it affects the way that Google search results are displayed. Instead of the standard list of top-relevant websites, it will now filter in content from you, a friend, or someone you may know. Likewise, you will now see relevant Google+ pages and profiles while searching for a topic or area of interest. While this may not seem like a big deal to the average web user, it is a note-worthy move on Google’s end that will indefinitely change the way we search for information.

Google Search, Plus Your World may not have been welcomed with open arms by the web marketing community, but it is the start of something significant. We still have work to do to build a social web that is easy, intuitive, and smart, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the year 2012 will give us the tools we need to refine the way we socialize and communicate on the Internet. Likewise, it will encourage businesses to invest in a sound social strategy to help them connect to not only current customers, but potential ones as well.

If you are not utilizing social media or have not setup your Google+ page, now it a great opportunity to do so to increase your visibility to Google users. If you are still unsure of what Google+ has to offer or how to set one up, here’s a great article to help you through the process.

What do you think of this new search feature? Will you use it?

Stay tuned for part II of III!

When I made the decision a few weeks ago to purchase a tablet I started to do some preliminary research.  To that point in time, I really hadn’t investigated what was available. Sure, I’d heard about the e-reading manufacturers branching out in to the mobile browsing market, but I wasn’t quite sure to what extent.

What I found I really surprised me. There were no fewer than 12 seemingly good options from a hardware standpoint that were available.  This got me to thinking about how we, as the web and software development industry, will deal with the explosion of available devices that should be accounted for from both a technical and strategic standpoint.

Do we test against Amazon’s Kindle Fire Browser? If so, how do we account for the upgrade that will be released mid-way through a project? I would think that they’ll be enough browser versions, hardware types, and screen sizes to make all of our heads spin.

I’m not sure that the businesses we serve have fully adapted to the explosion in HTML browser compatible smart phones yet. Now they need to be budgeting for design and testing considerations for screens ranging in size from 3 to over 10 inches in size as well? What a challenge awaits our industry, along with the marketing industry, as we go through these changes!

For the time being, I suppose that we’ll all do our best to identify key systems and audiences like we always have, we’ll just have to broaden our view of what the possible answers could be. It probably won’t be so simple as to account for iPhone, Blackberry, and Android devices any longer. You’d have to expect that budgets will be raised to account for these key users and their respective platforms. 2012 is going to be an interesting year for our industry and I am excited to see how these changes affect the way in which we approach our work.

And…for the record, I did end up going with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. I’ve had good luck with the Android platform to date, although the app selection does seem to be a little less well-developed than the iPad offerings, but I’ll save that for another post on another day.

Merry Christmas Everyone and happy Tablet-ing!

It is acceptable to say that the mobile web is here to stay. Mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and netbooks, presently have a massive user base. The number of mobile web users is expected to steadily increase as more and more users turn to their mobile devices to instantly access information. In fact, according to Morgan Stanley, the number of users browsing via mobile devices will exceed the number of users browsing via desktop computers by 2015.

In the face of this massive change in browsing proclivities, many companies are unsure how best to tap this growing market. As my colleague pointed out last week, even major web applications like Salesforce are not fully compatible with the majority of mobile devices. Other major sites have tried to simply slap mobile-specific versions of their sites together, which has led to user frustration that consequently shows up in comics like the one below. So, what is the best path to capturing all those mobile users? The answer is (as it usually is) complicated. However, there are several common approaches, including mobile-friendly sites, custom mobile sites, and native apps, that most sites would be well-served to adopt.

Server Attention Span courtesy of kxcd

Common Approaches

There are three major approaches to dealing with mobile devices. Each approach has unique virtues and challenges, and some sites may lend themselves to one approach more directly than another.

Mobile-Friendly Site

Usually the most cost-effective approach, a mobile-friendly site relies on the massive increases in power and usability that have swept through the mobile market in the last few years. The fact that Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 all include desktop-class web browsers by default means that many sites will simply work “as-is” (or with only minor revisions) on most modern mobile devices. Of course, making the site mobile-friendly usually limits the types of technology that can be used (Adobe’s Flash being the most affected). However, many relatively simple sites can be made perfectly usable on a mobile device with minimum of time and effort. It should be noted that the number one limiting factor for this approach is that it can be very difficult to design a site that is both usable and attractive on both a 27-inch desktop monitor and a 3.5-inch phone display. In addition, data-heavy applications may be too complex to make this approach viable.

Custom Mobile Site

This approach creates a custom site dedicated to creating a distinct user experience for mobile devices. When a mobile browser is detected, the user is redirected to the custom site. As shown by the comic above, some thought needs to be put into this redirect to prevent user frustration. However, this can be a good middle-ground from a cost and market-coverage point of view. The custom site is more expensive to develop than just making the existing site mobile-friendly, but the fact that it is still an HTML-based site in a browser avoids many of the pitfalls of the native app. The downsides are that HTML-based solutions will never be as responsive as native apps, and truly complex web applications may still cause a frustrating user experience.

