It’s that time of year again!  As 2011 draws to a close and you prepare for your 2012 web marketing strategy, there’s no better time to evaluate your organization’s most powerful marketing tool: your website.
 
Join us on Thursday, December 8 at 10:30am PST for a sneak peak into the 2012 web design landscape. If you're looking for insight into which website design trends can engage your visitors and help you meet your business goals in 2012, this webinar is a must-see!

Register now to reserve your spot - we hope to see you all there!

Many of you have heard of Google's recent
update to its search algorithm.
The search algorithm change has caused
quite a stir in the SEO space, and many marketers (some of which are undoubtedly
daunted by the mere mention of the word 'algorithm') are still trying to figure out
what exactly the update means for their business.

We're joined today by Dan Biggs, Digital Strategist at Station X Communications. Dan, the ever-talented (but always humble!) SEO expert will take us through the ins and outs of Google's search algorithm updates.

M: There has been a lot of buzz lately around Google’s change to its search algorithm – Dan, can you explain what is involved in the update?

D: The first recent change was called "Panda" and was rolled out around the world in April 2011. The main target of the Panda update was to try to reduce what they consider "webspam" - an entire team at Google is focused on this, because relevancy of their search results is of utmost importance. It's true, in my opinion, that their results were becoming bogged down with less-than valuable results. The algorithm change tries to get rid of sites that are considered "content farms", sites that use various methods to post tons of content and flood the results -using scrapers, distributed editorial teams and all sorts of other strategies. Huffington Post, Demand Media and sites like that are well known ones. Here's a video that illustrates their technique: http://youtu.be/s6q7np6cya0.

The most recent update in the Panda saga took place on November 18, and it could be argued that while it's not as fundamental a change as the one back in April, it has more significant impact as it affects about 35% of searches. Google has indicated that they've given more value to pages covering hot topics and very recent events. Basically, sites that provide the most up-to-date information about any topic will get more prominence. Of course this only applies to sites that pay the cost of entry by being considered "high-quality" by the Google algorithm which means that content farms would theoretically be disqualified from manipulating this. This isn't that new, because Google's had what they call QDF or Query Deserved Freshness for a few years now, so this update is working to refine that and place more importance on freshness.

M: How might this update have an impact on marketers?

D: It's a pretty exciting time right now in the SEO world, and things are changing very fast with social search, Bing's growing market share, Google's algorithm updates and lots of other developments. If a marketer is serious about SEO, they're going to already be well aware that fresher is better when it comes to anything on the web. Googlebot loves shiny objects. It's been the case for years that if you update your site more often, Googlebot will visit you more often. Nothing has changed there, except maybe now Googlebot will be visiting a bit more often. I think this is definitely going to have a negative impact on marketers that aren't working to develop fresh and interesting content. Their SEO may have suffered before, but it's going to be much worse now.

M: Could you provide some quick tips and tactics that marketers can use to update their SEO/content strategies to leverage the update for their benefit?

D: I'd start by getting a solid content strategy and some sort of owned media platform if you don't already have one, whether it's a news section or a blog on your site. Nobody with a static site that doesn't get updated at least once a day is going to benefit from this update.

M: If there’s one piece of advice you could leave with our readers, what would it be?

D: Google built their vast market share because of one thing - relevancy. If your site is frequently pushing out high value content that's relevant to your business, Google will reward you by sending Googlebot to your site to spider it. They'll continue to punish sites for being lazy, scraping and churning content from other sources on the web. My advice is to build a content strategy, and get fresh and relevant content flowing. There's a great little book by Erin Kissane that I recommend reading - it's called The Elements of Content Strategy.

M: Thanks for the insight, Dan! Any closing thoughts?

D: If you want to learn about SEO and stay current with Google's search tools and algorithms, you should also subscribe to the Google Search Team blog.

Thanks to everyone who attended our latest webinar, "7 Tips to Get More Leads from Your Website". We had a great group in attendance!

