Archive for January, 2012

Jan 27 2012

Google+ Search Personalisation

Published by Andrey under Social Media Marketing

The internet, and search in particular, has been moving through a new social phase in recent history. Google’s most recent initiative Search, plus Your World is taking this trend even further.

Google have made attempts to personalise search before, but this time it will deeply integrate Google+ Social Network with Google Search making it essential for businesses to review their social strategy, create a Google+ business profile and put some effort into its maintenance.

Search, plus Your World isn’t going to just present user with personalised content from Google+, but also take into account users Circles, Contacts and interests. Google’s “integration strategy” really stands out when taking into account the recent announcement, regarding merging privacy policies and terms of service for 60 individual products into one all-encompassing document that will lead to even deeper integration of search and Google+, along with other Google products. The updated policy will take effect in March this year, and will basically make all the content accessible across all the Google services. This, in line with the fact that from now on, each new Google account will be automatically joined to Google+ network, suggests that there is no avoiding using Google+ after all.

But let’s get back to Search, plus Your World.You can check original post here on the Official Google Blog, but briefly, the 3 new features being rolled out are: Personal Results, that will deliver personalised content from Google+ along with the usual web search output. Personalised content will include posts, photos, and videos from Google+ both private and public. This certainly does put enabling SSL encryption for search last year into perspective.

Google, plus Your World

Second and third features are really about the same thing; that is easier access to Google+ profiles. Profiles in Search, both on SERP and in autocomplete, will allow instantly find people interested in the topic. This is however not the only way Google is going to integrate Google+ Pages with search. People and Pages block on SERP, with a list of Google+ profiles closely related to the topic.

Google realise that sometimes this innovation may not be something users are looking for, so they allow users toggle Search, plus Your World on and off with just one click.

Google, plus Your World

There has been a lot of discussion going on whether it is a good direction for Google to take or is it just a way for Google to abuse their web dominance and exert an in-house social network on users. This way or another, all those new features announced by Google are really about one thing – deeper integration with Google+. This adds yet another dimension to Online Strategy of any business. Going further, it will become harder and harder to rely solely on conventional SEO and SEM. In short, the landscape of online interaction is changing and businesses are forced to change their websites to reflect this (e.g. including social element to the content) and more importantly create new content that adds value and is interesting and useful for customers.

First Rate have already started to identify how Google+ can help improve clients results. Contact us for information about how we can help you optimise this new, essential marketing channel.

*Images and video from Search, plus Your World

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Jan 18 2012

The similarities between SEM and Electronic Direct Marketing (eDM)

Published by George under Email Marketing, Search Engine Marketing

When thinking about the relationship between Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Electronic Direct Marketing (eDM), the first thing that comes to my mind is a scene from Austin Powers where, (bear with me for a moment!), Doctor Evil throws to Austin that very quotable line:

“We’re not so different you and I”

This is true between SEM and eDM also!

SEM and eDM are more similar than different, including being different portals with a common goal or objective.

There are several key similarities between the attributes of effective SEM and effective eDM.

1.    Both operate in challenging environments.

Paid ads exist in an environment where there is a lot of information to compete against, so ads have to be clever and work to get the user’s attention.  Email is not quite the same, the user is in automatic mode as opposed to an engaged mode, but eDMs also have to be clever and to work to get the reader’s attention.  There’s little difference between fighting to get the attention of an engaged user against competing ads and information, and fighting to get the attention of semi-disengaged user against other emails and lifestyle factors.  The best strategy is one that works for both: short and high impact…

2.    Both work best when kept sharp

Paid Search ads have no choice but to be succinct and high-impact.  E-mail marketing doesn’t have the same restrictions, but it could work better if it did.  Often, the best performing eDMs are akin to best performing SEM ads – simple, concise, and high-impact.

3.    A strong singular theme works best.

Paid Search ads work best when they stick to a singular theme – that’s a given in the world of SEM.  Likewise, eDMs usually work best when they too stick to a singular theme, and convey this with quick impact much like a paid ad does.  If you have more than one theme or uncomplimentary themes it is best to split these up into separate eDMs or separate ad groups.

4.    Same Attributes/Elements, or Building Blocks

Catchy heading, Engaging copy, easy link to a website.  Sound familiar?  It doesn’t just optimise Paid Search ads, but eDMs too.  An eDM’s subject line is like a paid ad’s headline, the body copy is like a paid ad’s description lines, and text buttons like a paid ad’s display URL.  E-mail marketing just has the luxury of being able to utilise a few more elements, most notably images and multiple URLs.  Its structure though can essentially be seen as a more developed paid ad.