Native App

This approach is almost always the most expensive, but often yields the most user-friendly results. A native application will most likely be the most responsive to inputs and it will give the designer more leeway in presenting complex datasets or controls to the user. In addition, the developer can leverage the standard APIs for each platform to provide a standardized experience that functions exactly as the user expects, so there is a minimal learning curve. The downsides to a native app can be fairly serious, though, as it will most likely be the most expensive and/or time-consuming option to create. Likewise, distribution to the end user is much more difficult and someone will have to provide ongoing support, bug fixes, etc. in the same manner as a desktop application. Finally, the biggest issue will be determining which platform(s) to support since each platform uses different tools to write native apps. In other words, to support the “big three” mobile OSs, it will require three separate apps built from three separate code bases.

Choosing the Best Approach: Define Your Audience and Check Your Content

As with any decision that revolves around web applications, your target audience should be your first consideration when trying to choose an approach. If your site targets a demographic that is likely to own a particular brand or type of mobile device, it can make your choice easier. However, your decision also must take into account the types of data and services that are available via your site. If, for example, your site is primarily used by engineers during their workday to calculate airflow requirements for HVAC systems, spending time and money on custom mobile sites is probably not a good use of resources. On the other hand, users can often surprise you with the strange uses they can put a site to once given convenient access in the field.

There are obvious differences between the mobile version and standard version of the Domino’s website. Mobile web users will likely take to the mobile version.

On the other end of the mobile-usefulness spectrum, I am astounded at the number of restaurant websites that are completely inaccessible on a mobile device. These sites have a target audience that is highly likely to want to visit their site while using a mobile device, but they don’t take even the most basic steps to allow mobile access. This is a mistake that will make less and less sense as more and more of the world moves to mobile web access.

One final thing to keep in mind when choosing the best approach is that even if your application’s current content is not conducive to access via a mobile device, it may be possible to make the site mobile-friendly by re-designing the interface without actually changing any of the available data. In fact, one of the greatest side effects of making your site more mobile-friendly is that it may become more user-friendly in the process, regardless of device!

Your Mobile Visitors Will Thank You

The future of the web demands that sites are built to be easily accessible, functionally fit, and user-friendly on mobile devices. Users not only want to be able to access information instantly on their mobile devices, but they want to be relieved of the frustration that is tied to poorly developed mobile sites. If your target audience fits into the increasing number of mobile web users, now is the time to consider adopting an approach that best suits their needs. Whether this approach results in a mobile-friendly site, a custom mobile site, or a native app, a mobile version of your site will help to make the web a more compatible environment. This will not only alleviate the pressure to adapt to web mobility in the future, but it will give your mobile visitors another reason to stay.

On Tuesday, October 18th, 2011, I had the warm opportunity to attend a luncheon sponsored by the American Marketing Association to listen to Jeb Banner, the CEO of SmallBox, discuss the future of search engine optimization in the ever-changing, fast-paced world of web marketing.

As someone who understands its increasing importance and value, it was not surprising for me to hear that companies are currently in the middle of a big shift. More and more companies are losing control of their brands while more and more customers are holding the reigns that drive the ideas behind these brands. In other words, companies are no longer the leaders; instead, they are now the ones being led. How did this happen?

The Past and Present

A long, long time ago in the ancient days of the World Wide Web, marketing followed a top-down branding called the shotgun approach. This worked well for its time, but it was quite difficult for companies to measure effectiveness due to a lack of data and metrics. In today’s world, however, companies are implementing a targeted-sniper approach. This approach relies on Google’s search engine rankings to drive data and metrics, which are being aggressively used to measure effectiveness. However, the reliance on Google’s search algorithm had paved the way to an uneven playing field.

One of the most interesting tidbits shared was the details of how some companies were implementing shady SEO practices to increase their Google ranking. One company in particular found a way to increase traffic to its website by giving its customers lousy service. This resulted in an increased number of written reviews (which were obviously negative) that helped to bump up their rank. Suffice to say, this company is no longer in business. It makes one wonder, how does Google circumvent this unethical behavior to ensure that deserving brands are awarded with prime real estate?

Introducing Google Panda

Google responded to this behavior by introducing Panda, a change to their algorithm, to the Internet world in February 2011. This change not allows Google to identify and flag low-quality pages on the Internet, but it also allows them to factor in a new criterion to the ranking methodology: the user experience. Since Google now has the authority to weed out the weak, companies can no longer depend on a bucket list of successful keywords to drive traffic to their website.

So, what is the goal behind Panda? Google has made it pretty clear that they are seeking to reward the deserving brands behind these high-quality websites. This is great news for companies who wish to push their web marketing efforts to the next level. Whether that is a pursing a website redesign, completing a content overhaul, or launching a social media campaign, it is important to understand that at the root of all these efforts – your culture – is what matters the most.

