Nicole's Blog

If you know anything about the internet marketing world, it’s that change is inevitable!  Last month, I wrote about some new Google changes that were going to be heading our way in 2013.

And now, they’re finally here.

In today’s Webmaster Help video, Google’s Matt Cutts talked about the major updates the world’s largest search engine has made to Panda and Penguin.

Let’s start by discussing Penguin, because that’s where the bulk of the changes are being made…

“Penguin 2.0”, as Cutts is calling it will have a much bigger impact than when the algorithm change was first unveiled back in 2012.  Within the next few weeks, Google is going to start taking a harder look at websites in search of “black hat webspam”.  In order to do that, Cutts says they’re going to use a “more sophisticated link analysis”.  In other words, make sure the links you’re building are good ones!  (Here’s an easy tip – check out potential websites before you submit guest posts.  Even if your content is great, you don’t want it to be surrounded by junk that’s going to drag it down!)

Penguin 2.0 will also be on the lookout for authoritative websites.  If your content gives Google reason to believe that you’re a true expert, expect to find yourself higher in the rankings sometime in the next few months.

What about Panda?

The Panda changes are a little less dramatic, but they’re still important nonetheless.  According to Cutts, the sites that will see the biggest impact are the ones in the “border zone”.  So, if you’ve been struggling with Panda issues, this summer could bring some relief – or knock you down!

Even though big Google changes usually seem to bring out the “Chicken Little” side of online marketers, the sky isn’t necessarily falling down on you.  As Cutts says, “If you’re doing high-quality content whenever you’re doing SEO, this shouldn’t be a big surprise.  You shouldn’t have to worry about a lot of different changes.”

But if you’re not approaching your content marketing the right way, it could be a very long summer!

My latest article on Site Pro News has generated several great comments.  One in particular, though, caught my eye.  A reader asked me, “How do you put ‘great content’ on a product page?  If people are looking to shop for something they want the product info on the page, not a long article about how great it is!  How do you get a product page well-ranked if the content is limited to the product???”

 Here’s the answer…

Instead of just rattling off the specs of a product, you’ve got to be creative.  Yes, potential buyers want those specs, but they’re also looking for a reason to spend their hard-earned money on THAT particular product.

Take a lesson from one of my clients, who is a landscape photographer.  He could do what most photographers do and simply list the facts about each photo (like where it was taken and what time of day it was taken).  Instead, he wants to put a more “human” touch on his product descriptions.

Which description is more likely to convince you to buy the photo?

1.  “This photo was taken at 3:00 PM at ABC National Park.  Because the sun was so bright, you get a great view of the pond below.”

OR

2.  “Most places look their best either at dawn or dusk.  However, after spending hours at ABC National Park waiting for the right moment to capture a shot, I was surprised when it came at 3:00 PM.  With the sun shining brightly in the mid-afternoon sky, I was able to see every ripple in the pond below — a detail that I couldn’t make out at daybreak.”

Both descriptions give you the facts; however, Description #2 tells a story.  You get to learn how hard the photographer worked to capture this shot, and you’re drawn to the “little things” (like the ripples in the water) that separate good photos from great photos.  You even get to learn a little bit about photography (specifically, that most places photograph best in the less harsh light of dawn and dusk).

So, will Description #2 outrank Description #1? 

Only Google can answer that, but Description #2 is much more memorable, and memorable things are much more likely to get shared, “liked”, Tweeted, and +1-ed — all of which leads to a better search engine ranking!

If you want to have a solid content marketing strategy, you need to know exactly WHO you’re talking to.  If you close your eyes and picture ONE member of your target audience, what do you see?  A middle-aged woman who wants to look younger, and needs the right products to do it?  A young, hip business owner who needs a way to maximize the 24 hours in his day?

Until you know who you’re talking to, you can’t speak to them on their level — which means your readers are going to have a tough time building a relationship with you.  And if that happens, your odds of getting them to buy from you are slim.

