L&S Unscripted

Last Thursday’s keynote speaker at Search Engine Strategies proved to be another valuable voice of the conference. Tim Ash, current CEO of SiteTuners.com, is an expert site optimizer with several years of experience in the industry, as well as author of the bestselling book Landing Page Optimization.

Tim began his presentation by melting away the perception that a landing page full of information is a good page. The science behind SEO and attracting users to your site is one that involves breaking down the uber complicated algorithm of Google among numerous other factors. Then there is the bigger question of what users will do once they arrive at your site.  Well, Ash showed that building an effective site is really quite simple – it’s not about technology, it’s about humans.

In the ever evolving world of the web, it can be difficult to manage all of the necessary components of your site, but Ash shared a reassuring message – humans are predominately very similar and there are fundamental parts of our being that seldom change. One such part is the idea of trust. Ash explained that building instant trust online is key, and that web site owners only have one-twentieth of a second to gain that trust among users. This trust not only needs to be built quickly, but anonymously—you are lucky if a site visitor takes the time to navigate several pages and figure out exactly what your business does. Chances are if they don’t trust your site at first glance, they are already gone.

The brunt of Tim’s presentation focused on the “four pillars of truth” as they apply to gaining trust on web sites, emphasizing the underlying message of simplicity. The following points break down four important areas to keep in mind when building trust with your web users, along with a few pointers to keep in mind when sizing up your site.

•    Appearance – Leave the creative at the door, less is definitely more when it comes to your site
-    Professionalism of design
-    Sparseness and neatness
-    Organization and clarity

•    Transactional assurances – Don’t buy trust symbols such as VISA to only put them below the fold
-    Forms of payment and delivery
-    Data security and privacy
-    Policies and guarantees

•    Authority – Place important logos on your site and put them before your call to action button
-    Reviews and awards
-    Marquee clients
-    Media mentions
-    Trade associations

•    Consensus of peers – Build that “social proof” on your site so users know  you’re legit
-    Objective large numbers
-    Likeness

Tim urged the crowd to take off our rose colored glasses and get real about our sites. Is it simple? Do people know that you are credible? Can a major credit card be used as a form of payment? These are all important questions that users need answered upon visiting your site, and they can make all the difference to your bottom line.

Good morning from Search Engine Strategies in beautiful San Francisco! We are looking forward to an exciting week of being immersed in the latest and greatest in online search and social marketing, and plan to share some of what we learn here. Check back regularly for insights and updates.

Almost daily, we talk about, preach, practice and prove that social media is truly important and significant. The evolution of it is remarkable, and it only continues to provide more and more each day.

As of late, the focus has been on the money making – or saving – one can do with these services. Several new offerings have hit the social scene, presenting opportunities to further market and sell products and services. Moreover, consumers can reap the rewards of the special deals. 

Twitter recently released @Earlybird, a new service that gives followers exclusive deals from Twitter’s advertising partners. This is the social media platforms take on the recent upsurge in online deal offerings.

An equally beneficial sales driver, yet slightly different concept by Facebook developers, called Payvment, is a social network ecommerce platform that allows users to set up a free storefront. This application is a one-stop shop, allowing all the marketing, sales and administrative functions to be done within Facebook.

And we would be completely amiss to leave out Groupon, with its daily deals via email and Twitter, customized to your geographic locale. Additionally, it was just announced that Groupon will now be customizing its offerings to the specific users, treading into customer relationship management waters. The daily offerings will start to be geared more towards each individual’s specific interests rather than the entire audience.

These services parallel each other in terms of an overall goal – the utilization of existing social networks to market and sell products. What better way to drive sales and market products than directly with the relationships that are already established.

Making – and saving – money via social media channels is simple and essentially free. See what kind of ROI your business can get with these great tools.

A few weeks ago, I was visiting St. Paul with some friends, and we were looking for a new dining experience. I had recently downloaded the Yelp application on my BlackBerry and thought we should give it a try. After going through the broad list of restaurants and reviews, we came across the perfect place with around 30 reviews – a trendy, Asian fusion eatery called Señor Wongs.

