So, without further ado I will explain how to use Twitter Search to increase
followers and potential customers.
How to Use Twitter Search to Increase Followers and Potential Customers
*You want to find people who are talking about or asking questions about
your Niche. For this example we will use DVD Players…. as if you run a DVD
Player Business.*
Go to Twitter Search and enter "DVD-Players" into the box (without
the quotes around it). Press enter. It will look something like:
Read through the Realtime results for dvd-players and see if there is anybody
asking questions that you can answer. Or, perhaps just have a conversation
with one of the tweople. Remember that Twitter is not about one side talks,
but instead it Twitter
should be a conversation.
Here are some examples of some of the tweets the tweople left and possible
replies you could leave in response to them. This will give you an idea of
how to have a conversation with them. And also how to use Twitter Search to
answer questions and as part of the customer service end of your business.
Examples of How to Use Twitter Search to Increase Followers
Below is a really cool tweet. Yes, there isn’t a question to answer, but
I bet you could come up with something cute that would make you stand out.
Something that will cause @ladybugbows
to follow you. How about this???
Reply with something cute to get their attention like, "A family
that has their own DVD Players Stays Together".
Here is a really great chance to make a person from Twitter into a customer….
Offer a Coupon Code:
Straight forward questions need straight forward answers.
Just as if you were handling customer service at your place of business, answer
questions via phone calls or emails… Twitter
can be a medium that you can handle customer service as well. Answer questions
where you can and become known as a Specialist in your field.
If you know something that others don’t know share your knowledge. This
tweeter’s DVD Player lost his power cord due to a hungry pet….. he needs
help. Can you help?
But, what if you knew something that could help? Offer the tip or suggestions….
you might even get a sale from it.
And that is pretty much it. See how easy that is and yet Twitter Search
can be super powerful way to not only increase your Twitter Followers, but to
increase your Customers.
I was fortunate enough to attend the Information Architecture Session at IM
Spring Break and I’m so glad I did. This session was another brilliant one
as the panel consisted of Steve
Plunkett, Todd
Malicoat and Carolyn Shelby.
For those of you who don’t already know…. Information Architecture is the
way a website is organized to make it user-friendly as well as search-friendly. You want users
to not only easily discover the site, but be able to follow the information
on the site so they can easily get to their ultimate destination. Without the
proper information architecture you might be bringing the wrong kind of viewers
to the website. Or, you might be getting the right type of viewers, but they
can’t locate what they need once they get there. Could you imagine a viewers
frustration if this happened? Trust me…. they would never come back once they
have those kind of struggles on your site.
A bad information architecture outcome can be virtual suicide for any website,
but with the help of this amazing panel they have brought us all one step closer
to Information Architecture Nirvana. So, without further ado…. here
is what went down at the Information Architecture Session at IM Spring Break.
First up was Steve Plunkett
Steve spoke about Information Architecture and how it affected Search.
The three categories that he went into detail about was…
Collected Data Structure
Search Evolved: File Management – DAO ( Digital Asset Optimization )
Conversions and Forms
Collected Data Structure
Domain authority
Directories, flash and filenames (see Digital Asset Optimization)
Activity within record, references, file changes, relocations.
Bounce rate (www/email/groups)
Segmentation
Search Evolved: File Management & Digital Asset Optimization
Steve when into great detail talking about the fact that Search has changed.
No longer is it just about optimizing a website, but also other digital assets
such as….
PDFs - There are 25 fields in .pdf that you can optimize for Google.
Spreadsheets
Feeds - RSS Segmentation
Social profiles
employee cost
personality research
Video/flash
Podcasts
Whitepapers
Games/widgets
Images
Analytical challenges
** Steve pointed out that EVERYTHING you do points back to domain
name. Name all of your files, images, PDF’s with keywords and domain name.
Conversions and Forms
Conversion paths - users answer questions in a form and then they land
on a page that delivers tailored content to their specific answers.