Our hosts, Dan Biggs, Digital Strategist at Station X Communications and Adam Koebel, Client Success Specialist at Marqui, provided their insights into the world of online lead generation, exploring 7 simple tactics to help you get more leads from your website.

Here are the 7 tips:

1. Know What Your Current Situation Is
2. Know What Your Visitors Want
3. Make a Good First Impression
4. Build Strong Content and Update it Frequently
5. Control the Conversion Path
6. Cast Your Net Over Multiple Channels
7. Experiment and Test

If you'd like to know more, check out the full webinar here.

We also had a few outstanding questions:

Jeff, you had a question about suggestions for a good resource on industry benchmark data. It's a great question - as it stands currently, eMarketer is one of the most valuable resources for industry trends and benchmarks, although you do have to pay for a subscription. It's definitely a great investment though, check them out here.  

Edward, you had a question about LinkedIn, and whether or not it's the best online network for B2B. The answer is both yes and no, depending on your business and your offering. As an example, our blog is arguably one of our strongest social platforms, as we deliver easily consumable and sharable pieces of proprietary content. However, a business that specializes in more knowledge-aggregating functions might find Twitter to be the most valuable social platform for their business, as it allows you to easily share links and headlines from other sources. Essentially, the best way to determine if a social network will be effective for your business is to experiment and test its level of success. Those who attended the webinar were undoubtedly ignited by Adam's passion on this topic - testing and experimentation are two of the most valuable tools any marketer can have!

We hope this helps answer your questions, and we look forward to seeing you all again at the next webinar, which will be held on Thursday, December 8, 2011 from 10:30-11:30 AM PST. The topic is "Top Website Design Trends for 2012", and if there's one webinar to attend before you begin your holiday festivities, this is the one! Stay tuned as we reveal more details closer to the date.

Since its rising popularity,
Facebook has often been the
target of concerns around online privacy. In the spirit of transparency, and undoubtedly in hopes of placating its critics, Facebook engineering director Arturo Bejar has recently shared what personal information the company retains with its tracking cookies, as reported by USA Today.
 
When logged in:
Facebook will keep a time-stamped list of the URLs visited and pair it with the user's name, e-mail address, list of friends, user preferences, IP address, screen resolution, operating system, and browser.
 
When logged out:
Everything except a user's name, list of friends, and preferences. Instead, it uses a unique alphanumeric number to track users like a cookie. Even though Facebook isn't tracking users' entire browsing history, there are a lot of sites out there with "Like" and "Share" buttons. Bejar mentioned that Facebook has the ability to link users' names to their logged-out browsing data, but they make a specific point not to do this.
 
Naturally, these facts stirred up some concern and debate, but Facebook has revealed its strategic rationale for tracking data. Security is one, as tracking logs helps Facebook pinpoint fake accounts. Enhanced user experience is another, along with increasingly targeted ads. Facebook revealed that it does not use tracking logs, but instead uses the profile information and "likes", as voluntarily disclosed by Facebook users, to display targeted ads.

Although this information sparked controversy for some, others see Bejar's revelation as a necessary move towards increased transparency around Facebook's data tracking practices. Even more broadly, it alludes to the conflicting pressures that Facebook continues to face as it navigates its way through the need for profitability amid industry controversy around online privacy.

If you're a B2B company, LinkedIn’s network is the ideal platform to connect your business to over 120 million professionals. Here are five ways you can improve your company’s presence and begin increasing your lead flow.

1. Use Your Company Profile More Effectively

   LinkedIn recently added company status updates which work similarly to Facebook’s Wall feature. It’s now possible to post videos, news articles, industry articles, promotions and many other different kinds of content. These status updates are sent out over your company’s followers' networks, resulting in a vast reach.

2. Recruit Staff via LinkedIn

   Posting jobs and taking applications through LinkedIn helps to raise your company’s profile on the network and allows your company to stay connected with potential employees. For recruiters and talent scouts, the ability to view a candidate’s referrals, recommendations, experience and network is also extremely valuable.