Your Culture is Your Brand

The most important idea I took away from the presentation is that your brand is a reflection of your company’s culture. In order to vocalize your company’s brand effectively, you must start by identifying your culture. It is greatly important to understand what your core values and mission are in order to uncover your brand’s voice. A quote by Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, was shared during the discussion, which I believe rings true to my previous sentiments: “Your brand is a lagging indicator of your culture.” If brand and culture are two sides of the same coin, then they need to be treated like so.

To ensure that your customers are leading your brand down the right path, it is critical to invest in your team and culture. Likewise, it is equally important to build, enforce, and nurture a strong and healthy marketing foundation. A healthy foundation can be achieved through a number of measures, including (but not limited to) creating meaningful content, interacting with your audience, and measuring your influence.

Create Meaningful Content

Even if you develop a stunning website that follows every “best user experience” guideline, if you disregard the creation of meaningful content, your website will lack in quality and will face the wrath of Google Panda’s flagging system. It is becoming increasingly vital for companies to develop content that is not only diverse and consistent, but valuable as well. Storytelling is at an absolute premium right now, so now is the time to share your story and connect with your customers. To ensure that you are opening the doors to conversation, your content should give customers something to talk about, that “something” being whatever engages their brains and/or hearts.

Interact with Your Audience

Have you ever noticed that the best conversations typically occur in the kitchen at parties and get-togethers? You are not the only one to notice this. This observation of the social web was brought up during Mr. Banner’s presentation to emphasize the fact that we need to “go to the kitchens on Internet”. This may mean doing research to discover where the conversation is and what exactly it is about. An effective way to join the conversation is to simply share your content with your audience. Engaging in meaningful conversations through online communities, social media, and hotspot blogs is just one way to develop long-lasting relationships and increase awareness of your brand.

Measure Your Influence

The targeted-sniper approach to web marketing allows you to measure the effectiveness of your efforts through a variety of online tools. Tools such as Klout and Bit.ly allow you to measure online influence, social media metrics, real-time traffic, and analytics data. Even if you are utilizing the best practices for web marketing, it is still important to continually measure and refine the process. If your brand’s voice is not being heard loud and clear by your customers, then now is the perfect opportunity to get them to listen.

The Future: Keeping the Panda Happy

When Google instituted the change in their algorithm, it was understood that the world of search engine optimization would be forever changed. Previously, we had relied on the tricks of the trade to drive the traffic and rank, but now we see that in order to be successful in Google’s world in both the present and future, we need to use and understand the right tools and methods.

Meaningful content, relationships, and data increases the overall quality and experience of your website, which not only makes your customers happy, but Google Panda happy as well. And when Google Panda is happy, your brand will surely be rewarded.

Businesses love buzzwords. Many businesses will change their entire direction, sometimes against their better judgment, in an effort to attain the competitive edge the new “term” will give them. As quickly as trends come and go on the Internet, there simply is not enough time to research these new ideas thoroughly before implementing them. This leaves businesses not necessarily using the best practice or fully utilizing new concepts as they come down the pipes.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is one of these terms that has been spreading like wild fire. To compound the issues mentioned above, SEO is dictated by constantly evolving algorithms that are kept under lock and key by Search Engine companies.

Most people believe that the goal of SEO is to be “number one on Google.” This dogmatic mantra resonates through marketing meetings with cult like fervor. So much so that businesses are at times, losing site of the big picture.

The big picture is: the goal of your business. If your goal is to be number one on Google, then by all means, chant the mantra and go for it. However, most businesses are either offering a service or selling a product. With that in mind, while you are optimizing your site for search engines, make sure you are optimizing your site for customers.

It doesn’t do any good if you have a high rank on Google, but your website drives customers away in droves. Focus just as much on your site’s usability as well as its “findability.” SEO should be just one more tool in your marketing box, getting the same amount of attention as all of the others. An increase in traffic doesn’t equate to an increase in business. It simply increases the OPPORTUNITY to increase business.

While SEO is used in the context of being a magic bullet, know that it isn’t and use it for what it is originally intended and nothing more; and that’s simply making it easier for customers to find your site. The operative word here is “easier.” Not “the only” or the “best;” just easier. SEO, when working with other marketing initiatives will produce great results, but think of your marketing like a race car. When all the parts are functioning properly, the car will be able to stay competitive on the track. But regardless of how much work you put into the engine, your car won’t be going anywhere with flat tires.