Conversion reporting
Email database
Things to Remember
Help search engines find your site by building your website in a search
friendly data structure
Leverage content by optimizing digital assets
All search results are not created equal. Always keep the end in mind (conversions)
to provide value for SER
Next up is Todd Malicoat
As far as Information architecture goes Todd Malicoat gave us some awesome
tips for two different types of websites: The Blog and the eCommerce site….
Blog
Use snippets - Instead of having the entire post on the
front page Todd suggests using just snippets. This way there is no duplicate
content on the site.
link to your best posts - Put a section on your blog that
lists your "best of" posts.
funnel pagerank and anchor text
automated internal linking - Automated internal linking
keeps pages themed and helps older posts. Related Posts plugin for WP helps
to automate the improvement of building an internal link structure
Tag clouds - Not always great to use - dupe content and
dilutes link pop
eCommerce
Link to top selling products - home page, every page, body
Use another word other than "Home" for the Home page….
such as the name of your product.
French Fry Pages - These type of pages offer little value
and dilute link population (such as the privacy policy page)
sitemaps- These work great for very large sites work well.
They help funnel the juice.
Todd explains that search engines aren’t as smart as some might think….
"Search engines are smart…but not that smart. You really want to spoon
feed them the information you want them to have."
Next up was Carolyn shelby
Carolyn talks about how to determine the best architecture model for
our needs….
All in One - everything on the homepage
Flat - all pages peers, every one accessible from each
Hub and Spoke (Daisy) - useful for multiple, distinct linear
workflows
Strict Hierarchy - lower-level pages can only be accessed
via its parent
Multi-Dimensional Hierarchy - many way of browsing to the
same content
Content Creation - Create an outline (Yes, a real outline)
- She mentions if you don’t know how to do an outline you really
need to go back to school to learn. It is just that important.
define the site topic
Do keyword research - pay attention to the phraseology
that your audience uses; pay attention to most common search phrases; explore
your niche to get ideas for additional topics.
Mingle with the peasants - interview customer service,
talk to sales people who deal with the public, read consumer reviews (online,
offline, wherever), talk to non-your-industry people about your topic. This
where you can get some of the best and clear ideas.
Some tips that Carolyn mentions…
Remember we are not Normal - Carolyn mentions that due
to the industry we are in and the experience we have in search …. "We
are not normal…we do not search like regular people…we’ve been touched…"
So, in order to remedy this we need to think outside of the box when it comes
to Content Creation and Research.
Check your 404 logs to see what people are typing in as
a "guess". This can help identify the terms the site’s audience
uses.
Don’t forget the Logs - As far as Keyword Research goes
Carolyn says, "Keep track of internal site search logs. Look for clues
in access logs."
Keyword Research Tool - She also mentions a great site
to use to get keywords is SeedKeywords.
Don’t forget to Think outside of the Box - Carolyn even
mentions that she has even used a more nontraditional method to this that
really works. She has her daughter’s friends come over and then she asks
them, "If you were to search for "such & such"
how would you go about finding information on that?" And,
without offering them any help she watches what they enter into search to
find the information on that topic. She watches step by step how they go about
getting information on that topic. Here she gets a real clear
answer on how some people might search for a certain topic.
It was another awesome session at IM Spring Break. Steve, Todd and Carolyn
gave us a bunch of really terrific information to insure our success with Information
Architecture. Remember, it is your job to make sure that when readers or users
come to your website they can quickly find the information they are looking
for. One way to lose a user forever is to make finding what they want
difficult. Follow the suggestions and tips this amazing panel gave you… and
you will be on your way to information architecture bliss.
The IM Business panel at IM
Spring Break was one of the most anticipated sessions at IM Spring Break.
Apparently, it was a favorite from Scary
SEO and they were asked to come back and speak again. However, there was
one minor change….. Tony
Adam was going to speak on the panel along with Christopher
Hart and Pamela Lund.
