Biologically speaking, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) would be a mutant. An ever changing species, SEO has undergone an evolution that would require exposure to radiation to duplicate in nature. Swift changes and adaptations necessitate dedication, and constant development of knowledge, to continually produce effective campaigns. Initially, the techniques used for SEO were like blunt instruments compared to the subtle and precise skills currently in demand. Keyword stuffing, link farming, and the implementation of SEO as an afterthought to interactive marketing campaigns were all too commonplace during the development of SEO. Currently, the skills required are more delicate and exact, but still bear a relation to their pre-evolution counterparts.
If SEO, in its current form, had to be defined by two words, those words would be 'relevant' and 'organic'. Instead of creating a web page that has the keyword repeated as many times as possible on the page, included in the meta tags, and serving as the anchor text of any links to the page, rich descriptive content that users want to read is in demand. Naturally occurring keywords are necessary, those that don't appear as though the sentence is written around them. While focusing on keywords in... Read more
Archive for April, 2010
Don't Become an SEO Dinosaur
Brand to consumers: Stop being so gullible
If you spend any reasonable amount of time as a brand marketer, at some point you're going to find yourself in the position of having to defend your company against a rumor. And sometimes these rumors can be unfounded -- even absurd. But that's not to say people out there don't believe them. After all, they read it -- it must be true.
This is precisely the situation yogurt maker Danone found itself in with regard to its Actimel brand in Argentina. Months ago, a viral email began circulating that pointed readers to a site claiming that Actimel was addictive, destroyed the stomach's natural flora, and could harm children. The story spread online like wildfire.
So what did the brand do? It fought viral with viral -- and spread some rumors of its own, reports Ad Age. In addition to a responsive TV commercial and one-on-one blogger outreach, the company and its local digital agency, Sinus, decided to show people how easy it was to spread rumors online. The brand launched a rumor-creation website that allowed visitors to generate their own fibs in the form of fake news headlines, personalized with photos, and send them to their friends. The takeaway... Read more
Reviewing the Current Online Advertising Economic Models
On the heels of the recent merger of Connexus Corporation (Traffic Marketplace) and Epic Advertising, I would like to discuss the merits of each of the current online advertising pricing models. Years ago, sales teams and media buyers used a simple model where ad inventory for print or broadcast television were normally sold on a Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) basis, against a rate base and rate card. Once the rate was negotiated, the deal was culminated in the ad being placed. With the recent rapid growth in online advertising, we have entered an era where the "click" and "action" were introduced as an added means of payment and campaign measurement. Let's review how each pricing model is used and our predictions for the future of online advertising pricing models.
Cost Per Action (CPA): Initially, this pricing model was seen as the truest form of online direct response advertising. CPA was the also the closest comparison to direct mail, and therefore attractive to the large number of DR-focused advertisers on the web. CPA provides little financial risk to advertisers as they only pay the publisher, network or exchange for a quantifiable action (usually in the form of a sale, subscription, download... Read more