The food and overall experience was rather incredible, and I believe that can largely be attributed to Yelp. But, this accolade leads to a larger discussion – is there value in consumer review sites and applications, such as Yelp and Urbanspoon?

These utilities are undoubtedly valuable to restaurants for a number of reasons. First, it gives restaurant operators a way to gauge the popularity and overall quality of a restaurant experience for patrons. If a restaurant is doing a satisfactory job, it will be reflected in their ratings.

Second, restaurant owners and managers receive feedback they might not otherwise get. And with that feedback, they have the ability to respond to both positive and negative reviews, publically or privately.

The majority of the reviews and ratings are favorable towards the restaurant, but pleasing everyone all the time is virtually impossible. Negative reviews happen, but following up on the business end can truly turn a reviewer’s poor experience into a modified rating or even a second chance. And if a restaurant falls short, there is an opportunity to remedy the flaw and improve operations.

If I had I not utilized the Yelp application, we probably would have eaten at a predictable, standard chain restaurant. Restaurant review sites allow smaller, hidden treasures to be discovered.

For the individual chain or franchise restaurants, Yelp and Urbanspoon help them to stand out and differentiate themselves from the overall chain image by highlighting their exceptional service, atmosphere or local specialties.

I strongly urge consumers and restaurants to start searching, reviewing and responding on these sites and applications. Using these tools can transform an average dinner from mediocre to amazing in minutes.

Practically everyone – and everything – has a Facebook page now. From your grandparents to your favorite restaurant and even “campfires,” it seems there is a page for all of our interests and connections. So, why does my bank seem to be missing from Facebook?

I decided to look into a few banks in the area, and my findings were rather unexpected and startling. The presence of local banks on Facebook is somewhat lacking.

A bank’s presence on Facebook makes perfect sense. What better way to connect and build relationships with customers, both current and potential. When engaging on a different, digital level, other than within the banking establishment itself, consumers will feel like they have a deeper relationship with their financial institution.

The amount of time people spend on Facebook is significant and growing every day, so there is a great opportunity to spread the word about your bank’s products and services. Let consumers know about the latest offerings, incentives and news going on with your bank. Get them talking, give them feedback and learn about their banking desires.

I personally want to do business at a bank that embraces technology and change, stays on the edge of the latest advancements and services and really shows that they want to build a deep, understanding relationship with me as a consumer.

U.S. Bank has a strong following and does a great job connecting with consumers online, offering polls, encouraging conversation and linking to services such as mobile banking and careers.

Charles Schwab facilitates discussions, informs consumers of their corporate social responsibility efforts and connects to its other social media presences on Twitter and YouTube. 

Another active social networker, Citibank, offers news of its latest offerings, connects to its blog and asks consumers to help in changing Citi for the future.

Local banks need to start building up their online presence, as Facebook is not just a fad anymore. With over 400 million active users, the service will be around for a while and only continue to advance.  The benefits of a social media presence may be surprising.

Consumers are constantly connected – being plugged in online and tuned into the television, myself included. It is not enough to just watch television or only surf the web, as most viewers are now consuming both simultaneously.

A new study by Nielsen uncovers that three out of four Americans use TV and the web at the same, with about half of those doing so daily. So, if you are not one of the dual users, you are surprisingly in the minority.

Interestingly, women tend to multitask more often than men, with 77 percent utilizing both TV and web versus men at 73 percent. On average, about 2.5 hours a week are spent consuming the two mediums together.

Many television shows and commercials encourage viewers to go online and access additional content, whether it’s extra footage, background information, games, etc., but only about 7 percent are using the web for that purpose. Most Americans using both are checking email or Facebook, rather than content related to their television viewing.

Primetime shows are not the ones taking the biggest hit, as viewers tend to stick to just television during original programming. News and sports shows are the common television programming being viewed while using the Internet as well.

And these stats are probably even greater if you were to take smartphone usage into account. My usual television watching routine is often riddled with web-surfing and BlackBerry checking. Mobile marketing is also being thrown into the mix and gaining momentum, making marketing channels farther reaching and more accessible.

For marketers, this may be viewed as an added opportunity. The concurrent consumption is a true testament to the fact that marketers should not rely on or limit themselves to just one medium.