I’m sure Tony must have been a little nervous…. after all there was a lot
to live up to. As a matter of fact, Christopher Hart pointed out to me that
Tony wouldn’t even be considered to be part of this "team" officially
until he passed the test…. the test being making his session rock. Tony was
being put on the “Chris Hart probationary period” until he proved himself worthy
of this Internet Marketing Dream Team made up of Christopher Hart and Pamela
Lund.
So, here is how this session went down. Read on to find out if Tony Adam rocked
his session and passed his probationary period.
Chris Hart Begins
Corporate Evolution
Maturing of the proposal process
Many views are represented from the start
Most important is the C-Class Executive, Buy-in from the top Down - "C-class"
being Chief Whatever (CEO, CIO, CFO, etc…) The Chief Whatever
needs to be part of it from the very beginning.
How Budgets have changed
SEO, SEM, PPC, SMM, SMO and any other A-E-I-O-U styled acronyms were additional
budget line items.
Those who embrace change are rewarded those that fight the change will lose
out.
SEO, SEM, PPC, SMM, SMO are not specific projects…. They are all part
of the business and effort.
Costs
Services are not driven through menu selection
Return on investment is not calculated with a formula
Just as wild animals such as the Cicada, Elephant and Blue Whales have metamorphasized
to adapt to the World around them to ensure their survival…. we have to do
the same as well. Those who embrace change will be rewarded. Those who don’t
adapt and instead fight change will have to find new jobs.
Chris reminds us It’s not a big ticket item, it’s all
of the things that happen behind the scenes.
Bottom Line….
The old Corporate no longer works … SEO, SEM, PPC, SMM, SMO needs to be considered
from the start….. before anything begins. Corporate evolution requires it
all to be part of the entire strategy from the very beginning.
Pamela Lund up next
In the beginning
Be confident when quoting
Give realistic expectations
Educate your clients
During the project
Over communicate
Prioritize tasks to appear more productive
Use a project management system
Ongoing communication
Assume nothing
Document verbal communication
Schedule meetings intelligently
Don’t pretend results are good if they aren’t
Don’t lie
**If you lie you will get caught. If they check on something that you
had said with another marketer that marketer will be more than happy to throw
you under the bus.**
If it hits the fan
Have someone else you can bring in
Don’t use accusatory statements
Don’t get angry or raise your voice
Be prepared to walk away (aka firing clients)
Tony Adams is up next
You want people to get excited about what you are doing.
Step 1: understand the culture - Pay attention to the culture
of an organization.
Step 2: Personalities - There are many different personalities.
The "always angry"; the "combative type"; the "know
it all type; the "disapproving type"…. Tony says you want this.
Step 3: Listen - There are always deadlines…. Everything
will always will be urgent!!
Step 4: Relationships - Create relationships and partnerships
- make meaningful connections. Get yourself some BFF’s!!
Step 5: Get Involved! Make sure to get involved in every
meeting you can.
Step 6: Influencing - This is where your chops don’t mean
a thing!! Take a break and knock one back!!
Tony being the amazing person he is….. makes sure to have plenty of
Beers for everyone attending this session proving his "take a break
and knock one back!!" is an important part of the process.
This is where the high fives come in!!
Step 7: Provide the resources necessary - provide the tools
necessary to succeed! Create SEO Guidelines, create avenues of sharing your
knowledge.
Step 8 make sure they play by the rules - Review, Review,
Review. Pretend you are QA and make sure they play by the rules.
Step 9: continue the evangelism. You now have buy in and
relationships. Keep them happy. show them the numbers…show them the results.
Keeps them happy.
If you take anything away… relationship + influence and persuading
= it will get you there.
Wow!! I’m sure I don’t have to explain to you that not only did Tony pass his
probation period per Chris and Pamela, but he NAILED it!! He was amazing as
was Chris and Pamela. They are and will forever be the Internet Marketing Dream
Team in my book. It was another amazing session at IM Spring Break.
If you wanted to know how to use Build a Brand Using Social Media
then this session was the one to attend. Jeff
Quipp, Brian Chappell
and Li Evans
were an amazing combo…. Together they were the perfect mixture of How-to,
tips, suggestions, visuals….. absolutely all the facts needed to give you
a good start in Branding.
