Creative Marketing Channel

Sorry bottom feeders, but Google says your time has come. An intense, new algorithmic adjustment arrived the other day and it doesn’t tolerate your kind.  Projected to influence almost 10.5 billion search results every month, this adjustment lowers the rank of scraper sites, link farms, and other useless sites while increasing the rank of quality sites.  What motivated this change? Google’s post,  Finding more high quality sites in search explains,  “Google depends on the high-quality content created by wonderful websites around the world, and we do have a responsibility to encourage a healthy web ecosystem. Therefore, it is important for high-quality sites to be rewarded, and that’s exactly what this change does.”

Quality means increased visibility
If there was ever a justification for content marketing this is it.  From now on, Google rewards websites with “original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis…” with higher search rankings amplifying the strong bond between search, social, and SEO.  Want to boost your brand’s visibility on search? Fill your website and blog with compelling content.  As TopRank’s Lee Odden says, ” If Social Media and SEO fit together like peanut butter and jelly then content is the bread that holds them together.”  Add social engagement from authoritative users into the mix and I predict powerful results. Google says this recent algorithm adjustment is just a beginning and they plan to present us with more changes in the future.

They were warned.
The developers and SEO companies whose sites are being penalized for poor quality have known all along what Google considers the high road.  My guess is they ignored Google’s quality guidelines because their black hat strategies were working for them.  Doesn’t look like they’ll work anymore. Take a look at Google’s quality expectations:

Quality guidelines – basic principles

• Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines. Don’t deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users, which is commonly referred to as “cloaking.”




• Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you’d feel comfortable explaining what you’ve done to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask, “Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn’t exist?”




• Don’t participate in link schemes designed to increase your site’s ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or “bad neighborhoods” on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.




• Don’t use unauthorized computer programs to submit pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs consume computing resources and violate our Terms of Service. Google does not recommend the use of products such as WebPosition Gold™ that send automatic or programmatic queries to Google.

Breaking News 2/28/11:

The data is in and the story is huge. According to search engine land, associated content is taking a big hit. Here is a brief look.  Top losers:  ezinearticles.com, associatedcontent.com, suite101.com, hubpages.com and buzzle.com.  Top winners: youtube.com, ebay.com, facebook.com, and instructables.com.   Biggest surprise to me -  slideshare.com and tehnorati.com are on the losers list.  “Number Crunchers: Who Lost in Google’s ‘Farmer’ Algorithm Change” by Danny Sullivan is a MUST READ. Take a moment and review Sullivan’s compelling data and share your thoughts here.

If you would like to hire oz 2 designs LLC to handle your digital marketing and design, email cl@oz2designs.com or call 717-586-8386.

“Facebook took something that even a novice could understand and have turned it into something that even to someone who has programming experience, is a confusing mess all for the sake of more ad space. Way to alienate your users Facebook! Social media is impatient and fickle, best get things simplified or people are going to split! P.S. It shouldn’t be all about the money. You either want businesses to use FB or you don’t.” – Heaven Graphics

Facebook’s recent pages upgrade has left a lot of small business owners reeling. For those businesses who rely solely on Facebook instead of their own brand, the fallout from FB’s upgrade has just begun and it’s looking uglier with each passing day.

The Problem: Customers and friends no longer see business page comments, links, photos, and status updates. Why? Because along with the new Facebook came an automatic new default setting placed on everyone’s newsfeed.  The new newsfeed default setting shows you comments, links, and status posts ONLY from those people you interact with most.  This means, if you’re a business, people who normally don’t interact with you will not see you anymore. Feeling invisible on FB lately? It gets worse.  Facebook has decided relevancy is what matters. Therefore, even if you change your newsfeed settings,  your newsfeed will never ever be the same as it has now become part of The Borg – I mean Facebook’s new relevancy algorithm.

The Partial Solution: You can change your newsfeed settings and see more filtered, relevant posts.  This will make more people visible to you but will not make you more visible to them. Will all 600 million people on FB make the effort to do this? I think not.  But, here’s how you can do it:

Step One: Go to your home page and click the little blue triangle next to “Most Recent.”