The opportunities to get messaging to consumers are only going to continue to evolve and grow. Staying on the cusp of those opportunities is what will set marketers apart from the rest in this ever-changing world.

So, you have a throbbing headache, a strange rash or a distinctive muscle twitch – what is the first thing you do?

If you are like me and many other people, you’re likely to head directly to your computer and do a little searching to see what could be the cause. Sometimes, the information can be very valuable and educational. Other times, it can shock, scare and leave you questioning even more.

Cyberchondria, a condition stemming from online medical-related searching, is becoming a somewhat common ailment. Those who do their own medical research are finding alarming, anxiety-causing information, leading them to believe they have illnesses that are way beyond the common ache or pain.

The internet is a great tool and has certainly changed the way we gather information and make decisions. However, we always have to remember that everything that we see online should not be taken for absolute canon. Anyone can set up a site and put information on it. So, credibility of the source always needs to be taken into account.

My suggestion is that if something does seem wrong relating to your health leave it to those who work in medicine for a living. Go see a medical professional; they have the educational backing, expertise and experience to properly diagnose what may be wrong.

And along those same lines, if those same medical professionals are keeping a strong presence online through social media, blogs and other channels, they will hopefully be able to rein those cyberchondriacs back into the doctor’s office.

Throughout history, we have enjoyed being entertained by media. Whether attending old opera house productions, cozying up at a drive-in theater or viewing our favorite movie at home via On Demand, we have always been good at consuming media. It should come to no surprise, then, that the internet has only fueled this common human behavior.

Certainly we have all logged into Facebook to be delighted by our friends posting new photos. Or perhaps we received an e-mail forward with a link to a hilarious YouTube video.  These are all great ways to share and experience multimedia, which in today’s digital world is an important part of having an online presence.

Video, in particular, has become somewhat of a phenomenon online. In fact, in a recent research study conducted by Metacafe, 50 percent of all respondents surveyed (ages 8-64) said they watch video online at least once a week. This statistic has increased from 43 percent in the same survey conducted last year.

And according to most, this trend is not going to change in the near future. Men are currently viewing more videos online than women; however, online video viewership for women aged 18-24 jumped 27 percent in the past year.

While the amount of content being distributed online continues to snowball, it’s safe to say that these percentages will only continue to climb as people have more to view. To date, short-form videos are the most popular videos to view. More and more people are flocking to sites like YouTube to view not only homemade silly productions, but informative pieces as well.

Among the respondents who watch online video, 75 percent said they regularly watch professionally produced short-form videos. These users also stated they believe this type of video is similar to what they would watch on TV, like commercials or a television program.

Looking at these statistics, video is undeniably an important part of being heard online for businesses. Internet users are seeking a specific benefit, whether it’s to be informed or simply entertained, and there is a significant need to consume. Whether you are building a social media presence online or perhaps building a web site, video components should definitely be an element included in any digital project.

Remember the days when you would go to the grocery store and the customer in front of you took about 45 minutes to check out due to their endless supply of coupons? Although that bit of nostalgia is a scarce occurrence today, coupons certainly have not gone by the wayside.

The availability and use of online coupons is a lucrative offering for those in e-commerce. According to data from Compete’s recent “Online Shopper Intelligence” survey, 35 million consumers visited a coupon site while shopping online in April 2010 – a trend that will more than likely continue to rise.

Coupons are beneficial for a number of reasons, even beyond the blatantly obvious dollar savings.

Coupons drive sales. About 57% of consumers using a coupon code during their last online purchase stated that they would not have made the purchase without the discount.

More money is spent by coupon users. Although the consumer is concerned with saving money, the notion of saving a few dollars typically prompts them to spend more. Average expenditures of those utilizing coupons is $216, while those not using coupons typically spend $122.

Coupons solidify customer loyalty. When making an online purchase with a coupon, customers are more likely to buy from the same retailer again, about 5% more likely than those who opted not to use coupons.

Customer satisfaction correlates to coupons. Consumers are always looking for a deal or perk from retailers, so when coupons are offered, they tend to be more satisfied in their shopping experience, about 4% more satisfied than those not using coupons.