Jeff Quipp discussed the How-to’s of branding by going into great detail on
what Social Media can do for Branding. Brian Chapell added his thoughts and
tips on monitoring your brand and Li Evans finished off this amazing session
on Building a Brand with video and photo sharing.
All three speakers made sure to cover everything from the most basic to more
complex. They gave us the social media recipe to whip up the best branding dish
for any company…. large or small.
Here how it all went down…
First up was Jeff Quipp
Define Your Brand - How do you want your Brand to stand out?
Many Businesses often wonder what Social Media can do for them. Jeff did a
really great job at explaining this in great detail.
Social Media Helps….
Create awareness of the Brand
Communicate the Company’s / Product’s Key Messages
Instill trust in the brand
Naturally propagate the crafted message(s)
He goes on to explain the 3 Steps to Branding via Social Media
List the Key Messages
Determine the best content formats to convey your messages
(video, audio, text)
Craft the content - Must support the key messages you wish
to convey…. at least for branding purposes.
Some ways to do this….
"just in time" blogging
make the news- do something sensational!
resource/educational posts
the message must reflect positively on the company!!!
Determine the best Social Media to Employ
Test the Content
If the Key is in getting others to carry the chosen messages forward….
test it first (if its not news)
StumbleUpon Ads
Refine content and retest
Using the solicited feedback, refine the content. Retest, again soliciting
feedback.
Network to Promote
Get involved in the chosen social media
start befriending others and promoting their GOOD content
Be sure to promote good content!!!
Seek out key influencers and particularly support their stuff.
Brian Chappell was up next
Brian immediately reminds us that "You have to make sure you know your
target audience…. otherwise you are wasting your time. Social Media is not
a salt shaker. You can’t apply social media marketing tactic onto regular strategies
to see success. Social media can not be an after thought…. has to be thought
of at the core of marketing initiatives."
You need to be creative…. there is no cookie cutter approach
to Social Media.
Brian urges us to extend our brand off of our site…. secure names elsewhere
so no one tarnishes our brand. He suggests Streko’s site CheckUserNames.com
as a good place to do this.
Must Monitor & Interact in Real time
Social Monitoring Benefits:
Product Development
Customer Service
SEO / Marketing Initiatives
Monitor your Competition
Don’t forget about SEO
Empower your customers - Let them build the ad, create your
idea and implement new product offerings.
Next up was Li Evans
Building a brand through Social Media - Through Video & Photo Sharing
I love that Li went into using Video & Photo Sharing to build a brand through
Social Media. For someone like me who is very visual I can understand the importance
of branding this way.
Li starts with, "So you have serps and links….now what?
How do you get people to remember you?"
Branding is essential. Even your avatar is important. Li reminds us that our
avatar is who we are…this is how people relate to us.
Tips
Make sure your avatar is your brand.
Make sure your pictures are saying things about your brand
Start your own group and encourage people to share their pictures / videos
and join the group.
Extend your brand and talk to the people that are part of the group.
Bring influence of the brand into the picture.
Don’t forget the Tags!!
Keep your marketing consistent - ex. icon / logo on videos and photos
Brand your Channels - w/ consistent colors
No matter how small your company Branding Matters!!
Don’t forget about branding even in Local.
Optimizing is fundamental
Research where your audience is.
**YouTube - YouTube beats Yahoo for searches. That’s pretty cool. And,
it shows us how important videos can be in Search.**
Li ends with saying that “Branding and Being Social Is Key”
So, as you can see it was another amazing session at IM Spring Break. Follow
the Branding Recipe that Jeff Quipp, Brian Chappell and Li Evans suggested and
I have no doubt you will be off to a great start with using Social Media for
Branding purposes.
The first session of IM
Spring Break on Social Media day was "Creating Content for
Social Media – How to create the content and make it stick".
Kenny Hyder, Greg Finn and Brent Csutoras were on this sessions panel and what
a Rock’n job they did. It was an awesome session!!