If the picture of your target audience is a little fuzzy, you’re not alone.  I just read the preliminary results of a survey done by the team at Incite.  According to their findings (which are made up of answers from hundreds of marketing and communications executives), a whopping 46% said that their top priority for 2013 was to get closer to their customers and understand them better.

So, nearly half of them openly admit that they need to learn more about their target audience.  And these are marketing professionals… They know better than anyone what’s important!

If you haven’t done so already, devote some time to understanding your customer base.  Find out what they like, don’t like, want, and don’t want.  Go to websites that you know they frequent, read through all of your emails carefully to see what issues they feel compelled to contact you about, and use the power of social media to see what they’re talking about.

Once you put yourself in their minds, you’ll have a much easier time creating web content that inspires them to take action!

One of my favorite things to do in the morning is sit outside and look at the pond behind my house.  It’s very entertaining because my cat, Bella, has “staring contests” with a couple of ducks that live there.  She’s completely fascinated by them!

And, this morning I was fascinated by them, too.  That’s because I realized these ducks are just like a good content marketing strategy!

After all, have you ever paid close attention to the way a duck swims?  His little legs and feet are moving quickly under the water — but above the water’s surface, everything is smooth and cool as can be.  To simply look at a duck swim by, you’d never realize just how much work was going on beneath the surface.

And that’s exactly how your content marketing strategy should be!

On the surface, you should look like an expert who seamlessly puts together informative, interesting pieces that your readers can’t wait to gobble up.  But underneath, you should be hard at work — doing solid research, closely monitoring the news in your niche, coming up with creative topics, and looking for authoritative places to share what you’ve written.

Do it correctly, and there won’t even be a ripple in your “content pond”!

Ah, Spring… It’s the time of year when the flowers are blooming, the birds are singing, and everyone’s talking about doing a spring cleaning!  If your home and office are already clean enough to pass the “white glove” test, it’s time to move onto something that could bring you a whole lot more results — “cleaning” your web content!

While there isn’t anything you can do about the content you’ve already published (on the web, there is no such thing as “do overs”!), you can make sure that everything you publish from this day forward is squeaky-clean.

How?

-  Start by defining your “voice”

If your SEO content has a “voice” to it — like a certain style that’s all yours — your readers will be more likely to relate to you.  And, as you probably know, the better they can relate to you, the more likely they are to do business with you!

So, if all of your previous web content sounds more robotic than human, friendly, and engaging, “clean” it up this Spring.  Figure out what you want people to think of when they read your content (Do you want them to laugh?  Enjoy your sharp sense of sarcasm?  Nod in agreement with your casual tone?), and publish content that backs it up.  Promise yourself that you won’t publish anything that doesn’t have your own “voice” to it!

-  Establish your expertise

A great “voice” is nothing without sound facts and figures to back it up.  (The funniest fluff in the world is still fluff!)  So, promise yourself that you’re going to teach your readers something new in every piece of web content you publish.  That way, you’ll have a “clean” image as a bonafide expert — and people love to do business with experts!

Yes, both of these things take work.  However, they’re a whole lot more enjoyable than an afternoon of dusting and mopping! 

Enjoy your web content “Spring cleaning”!

Did you stay up to watch Sen. Rand Paul’s filibuster last night?  (It’s probably the only time you’ll see the words “CSPAN2″ and “ratings domination” in the same sentence!)  Today, the Twitter world and the cable news channels are abuzz with talk of Paul’s nearly-13 hour filibuster against John Brennan’s confirmation as CIA Director.

Filibusters don’t come around very often, and one that actually tackles the issue at hand the entire time is the Congressional version of Halley’s Comet.  (Remember when then-Sen.  Al D’Amato sang “South of the Border” to pad the time during his 1992 filibuster?  It’s proof that these things tend to get a little off track!)

Bottom line — a filibuster is a great way to stand out on Capitol Hill.  However, it’s a terrible way to stand out if you’re an internet marketer.