So, not only are coupons great for the consumer, but the retailer as well. Both parties reap the rewards.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have to spend…errr, save some money shopping online.

Before my morning stop at Starbucks or even brushing my teeth, I immediately roll over in bed and turn to my BlackBerry. I of course check any missed calls or texts, but then go straight to my email, followed by a quick Facebook overview and glimpse at Twitter.

It is a habit – one that may seem slightly ridiculous. However, it’s becoming a habit for more and more consumers. A recent report by ExactTarget sheds a little light onto the behavior of online consumers and what this means for marketers, as well as our tendencies as consumers.

Online consumers can be grouped into three different categories: subscribers, fans or followers. Subscribers opt in to emails from businesses, fans “Like” businesses on Facebook and followers do exactly that, follow businesses on Twitter.

When a consumer goes to email first, they are said to be more apt to interact with brands online, looking for offers, promotions and information on new products or services. A vast majority of online consumers are subscribers, coming in at roughly 93%.

Those who initially go to Facebook, about 38% of online consumers, are said to be more interested in entertainment or showing support of a brand, rather than obtaining promotions and deals.

Only about 5% of online consumers are followers on Twitter. These individuals are most likely to engage with brands via Twitter.

So, what does this mean for marketers? Consumers using email, Facebook and Twitter are interested in brands and companies they like. They want to see offerings, promotions and be engaged by the content provided on these services. Finding a good balance of deals, consumer interaction and brand advocacy is crucial across all social media channels.

It is wise to cross-promote your business through the different social media services, beings consumers utilize the different services for different reasons. Getting a Facebook user who has “Liked” your company to opt in to your emails could drive more sales when you offer great deals via email.

With the soaring popularity of mobile EVERYTHING, we often recommend the use of Foursquare to our travel clients. It’s an engaging way for people to track the places they go and the things they do (or want to do).

But like many other social media avenues, Foursquare is built on a foundation of consumer, not marketer, activity and interaction. So it gets a bit fuzzy. How exactly do you encourage consumers to promote your business within a platform built by the people, for the people?

Well, there are several ways. First of all, Foursquare offers some simple things businesses can do to get in on the action. First of all, get listed as a location. Do a search for your business – if nobody has added it yet, there will be a link to add a vendor. Once you’ve created a profile for your business, you can create specials that Foursquare users can unlock based on their activities. For example, if a visitor checks in at your restaurant, they might get a free appetizer with the purchase of an entrée.

Tourism groups throughout the country are also using Foursquare as part of larger digital marketing efforts. The Pennsylvania tourism board recently rolled out a summer campaign called “The Fantastic Roadtrip-a-Matic”. The effort includes tips placed at 100 locations throughout the state, which visitors can unlock by checking in at these locations on Foursquare. Visitors can also earn Pennsylvania-themed badges based on their activities. A “PA 4 Score and 7” badge is earned by three visits to PA historical sites, for instance.

Currently the restrictions in Foursquare are minimal – anybody can enter a new vendor. There also aren’t a lot of restrictions on how organizations are designated – Pennsylvania, Chicago tourism, and other CVBs are set up as “people,” not vendors. As Foursquare grows in popularity, it will likely go the way of Facebook, where organizations now must be specifically designated as clubs, cities, pages, etc. Businesses would be wise to get in on the Foursquare action while it’s easy to do.

This weekend marks the unofficial kickoff to the summer season. Grilling, outdoor get togethers, family, friends & socialization are all components to the Memorial Day weekend festivities. I have assembled a little “how to” guide for this weekend’s holiday – social media style.

1. Google search the history of Memorial Day to learn about the origins of the holiday.
2. Read through some cooking blogs to figure out the latest trends in grilling or summer desserts, such as grillmaestro.com, getyourgrillon.net or simplyrecipes.com.
3. Wish all your Facebook friends a “Happy Memorial Day” or set up a Facebook event to celebrate the weekend with those friends.
4. Hit up the Memorial Day sales, but first make sure to print off all of those email coupons and offers.
5. Check in to the various locations you visit over the weekend via Foursquare.
6. Share some of the highlights of your weekend by posting photos or videos on your Twitter account.
7. Most importantly, take some time to disconnect, relax and really enjoy the kickoff to a great summer season!