First up was Ken of PositionTech.
He started with "Content is King. And, if your content sucks
it won’t go anywhere." And, moved on to explaining that it
takes more than just ideas. Your content needs to be compelling. To show this
Ken compared the two sites Watch
it Shred with Will
it Blend. Both of these sites have a very similar type of viral content….
Watch it Shred has videos of many different items that they put through a large
shredder to see if it will shred. Will it Blend puts many different types of
items into a blender to see if they will blend. They both started their YouTube
accounts around the same time, but Watch it Shred has 3,553 subscribers while
Will it Blend has 178,164 subscribers. Why such a huge difference? Because of
the question, "Will it Blend". And, this question
causes the viewer to wonder…. will it in fact blend? See, questions
need answers. Viewers watch to find out…. will it blend. The question is compelling.
Brent starts off talking about how Businesses often wonder how social media
pertains to them. What should I write about…. how is my product going to work
in social? How am I going to participate?
But, Brent assures us it doesn’t have to be the most extreme thing. Social
Media can apply to anything.
For a company to come up with things to write about he suggests….
Step back & Identify your:
Social Goals - What do you ultimately want? Do you want
more links? More traffic, etc..
Desired Keywords - what do you want to be known for? What
do you want people searching for when they find you?
Related Keywords - loosely related terms.
Once that is done the Research begins.
Research social sites for what has worked for others or failed
for others, Check competitors and see what they are doing, and Check Search
Engines.
Some tips that Brent suggested were…
Tips
Involve your staff - memos. Keep all informed of plans.
Current events - watch them and use them. People love what’s going on right
now.
Avoid "10" - Top 10 gets old fast.
Don’t accept crap and don’t push crap either. Throw it in the trash.
Next up Gregg Finn of 10e20
who spoke about Tactics for Creating content.
Gregg starts talking about content and what makes for bad, good, great and
pants crappingly awesome content. Yes, I did say, "pants
crappingly awesome" content. You are dying to know what that means huh?
This is how Gregg defines it…
Pants Crappingly Awesome Content
Content that stands out
Readers Can’t stop reading it
Takes serious man hours to create
Extremely well written
Great looking
Immediately vote and IM friends about it.
Gregg then goes into some detail about the Do’s & Don’ts of Creating Content…
Do’s
Be comprehensive. Make sure your content is inclusive.
Be consumable - Make it so the reader doesn’t have to read
every word for them to understand it.
Be Relevant - Make sure your message is on point, content
"fits" on your site.
Be Niche - Quality targeted content is better than average
general content.
Be Thorough - Make sure all spelling / grammar is on point.
Take the time to do it right.
Be Supportive - Provide detailed media, link to sources
when necessary.
Be Attractive - Take the time to use well designed images.
Don’t
Don’t be overly linkbaity - Users can see when you are
trying too hard.
Don’t be sloppy - Check with others on spelling & grammar.
Don’t be greedy - Keeps ads minimal & make sure pop-ups
are non existent
So, as you can see the "Creating Content for Social Media" session
was a huge success. The speakers rocked. And, the information I got out of it
was amazing. Wait until you hear about the other sessions…. the rest of the
Social Media Sessions at IM Spring Break were just as good as this one!!
I’ve been kind of out of the loop for a few months. I’ve been dealing with
some family issues and lowered my social media work load a bit so I could
deal with the issues. Things are beginning to get easier and I am beginning
to be able to find some breathing room. Winter was difficult and long, but
happily Spring is on its way and I totally can’t wait for it to arrive.
Spring brings new hope for me and also brings warmer weather, beautiful flowers,
leaves on the trees, fresh air and the sounds of children playing outside. April
brings May flowers. But, there is something else that April will bring to the
Search and Internet Marketing community… A conference that is one of the most
talked about, anticipated and affordable conferences in Search. Not sure what
I’m referring to??? Well, let me spell it out for you….
I - Internet Marketing - Three
days of Internet Marketing focused education and networking in beautiful Florida.
Sounds good to me.