5.    Drive click-throughs and conversions

Both paid ads and eDMs essentially share the same core three objectives, either to drive: impressions (exposure), clicks, or conversions.  Both formats are to be clicked by the viewer, and to take the viewer to the website to complete some type of action.  The two channels just go about this through different media, but utilising common attributes effectively.

6.    Both benefit from testing

Paid Search ads are an on-going marketing initiative, whereas eDMs are generally one-off, so paid ads have the advantage of constant testing that eDMs don’t.  An eDM can and should have its ‘subject line plus sender name’ combination tested for large database sends.  Here, several combinations are formulated, and a given number of emails are sent out using each combination.  Whichever subject line and sender name has the best results is used to send the large remainder of the send.  This is important, because subject line and sender name is the first contact a user has with the eDM, and determines whether the email is opened or not.  Even a modest improvement can translate into a massive performance increase in large-scale sends.

7.    Segmentation

Both Paid Search ads and eDMs can, and should, use some degree of segmentation to increase return on investment.  Paid Search ads do this through account and campaign settings and keywords, whereas eDMs use database filters.  Either way, they’re different ways of accomplishing the common task of reaching the most relevant target audience.

Similarities abound, but what should be taken away is that search engine marketers unwittingly know more about electronic direct marketing than is realised.  In fact, an SEM specialist’s contribution to an eDM campaign would be valuable in keeping the communication strong and performance-focused and results-driven.

Likewise, an Electronic Direct Marketer can understand SEM as a similar product to email marketing, just much simpler and on-going.

So next time someone talks SEM or eDM, have the confidence of knowing that the two areas are fundamentally very similar.  So whichever of these challenges you’re facing, there’s no doubt that you’ll have what it takes to save the day; much like the international man of mystery himself!

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Jan 11 2012

Making Sweet Music with WordPress 3.3

Published by Daniel under SEO

Sonny Wordpress 3.3

Sonny Stitt – image from Flickr

With the launch of WordPress 3.3 end of last year we wanted to provide an overview of the updates in the new version and some general tips on blog optimisation that apply. First Rate recommends WordPress due to its ease of use and the availability of intuitive SEO-friendly plugins.

According to the WordPress site there has been over 65 million downloads since version 3.0 was released and an approximate 14 million downloads of version 3.2 alone. Version 3.3 has been named “Sonny” after Jazz musician Sonny Stitt.

What’s new in 3.3

The founder of WordPress said in September 2009 “The only thing that I can promise will keep your blog secure today, and in the future, is upgrading.” (http://WordPress.org/news/2009/09/keep-WordPress-secure/).

WordPress Version 3.3 offers the following enhancements:

  • A reworked welcome screen with a cleaner layout
  • Feature pointers to provide easy to understand explanations of specific functionality
  • Significant improvements to menu navigation including fly-out functionality
  • Intuitive contextual help
  • Drag-and-drop uploader for adding media files
  • A new Toolbar menu including the old (and more cumbersome) dashboard header and admin bar
  • Ipad optimisation with touch support
  • A Tumblr importer
  • A more intuitive co-editing experience

We welcome the significant developments that the version promises and look forward to working more closely with some of the features. Three point three certainly sounds more intuitive than recent versions, which notably involved some seriously unintuitive navigation. But time will tell how significant these developments really are for the blogger.

We would like to hear your experiences using the new version including any notable improvements you’ve experienced, or issues with the transition process that you can share.

Our Top 5 Blog Optimisation Tips

In the sprit of getting the most out of your WordPress blog, here are our top 5 optimisation tips.

  1. Get your on-page SEO up to scratch: a good blog should either be an extension of your existing website (for company blogs) or a top notch stand-alone offering. As such all the usual suspects should be present on each page: Title tags, meta descriptions, H1 heading tags and image alt attributes. Intuitive SEO plugins are available to help you with this process of ensuring consistency throughout the site
  2. Work smarter with Permalinks: permalinks is the name sometimes given to rewritten URLs. Update your settings to ensure you get your post title right into the URL as yet another signal to the search engines on what each page is about
  3. Deliver when your audience peaks: for starters get Google Analytics installed if you don’t already have it! The easiest way to do this is using a Google Analytics plugin and there are several excellent options available. Once you have analytics data available, work out when your audience peaks each week and publish your content accordingly
  4. Create content for your readers, not Googlebot: this tip gets thrown out there a lot, but it’s worth repeated as a vital ingredient to successful user engagement. Find the right balance – we suggest writing great content first (with your users in mind) and then optimising it for SEO purposes later (where possible)
  5. Gently fan the flames of user interaction: a good blog will attract returning visitors. Part of engaging users is allowing them to interact within your blog’s micro-community by leaving comments – however we do suggest moderation of these.

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