3. Go Team!

   Encourage your company’s employees to complete their LinkedIn profiles as much as possible, follow your company page, and help them list their current position with the correct company name, so that their profile will be listed on your page. You can also power up your blog’s reach by encouraging your employees to connect your company’s blog to their profile through the TypePad BlogLink application.

4. Start an Invite-Only Group

   Joining professionals with common interests related to your company’s field and fostering discussion can help to build relationships and network with a well-targeted audience. Building active groups can also help to develop your organization’s strategy and market knowledge.

5. Use Ads and Capture Leads

   Even though LinkedIn company pages are a great headquarters for your business on LinkedIn, they’re not yet customizable enough to function as effective landing pages.  If your company’s goal is to capture a lead from a LinkedIn ad, it’s best to send the visitor to a form that allows them to provide their contact information.

If you have any other tips or tactics for using LinkedIn for lead generation, post them here!

The importance of great content cannot be
overstated. Without content, there is no
marketing. Period.

So what is content marketing? To make things simple, let's start with what it's not:
 
Copy. 
Advertorial.
Spam (we had to say it!)

Think of content marketing as a method of
creating and distributing content of value to your customers and prospects. The guiding principle behind content marketing is the belief that by offering relevant, meaningful content, businesses can build their brand integrity, loyalty and eventually, their customer base. What channels can content marketing encompass? Your website, whitepapers, webinars, blogs, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter - the list goes on. 

Many companies recognize the importance of content marketing, but feel daunted or confused about where to begin. Creating content doesn't have to be a burden - it can be incredibly rewarding, and a great way to foster contribution amongst various departments in your organization. Setting yourself up for success in content marketing involves building the right infrastructure to support content creation.

Here are some tips and tricks to help get you started in your content marketing strategy:

1.   Find Your Editor 

You need to create a content marketing process that works for your organization, one that ensures timely, relevant content in support of your business objectives. When it comes to content creation, envision your company as a traditional print magazine: the best place to begin is to build an editorial calendar, one which lays out all the hot topics your audience would find value in reading and sharing. Be sure to also incorporate any special “ad hoc” events or promotions planning into the calendar.

Don't forget seasonality! Framing your content around milestone holidays can provide instant relevance to your customers.

2.   Get the Right People Involved - Look Inside

Before you think about outsourcing your content creation, look to those within your company. You may be surprised at the number of fantastic writers around you!  Or, at the very least, you will discover those with lots of great ideas who can contribute to your content plan. If you find at least one avid Tweeter, you will already be in a better place to start building your content marketing strategy. This is where your company's subject matter experts (i.e product developers) and customer-facing staff can really thrive. They are the ones with the deepest insight into what you are selling and who you are selling to, including their concerns, interests and priorities.

Find a way to reward these people for their involvement! It can be a prize, or even just bragging rights for the most-visited blog post. Either way, take a note from those gamification gurus and give your colleagues playful incentives to contribute. Also, getting a sense of where everyone's interests lie will help them find fun in the process - some people love Tweeting, others love taking photos - capitalize on people's interests and that passion will translate through into your final product.

3.   Look Outside

Leverage the voices of your customer into your content marketing plan - let them be your ambassadors! For example, if you have some really vocal customers or fans on any of your social media, invite them to help produce content for you. Case in point: MTV did this in 2010 with their search to find a Twitter "jockey".

4.   Use Variety

They call it the spice of life for a reason! Experiment with the types of content you produce. Enlist the help of your creative department to produce unique, highly-valued infographics, and link to relevant audio and videos (think interviews!) Not only will your audiences be instantly drawn in, it makes your content easy to distribute across platforms and channels, reaching more people.

5.    Don't Launch and Leave

Monitor your blog comments and social media sites and keep your responses timely - the more active you are in responding, the more willing your readers and followers will be to engage in dialogue with your business. Don't forget to make it share-able by implementing social sharing plug-ins to your blog.

Following these simple tips and tricks, your organization will be in a much better position to build a sound process, with opportunities to evolve your content marketing strategy over time.

To finish off, here are some useful quotes about content marketing. Hopefully you find them as inspiring as we do!