M - Money - This Search
Conference is only $370, but is packed with 3 days of awesome sessions and
great parties. At this cost it’s a steal!!
P - Poker Tournament - There
is a Poker Tournament on the first night. You never know how that will turn
out, but you know it will be a good time!!
R - Rhea Drysdale - She will
be speaking during SEO day and I’m totally looking forward to this. Not just
because I’m hoping that she will appear as SheRa,
but also because I was lucky enough to meet Rhea a few months back and I think she’s wonderful, but have yet to hear her speak. So, I can’t wait for that.
I - Information - You can count
on learning plenty of new and useful information from the speakers who happen
to be some of the best-of-the-best in our industry.
N - Networking - Oh, Yeah!! This
conference will have tons of chances to network with the speakers, monitors
and other colleagues in our field. This conference is small, only a few hundred
attendees, that makes the chances you will be able to spend some time with the
speakers quite likely.
G - Goals - They have two main
Goals with their events. 1. be the best value in Internet Marketing
conferences and events; 2. to provide the best education and
networking mix available in an Internet Marketing conference. Sounds great to
me.
B - Beerlympics - Okay, I’ll
admit it….. I have no idea what this actually is, but I’m dying to find out.
I have no doubt that the Beerlympics will be one of the highlights of the entire
event.
R - Rae Hoffman - I have yet
to have heard Rae Hoffman speak nor have I been fortunate enough to meet her
at any other conference. But, I love her blog and I’m hoping to get to meet
her at this event. Not only is she speaking at this conference she is also doing
the Keynote on day 3.
E - Entire Event - Hello?! Have
you not been paying attention?? Check out what I mentioned thus far….. This
event ROCKS!!
C - Community - Many of the attendees
are part of the online communities that you frequent on a daily basis. This
is your chance to network with these members face-to-face. And, meet other members
of the community that you have yet got a chance to get to know online. This
is a great way to build up your friends in the online community…. by meeting
them face-to-face.
K - Keynotes - 3 Amazing Keynotes
by impressive members of the Search and Internet Marketing Community.
Day 3 - Rae Hoffman will be giving the NDA Keynote
I-M S-P-R-I-N-G B-R-E-A-K
So, if you haven’t figured it out already….. I am talking about the
IM Spring Break Conference coming up next Month. It takes place from
April 2-4 in beautiful Boca Raton, Florida. Like I mentioned earlier the cost
is so reasonable at $370 for the entire 3 day conference. And, if you use the
code SEO when booking the hotel it will only cost you $119.00 per night. Totally an awesome
price.
Christmas Season is about ready to come to a close. You have already missed
the cut-off to purchase items online and to receive them at your door before
Christmas. In a couple of days you will be cleaning up wrapping paper, returning
unwanted items and planning your New Years Resolutions.
But, I wanted to talk about things I learned from shopping at Twitter.
You get honest opinions. No need for reviews…. just ask
your followers any kind of product questions and they will respond honestly.
I asked about Moon
Sand. My daughter was bugging me about it and I had no idea what is was
and whether it was something I should get her. So, I asked my Tweeps:
And, my Tweeps told me honestly how they felt.
Who needs to search for reviews and testimonials on websites when you have
pure Word of Mouth or I suppose I should say “Word of Tweets”.
Find Awesome Deals - I previously wrote a post about using
Twitter as a Sales Channel. And, it totally is!! You can subscribe to
@Woot and @AmazonDeals
and get notified of their daily deals. eCommerce sites and businesses are
beginning to realize the importance of using Twitter as a Sales Channel. You
can follow these businesses on Twitter and cash in on the sweet deals.
Retweets - The Power of Retweets!! You can find some truly
amazing deals just by listening to the retweets of the items that your tweeps
thought were hot deals. That is exactly how I found my father’s Holiday Gift.
Mark Hayward, who
ironically wrote about the value of retweets, had posted a retweet about
The Flip that Andy
Beal had originally sent out. Even though I follow Andy
Beal I had missed his original Tweet, so I am very thankful that Mark
sent out this retweet….