Convenience is certainly paramount in most of our lives. We go to Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts before a local coffee shop because there is usually one within a half mile radius. Finding and searching for information is the same; we grab our smartphone or tablet before we grab our computer because, it is convenient. These devices are small mobile information trojans that assuredly connect us to the world wide web, from our pockets. Think about that fact. You have the vastness of almost 14.5 billion pages of information that are accessible by turning on a machine, mind you, that weighs less than a pound. Because of this modern idea of instant gratification inside a fast-paced society we are left with the fact that when it comes to effectively communicating your business online there must be a mobile strategy. This strategy should not venture too far from what your desktop site conveys, it’s the same user-experience customized for different media.

The next few points discuss a few standards when it comes to strategizing your mobile web experience. Most of these should be determined by your specific audience.

1. Content & Target Audience

You already know your target user for your desktop site. The same goes for any mobile site you would like to develop. When and where are your users interacting with your site? What device are they most commonly using? What is relevant to them on a mobile device? These types of questions will ultimately determine the best strategy to begin.

2. Display Size

Galvin develops for the lowest common denominator for desktop screen sizes. Statistically,as of January 2011 desktop users will be on a screen that is as large or larger than 1024px x 768px. For mobile devices screen sizes are much more diverse. Delivering the best possible experience to a mobile devices is to use CSS3 Media Queries. This way we can target different devices be it Android, RIM, Windows or Apple. This administration of specific styles to specific devices is a product of Responsive Web Design and works in most modern browsers.

3. Simplify

On desktops you click, on mobile sites we tap, slide, flick and pinch. With all of these actions navigating around a site needs to be even more simple and intuitive. Prioritizing pages and arranging them based on this priority is key. A quote taken from product designer Luke Wroblewski – “Mobile Forces You To Focus.” This part of a recent article discusses how clients and developers need to decide what data is important and how to best present it to users.

4. Know Capabilities & Limitations

A list of Mobile Best Practices are documented by the W3C. By following these practices you can give a great experience while still giving your users what they need. (Capabilities change as devices change, so know your audience first.)

Capabilities (to name a few)
1. GPS Location
2. User Orientation (compass)
2. Specific User Input
3. HTML5 Video (when appropriate)

Limitations (to name a few)
1. Speed – Lessen time it takes to render extraneous graphics.
2. Scripting & Pluggins – Many mobile browsers don’t support browser pluggins.
3. Technologies – Java, JavaScript, Flash are not supported by all devices.

In conclusion, the mobile web offers companies more opportunities to market their business. With 90% of the worlds population living in a place with mobile access it is more important than ever to be aware of your online market in the mobile space. Users expect their content fast and with a great experience.

A few links to check out:

50 Examples of great mobile sites
Netbiscuit’s 2011 Global Devise Metrics
Slide Presentation on Rethinking The Mobile Web

Making Your Decision

Generally speaking, any of these platforms would work for your application. Be careful when making your decision, however, that you examine other potentially key details about the project. These factors range from where the application will be hosted to what platforms your organization or its partner organizations, best suited to support?

Once these questions are answered, you must also consider the potential future state of your application. What do you want or need it to be in 2, 3, or even 5 years from now? Will it need to integrate to with other technology solutions within your integration? Will it need a mobile presence? These are just two examples of future state considerations and, depending on the nature of your business model and purpose of the application, there could be many more.

Above all, try to avoid subjective discussions about which platforms are better than others. If you’ve properly identified the other key factors to the decision, you’ll be much better suited to make an informed, objective, decision on this potentially business critical decision.

We understand that compiling and understanding all of these factors can be quite a task, but proper project planning is essential to the success of your application development project. Considerations and questions like these are core to that project planning and a key to making your application not only what you want it to be today, but what you’ll need it to be in the future. For more information on this and how to make it happen please give Galvin a call!

A CMS allows people to maintain and edit the content and functionality of their websites easily and efficiently. Many companies do not have an in-house web team and a Content Management System gives them the ability to maintain the site without any previous HTML knowledge. Galvin is releasing a new Content Management System that gives clients a point of access to update news, projects and basic information so that their site will always be evolving and up-to-date. This evolution of content can stem from a basic one-page CMS to a very elaborate module based admin where specific functionality is essential. No-matter what the scale of CMS we can taylor each one to specific needs and goals of the client.

We decided to develop our own Content Management System because of the lack of features of many of the pre-built systems. We can also offer more specific functionality, no-matter how detailed, if a client so requires. These “business rules” create a customized system for each client. If there were any issues with the system, clients are able to get faster customer service with our support team because we built the system from the ground-up.

Our content management system also integrates well with third-party proprietary databases like NetSuite or Salesforce. This allows us to create a complete custom business solution. Our CMS was created with a high quality user-centered interface and a rigorously pre-tested back-end that together make it a very intuitive and solid system. When a client decides that a CMS is what they need it is their’s to keep. Our clients own the CMS, and no matter what changes take place at Galvin they will always be able to update the site.

There are many Content Management Systems on the market but we are able to give our clients a cost effective, intuitive and solid system that we can taylor to any project’s requirements and goals.