Step Two:  Choose “Edit Options.”

Step Three: Click the little blue triangle next to Show posts from …  and choose  “All of your friends and pages.” Click Save.

To all  businesses suffering under Facebook’s upgrade it’s imperative you understand the following distinction: Facebook is not your brand. Facebook is Facebook’s brand.  Your blog and your website are your brand. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are places where you can share your brand. If you put all of your marketing eggs in Facebook’s basket then you’re in trouble.

It’s easy to wonder whether Facebook knew all along small businesses may not like their upgrade.  If they did, then they’re willing to take the hit and nothing will change.  If they didn’t,  then perhaps these pages will matter: Bring Back Chronological Posts,   You Are Invisible, and  New Facebook Settings Affecting You.  How do you predict Facebook’s new default newsfeed settings and  relevancy algorithm will impact brands? How do you predict they will impact Facebook?

To contact oz 2 designs LLC to handle your digital marketing and design email Catherine Lockey at cl@oz2designs.com.

Is there a best time to send email? How many people check email on a mobile device? Is there a strategy to reduce unsubscribes and increase click throughs? Make way for Hubspot’s marketing scientist Dan Zarrella who lets the data answer these questions and more in “The Science of Email Marketing” webinar.   Below is my summation of Zarella’s fascinating email marketing insights.

Data used: Over 9.5 billion email sends and accompanying analytics compliments of MailChimp, 3 focus groups, and survey data.

Email habits: Opening email is equivalent to completing homework and almost everyone has integrated it into their daily work ritual. 70% of people read most of their email because they hate to see unread mail in their inbox and 88% of people have only one inbox.  Over 60% of all email readers use a junk folder.

What encourages opens and click throughs?
1. Time of receipt: Most people open and click through email on weekends.
2. Time of day: Most people report reading email in the morning. 6:00 a.m. -  7:00 a.m garners highest click throughs.
3.  Sender: If the recipient recognizes the sender, especially if it’s a celebrity sender, there is a good chance the email will be opened.
4.  Subject line: People prefer to see the following words in the subject line – newsletter, this week’s, digest, bulletin, and edition – because they indicate the mail is a serialized piece of content.
5.  Mobile compatibility: 81% of all people read their email on a mobile device. Make sure your email looks good on mobile.
6.  Links: The more links in an email the higher the click through rate. More links equal more opportunities to persuade the reader.
7.  It’s referential: People tend to use their inbox as an archive. Readers archive and refer back to useful, interesting email.
8.  It’s exclusive: People love to feel part of a special club where they receive early access and special deals.
9.  It’s consistent: Click through rates are about the same whether you send 5 emails a month or 30. If your audience has opted in to your list, they want to hear from you.
10. Expectations: Readers who expect your email appreciate it the most. Why? Opening your email has become part of their “homework ritual.”
11. Subscription time: New subscribers are the best clickers.

Other interesting facts: Unsubscribes are highest from people who are new to your list. Unidentifiable sender names as well as spammy subject lines using words like magic, raffle, reward, requested, follow up, savings, offer, confirm, and upgrade spur unsubscribes. In most cases, readers will not forward your email nor will they Tweet it. “Follow me” social media links tend to have better results.  Email sent only once or twice a month has a higher unsubscribe rate than email sent 30 times a month.

All information above was gathered from the Hubspot webinar,  “The Science of Email Marketing.”

If you would like oz 2 designs LLC to handle your email marketing campaign, contact Catherine Lockey at cl@oz2designs.com.

Small businesses know “… the current shift in geotargeting, mobile marketing, and online reputation management require small businesses to modify their plans and surpass competitors.”  – Susan Gunelius, Reuters. Companies on the losing side of digital are under great pressure to claim some online territory.  Yet, catching up to one’s competition takes months of time, precious budget dollars, and real skill.  Last month I published a two parts of a three part Digital Marketing Study Primer for C.E.O.s.  Part I explains the fundamentals of social media marketing and Part II teaches C.E.O.s how to vet a social media marketing agency. The bottom line, C.E.O.s cannot make smart digital marketing decisions if they don’t grasp the basics.