I own a Flip Ultra Series and love my Flip. It is what I use to create my
video posts. My father was so impressed with my videos that he asked to
borrow my Flip. Well, thanks to Mark’s retweet I purchased my father a Flip
for the Holidays. Check it out…
And, then I announced my purchase….
… and then the power of Twitter began. Check it out!!
I told Carolyn Shelby
that I loved my Flip and she landed up purchasing one too. Wowzer!!
Using Twitter Search to Find Amazing Deals - I’m not sure
many people are aware of the power of Twitter Search yet. It is a fantastic
tool when used correctly. Here is a super quick tutorial. Let’s say you wanted
to see if you can find a Nintendo DS for your son on Sale. Go to Twitter
Advanced Search and enter the following information. Enter the word "Nintendo
DS" (without quotes) into the "exact phrase" box.
And, enter "sale" (without quotes) into the "Any
of these Words" box.
Click on Search. The results you should get should point you to sites and
information on how to get the Nintendo DS on Sale in Real Time.
And there ya go. Twitter helped me big time this year with Holiday Shopping.
I know it is too late to use my fabulous methods to pick up sales this Holiday
Season. But, use these tips all year long to pick up Rock’n deals for you and
your loved ones.
I wish you and your loved ones the Happiest of Holidays and a Wonderful
2009!!
Right now SES
Chicago is going on….. the only major Search Marketing Conference and
Expo in the Midwest. I had the good fortune of being able to interview Amanda
Watlington of Searching
for Profit…. She was on the panel of the Podcast & Audio Search Optimization
session. Here is my interview with Amanda.
Q. Why Podcast? Who Should be Podcasting….. And who shouldn’t
be?
A. Podcasting allows the brand
owner/entrepreneur to extend the brand’s reach with the powerful medium
of sound. The entire media landscape is very fragmented, and interrupt advertising
is increasingly ineffective. A podcast lets the medium bring the message without
interruptions or noise. Because of the portability of podcasts, there is a unique
opportunity to develop deep brand engagement and loyalty from time-shifting
listeners downloading the podcast for at their convenience listening. We are
preconditioned to tune in our radio dials to favorite shows. Now we can essentially
tune in to our favorite podcasts, download them and listen at any time.
Almost any business can podcast, but this does not mean that everyone should.
Podcasting has been embraced by indie musicians as a means of getting a wider
audience for their music, technologists eager to stay in touch with the changes
to occur almost daily in fast-moving technology fields and by those who provide
spiritual counsel, advice and prayer. These types of podcasts dominate the directories.
There are also a wide range of podshows that feature business advice, quirky
humorists or political pundits of every type.
The most important point in deciding whether to podcast or not is to decide
whether the user will find your audio content valuable and interesting. Another
key decision point is to decide whether the podcast will be a one-off or part
of a longer series. It takes a lot of effort and preparation to develop a series
that has a broad following. Sustaining the effort at the same level of interest
is very hard. If, for a moment, you question whether you can sustain the effort,
step back and reconsider.
Q. Why is Podcast & Audio Search Optimization so important?
A. Search is the single best
tool on line for capturing potential interested listeners. In looking at search
and podcasting, I try to look across the continuum of interested parties. The
media site, an aggregator of audio content, search can be a powerful tool for
bringing in those looking for “mp3 download.” A site with a number
of features on “techno music” would want to target keywords that
included “techno music” and “download techno music.”
An artist’s site would want to expand its reach by using search keywords
that included the band’s name and the genre. Search connects the audio
and the user.
Audio search optimization is really multi-part. The site page describing the
audio will be found on search engines so it is important to do SEO on the page
to ensure its relevance for the keywords that describe the podcast content.
An RSS feed is a vital distribution mechanism for the podcast content, so this
must be optimized. Finally, the audio file itself must be optimized since the
ID3 information is useful to listeners who might want the information contained
to relocate you or to learn more about the podcast – information that
you can encode in the ID3 tags. Whether you are optimizing the podcast episode’s
landing page, the feed or the ID3 tags the goal is the same – to make
the podcast findable to users of the various types of search technologies that
provide information on audio.
