Online Marketing blogs by LEON Bailey Green

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) is the trade association for online advertising.

They recently published a Social Media Handbook which contains a contribution from me titled ‘Using social media to increase paid-search marketing effectiveness’.

- Read my contribution here
- Read the full Social Media Handbook online
- Download a PDF copy of the Social Media Handbook

Behind every new look, new launch or new advert there has been thought as to how it will affect the industry, press and most importantly the end consumer.

Rebrands get planned months, if not years ahead. To make sure they’re right.

What does our new brand need to reflect? How will our current consumers/customers feel about it? Who are we trying to speak to with our rebrand? 

Product launches take years to master. To make sure they’re right.

Who would buy this? Why would they buy it? Where would they buy it?

And a lot of effort, by a lot of people goes into creating TV adverts, to make sure they’re right too.

How can we make impact? What times and which channels will it be on? Do we need a celeb in it?

Many will present a rebrand, product launch or advert and tell those in charge of their online – “this is what we’re doing, make our online fit”.

The wrong way round? I think so.

Some websites make money by selling products.

Some websites make money by selling advertising.

Some websites make money by referring customers to other websites.

Some websites make money by collecting customer data which is sold on.

Black hat, white hat, grey hat, whatever. Today’s SEO guru is a much more complex being.

The Content Colonel
Where’s the linkbait? The Content Colonel will ask.

Until he can see plans for sticky, engaging and constantly updating content on your website, The Content Colonel won’t touch yours with a barge pole.

Not only can this guy tell you in advance where an article on your website is going to rank, he can tell you how many visitors you’ll get from it and how many other websites will link to it.

The Submitter Tryer
The Submitter Tryer means absolutely no harm. Far from reading up on SEO, he’s invented it himself – this guy doesn’t need or want to learn.

After playing around with HTML, CSS and a bit of PHP here and there, he submits websites to search engines using those dreadful fast submission tools that you thought were out of circulation.

He doesn’t quite get why his efforts never work.

This week I was sent a link to a ‘SEO in 15 minutes’ chart. It’s great checklist for anyone who wants to understand on page SEO techniques. But a potentially dangerous tool for those who think studying these points makes them an SEO expert.

Economic downturn = offline advertising (unmeasurable) spend down, online marketing (measurable) spend up?

That’s what a lot of people seem to be saying [here and here]. But not me.

Not entirely anyway. I can see online marketing spend increasing in line with the already forecasted increases, but in terms of a higher jump because of the downturn no.

This week on my Drapers blog you can find out how Jordan/Katie Price can market her equestrian clothing range online.

I’ve put together some tactics that businesses can do, without the help of an SEO team, to help their search engine rankings.

Read them here on the Score Communications website.

Seth Godin thinks we should tip websites we like by clicking on adverts.

His heart may have been in the right place but the recommendation didn’t go down well with many in the online marketing world.

Here are some alternative ways you can tip a website that you like.

Bookmark it
Return
Digg/Delicio.us/Furl the link
Add it to your Facebook
Email/Send the link to a friend
Send the URL to your friend
Link to it from your own blog
Write about it on a forum/message board
Tell your friend about it
SMS is to your friend

Are adverts the new online tip jar? Seth Godin thinks so. Apparently if we read something online that we like we should say thank you by clicking on an ad.

On his blog Seth says…

“If you like what you’re reading, click an ad to say thanks.”

In the view that the company or blogger will pocket your click cost from the advertiser.

But LEON Bailey Green says…

“If you like what you’re reading, keep coming back. And click on an advert IF you like it.”

So what are the effects of the visitor, webmaster and advertiser?

Read my article ‘How else can Google ascertain relevancy?’ on E-Consultancy.

This week on E-Consultancy I asked the question ‘Is the role of the SEO dead and should PRs own natural search?’.

There’s been much talk in meedja circles about UKTV’s rebrands for three of its main channels, UKTV Gold (GOLD), UKTV Gold+1 (Watch) and UKTV Drama (Alibi), but little mention of how the brands will work online.

All three channels quite rightfully have unique identities, although I do think UKTV should have stuck to the formula of having an overall brand feel so viewers know the channels belong to the same family.

I say that with my online marketing head on as that strategy would have allowed UKTV to offer a marketable web presence which houses content to complements the programmes, video on demand and community features.

1. You’re website’s been dropped by Google (BMW)
2. You’ve dropped in rankings (GoCompare)
3. A uncomplimentary website is bidding on paid search for your brand name
4. A competitor is bidding on paid search for your brand name
5. A bad news story ranks for your brand name (British Airways)

Self styled commercially focused search engine marketing agency Maven Metrics was set up last year by Lucie Follet.

I caught up with Lucie to get her thoughts on the search marketing industry, why she has set up automotive parts websites and her plans for new bottled water company Sip’s online marketing campaign.

Maven Metrics is described as being commercially focused. How do you think this approach makes Maven Metrics different to other search marketing agencies?

The main difference with us is that we have worked in other, highly commercial and competitive environments – specifically non-marketing, ‘non meedja’ industries. In my own case, I worked in Investment Banking as a Japan equity sales/analyst until 2002 and also operate my own niche websites which I use as a test bed for hands-on work for any tips or advice I find in blogs and forums.

This combination of being commercial and hands-on is unusual and not always found in larger agencies. It’s not uncommon to find individuals working in SEO and especially web analytics who are so hung up on terms such as ‘conversion rate’ or ‘measuring engagement’ or the anthropological nature of blog networks that they have forgotten the commercial purpose to the website and how this relates to the bottom line – it has become totally abstract and a mere blip on an excel sheet.

I personally find this quite alarming.