Part III:  What should you expect to pay for social media marketing? Here I defer to longtime social media expert Mac Collier who researched and wrote, “How much does Social Media cost companies in 2011?” Collier explains, “These figures come from rates shared with me by fellow consultants and agencies that specialize in social media marketing, in addition to my own research, as well as what I charge for similar services. ”

Here’s the prices:

Blog:

Launch a blog from the ground-up, outsource all content creation (including customer interaction, handling responses to comments, etc) – $1,000-$12,000 a month

Most Charge – $3,000 – $5,000 a month

Launch a blog from the ground-up, outsource some content creation – $1,000-$8,000 a month

Most Charge – $2,000-$3,500 a month

Restructure an existing blog to improve your efforts – $1,000-$5,000 a month for 3-6 months

Most Charge – $2,000-$4,000 a month for 3-6 months

Ghostwriting blog posts – $50-$500 per

Most Charge – $100-$250 per

Twitter:

Launch a new presence on Twitter and outsource all content creation and customer interaction – $1,000-$7,500 a month

Most Charge – $2,000-$4,000 a month

Launch a new presence on Twitter and then provide ongoing training for company – $1,000-$6,000 a month

Most Charge – $1,000-$3,000 a month

Restructure an existing Twitter presence to improve your efforts – $1,000-$4,000 a month for 3-6 months

Most Charge – $1,000-$2,500 a month

Limited coaching to improve your existing efforts on Twitter – $1,000-$4,000 a month

Most Charge – $1,000-$2,500 a month

Facebook:

Launch a Facebook Page from the ground-up, outsourcing all content creation and customer interactions – $2,000-$9,000 a month

Most Charge – $2,500-$5,000 a month

Launch a Facebook Page from the ground-up, with limited ongoing training – $1,500-$7,500 a month for 3-6 months

Most Charge – $2,000-$4,000 a month

Social Media Strategy:

Comprehensive Social Media Strategy Creation, assuming outsourcing of all content creation through all channels(minimum 2) – $3,000-$20,000 a month

Most Charge – $4,000-$7,000 a month

Comprehensive Social Media Strategy Creation, assuming limited outsourcing of content creation and/or ongoing training –$3,000-$15,000 a month for 4-12 months

Most Charge – $3,000-$6,000 a month

Audit of existing Social Media Strategy Including Recommendations for Improvement – $2,000-$10,000

Most Charge – $2,000-$5,000

Social Media Consulting:

Hourly rates – $50-$500/Hr

Most Charge – $75-$200/Hr

Note: These prices are based on buying just one hour of a consultant’s time.  Many consultants also offer their consulting time in blocks of time.  These hours are usually offered at a discounted rate.  For example, a consultant might charge $100 for one hour of her time, but if you buy 5 hours of her time, she’ll give you a 25% discount to $375 for 5 hours.  Progressive discounts are sometimes offered as the volume of hours bought increases, with final discounts being as high as 33-50% off hourly rates.

On-Site Training/Workshops (All fees excluding travel expenses)

1-2 Hours – $500-$5,000

Most Charge – $500-$2,000

Half-Day (4 hours) - $1,000 – $10,000

Most Charge – $1,000 – $4,000

Full-Day (6-8 hours) – $2,000 – $50,000

Most Charge – $2,500-$5,000

Note: Keep in mind that consultants (at least the ones worth hiring) will invest several hours of prep time in assembling and customizing their training materials for you.  So while you might buy a full-day workshop, the total time investment for the consultant (including the workshop) could easily be 20-40 hours.  Plus they will likely lose at least a full day in travel to and from your company.

As with volume discounts on hourly consulting rates, many consultants will charge more at an hourly rate for workshops shorter than a full day.  For example, one consultant might charge $2,000 for a 2-hour workshop, and $5,000 for an 8-hour workshop.

A final word about prices: Don’t be afraid to negotiate.  If the quoted price is past your budget, ask for a break, especially if the project will be longer than 3 months.  A consultant might not be willing to give you a 15% discount on a 2-month project, but they might for a 6-month project.

To contact oz 2 designs LLC to handle your social media marketing email Catherine Lockey at cl@oz2designs.com.