Q. Is search optimization for Podcasts and Audio much different than
the search optimization one would do to a Web Page?
A. It is only different in that
you must essentially optimize three different entities, each of which has its
own tactical requirements. It is not difficult to optimize the landing page.
It is basic SEO. Optimization of the RSS feed is very slightly different in
that it requires astute attention to how the TITLE and DESCRIPTION are written.
It is also a technical implementation – not a difficult one I might note.
Optimizing the audio file similarly requires doing a few easy steps meticulously
and carefully.
Q. I noticed that most Podcasts on blogs that they also had the content
written out in readable form…. Is this a must for SEO?
A. The discussion of whether
to include a full or partial transcript is a topic often debated among audio
content optimizers. One school of thought is to put entire transcript on the
landing page and in the ID3 tags of the audio file. Another school contends
that a keyword-rich summary should suffice. In my opinion there is no really
right answer since it is often impractical to create a transcript both in terms
of time and cost, so it becomes beyond the resources available. In those cases,
a keyword-rich summary would suffice. The summary and transcript are for the
user and for search engines. The summary is the minimum level. The ideal for
both user and search engine is to include a full transcript in the page content
and in audio file. Is a full transcript a must for SEO? Not really. For a long
rambling podcast, it is possible to create a rich summary that may perform better
in search than a diffuse transcript. There is no hard fast rule.
Audio optimization is really a matter of simply remembering how the optimization
elements will be used. The key elements are the audio file, the landing page,
and the RSS feed. Attention must be paid the unique requirements of each of
these constituencies; otherwise it neither complex nor difficult.
Thank you so much for your wonderful interview, Amanda. It totally was a pleasure to interview you. Podcasting is an area I would love to try and this interview just makes me want it even more.
For the rest of you Marketers, SEO professionals, Webmasters, Business Owners
or anyone interested in Search… if you are in the Chicago area the rest of
this week SES Chicago is still going on. And, it is definitely a must attend.
But, in order to connect with these business owners and consumers they need
to be following you on Twitter….. following your conversations. If a member
of the Twitter community is not following you they can not hear you. So, in
order for Twitter to work effectively you need to get members to follow you.
One sure fire way of NOT getting any followers is to use the
Twitter default avatar. And, using the default Twitter profile page isn’t that
much better. For many people when they see the default avatar they think its
one of a few things….
A computer bot - not a real person
A member that doesn’t take the community seriously
A brand new member that just hasn’t had a chance to add the avatar
To put the importance of an avatar in perspective think of it this way… an
avatar is a visual symbol of you or your company.
Some people are very visual. In order for these visual thinking people to remember
you or your business they will probably have an easier time remembering your
avatar. So, having an avatar that is something other than the default avatar
is extremely important.
As a continuation of my "Basic Tips of Adding Social Media to
your Business" here is a tutorial for how-to set up a Professional
Twitter Profile in Minutes….
How to set up a Professional Twitter Profile in Minutes
My good friend Ruud
Hein over at Search
Engine People asked me earlier this month if I would like to write a guest
post on the Search
Engine People Blog. I was thrilled of course…. I am a huge fan of SEP.
I have been a loyal reader of that blog since I met Jeff
Quipp on Sphinn about 16 months ago.
The truth is I feel that the majority of the Search Engine People staff have
got Social Media right. Social Media is all about conversations and collaborating
with others online. But, these interactions need to be genuine… they need
to be sincere. Jeff Quipp and the rest of the staff at Search Engine People
understand that.
So, to me it made perfect sense for my Guest Post on Search Engine People to
be about the values
I follow when I participate in Social Media activities. These are the same
values my mother taught me growing up and I believe have helped me to become
successful in Social Media.
Go check out my guest post over at Search Engine People and let me know what
you think. Oh, and don’t forget to subscribe
to their RSS feed. Trust me…. you won’t be disappointed.