That’s because web readers don’t have the patience to endure a filibuster of SEO content.  They want you to get to the point — and to do it quickly.  That’s why they Google things at red lights, search for things on the sly at work, and try to find answers to their questions while they’re waiting for the microwave to finish.

So, if you turn your SEO content into a filibuster, your readers are going to hit the “back” button faster than people turned off CSPAN2 when Paul stopped talking last night.

Instead, get to the point, keep things simple, and leave people wanting more.  That way, they’ll visit your website, sign up for your email list, or check back later for updates — which is everything you want them to do!

If you’re one of the more than 100 million people who tuned into see the Ravens beat the 49ers in the Super Bowl last night, you understand the power of motivation.  Ask most of the pundits, and this was supposed to be San Francisco’s game to lose.  After all, they had a dual-threat quarterback in Colin Kaepernick.  They also had a team full of younger, faster athletes.

But if you’ve been paying attention to the Ravens all season long, then you know that Baltimore had one very powerful thing on its side — motivation.

Listen to him for 30 seconds, and you’ll see that Ray Lewis is a one-man wrecking crew of motivation.  But the Ravens weren’t just in this for Ray.  They had battled adversity all season long.  Just look at what Torrey Smith accomplished a few hours after his brother was killed in a motorcycle accident back in September.  Ed Reed got to win the Super Bowl in his hometown — and the same town where his own brother died two years ago.

And then there is O.J. Brigance, a man who was so full of life as a linebacker back when the Ravens last won the Super Bowl in 2000 — now confined to a wheelchair, paralyzed and unable to speak because of ALS.  Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Brigance works in the Ravens front office and was down on the field as the Ravens hoisted the Lombardi Trophy.  Despite a fatal, incurable diagnosis, he believes he will walk again one day, and he encourages the Ravens players to live their lives with the same optimism. How’s that for motivation?

So, what motivates you?

Do you want to have the best business in your industry?  Build something successful so that you can take care of your family?  Do you simply want to create a business that you can be proud of every day when the alarm clock goes off?

What are you doing today to reach those goals?  Worse, what are you doing today that’s preventing you from reaching those goals?

Motivation. 

It’s just one word, but without it, you’ll never know what it’s like to truly be the best.  Just ask the Baltimore Ravens.

If you’ve ever spent an hour in a doctor’s waiting room, then you can totally relate to my afternoon yesterday!   The bad thing about all of that waiting is that it’s a tremendous drain on your time.  The good thing, though, is that you get a ton of time to “people-watch”.

Spending an hour observing complete strangers allowed me to gather first impressions about all of them.  One in particular left me stunned — and not in a good way!

You see, sitting next to me was a very well-dressed woman in her early 50′s.  She had on a nice dress and trendy high heels.  Her makeup was well-done, and her nails looked as if they had just been polished.  At first glance, she seemed to be a professional woman who was taking time away from her busy schedule to be at the doctor.

But then the snapping started…

The gum snapping, that is.  Here was this otherwise-impeccable woman, snapping on gum like she was some kind of crazed Justin Bieber fan.  And we’re talking some LOUD snapping.  As in ear-piercing, where-can-I-get-a-foam-bat, do-you-have-any-idea-how-loud-that-is gum snapping.  And it went on… and on… and on.

It changed my entire impression of her.

The point?  This whole event was really no different that some of the content you see floating around on the web. 

It may be sitting on a nice website, or it may look nice on the surface.  But then, the “snapping” starts.  It might be hyped-up sales copy that comes out of nowhere, spelling and grammar mistakes, fluff instead of facts, etc.  Whatever the problem is, though, it changes your entire impression of the author.  Instead of being impressed and wanting more, you’re left wondering where the nearest foam bat is so that you can take your frustration out on the author.

The lesson?  Be careful with every single piece of web content that you publish.  You never know when someone’s going to be gathering a first impression about YOU!