Have a great Memorial Day!

If there ever was a site that should have a mobile app, it’s TripAdvisor. Well, now they do. The enormously-popular travel ratings site boasts over 35 million comments and travel reviews. The new TripAdvisor mobile app was announced this week, and with it, users can browse reviews, find flights, get GPS directions and more via their mobile phones. So far, there are versions for iPhone and Palm Pre, and Android is coming soon.

For users without app-friendly phones, there was also a mobile site launched in March. Mobile visitors to www.tripadvisor.com are automatically re-routed to the mobile version of the site.

Now if they could just make and app that does my laundry, I would be sold. But this is a good start. Happy travel-apping!

Two interesting articles came across my screen today – both pointing to the hold that mobile communication has on our daily lives. However, annoying as the constant interruptions may be, it appears that we are willing to engage in digital communications, 24-7-365.

The first Advertising Age article reported the surprising findings from a recent Retrevo Gadgetology report. The report asked consumers “Would you answer a text when you’re “on the john”? Some 22% of online under-25-year-olds agreed they “could be interrupted.” Would you answer a text during sex? If you’re younger than 25, one in 10 of you would.  It’s a fascinating article about the control we allow our digital gadgets, and conversations, to have on our lives and relationships.

Ironically, while we may think that it’s the “younger generation” that is much more relaxed about the interruptions, a recent study by the Pew Research Center cites that teen cell phone owners are more likely than parent owners to get irritated when a call or text interrupts them. Nearly half of teen cell owners (48%) agree with that statement compared with 38% of their parents.

So with all these opinions, is mobile communication an erosion of common sense etiquette or just a natural extension of the conversations we have each day?  Its an interesting debate, but no matter what the outcome . . . its good to remember that you control your cell phone, not the other way around.

Just the facts – A great post from our often quoted friends at the Center for Media Research, facts you can use during your reports, speeches and water-cooler arguments during 2010.  Ah, we love stats.

Mobile Phones

• U.S. mobile phone users 13+: 223M
• Number of mobile Web users: 60.7M (up 33% from 2008)
• Percentage of mobile devices that are smartphones: 18% (up from 13% in 2008)
• Percentage of mobile device owners that streamed audio: 8%
• Percentage of mobile device owners that viewed video via their mobile phone: 7%
• Percentage of mobile devices sold in Q3 2009 that were smartphones: 25% (estimated 40%-50 in 2010)

Source: The Nielsen Company, November 2009

Looking Ahead To Mid-2011

• Estimated smartphone user base: 150M
• Estimated mobile subscribers: 300M+
• Estimated users of mobile web: 120M
• Estimated users watching mobile video: 90M

Source: The Nielsen Company, November 2009

Growth of cellphone only homes in the U.S.

• 2009… 21%
• 2008… 18%
• 2007… 15%

Top 5 Smartphones (% Ownership)

• Blackberry 8300 Curve: 17%
• Apple iPhone 3G: 15%
• Apple iPhone 3G S: 12%
• Blackberry 9530 Storm: 6%
• Blackberry 8100 Pearl: 5%

Source: The Nielsen Company, November 2009

Top 5 Mobile Web Sites

• Google Search
• Yahoo! Mail
• Gmail
• Weather Channel
• Facebook

Top Social Networks on Mobile Phones

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Twitter

Top 5 Mobile Video Channels

• YouTube
• Fox Interactive Media
• Weather Channel
• Comedy Central
• CBS

Internet

• 195M Active U.S. Internet users
• 160.3M People who accessed the Internet via a broadband connection: (93.3%… up 16% from 2008)
• 138.4M Unique viewers of video (up 11.4% from 2008)
• 11.2B Total online video streams viewed monthly (up 17% from 2008)
• 200.1 minutes Average time spent viewing online video per viewer monthly (up 12.5% from 2008)

Social Networking

• Facebook reaches 56% of the active U.S. Internet universe with an average usage of 6 hrs a month per user
• Facebook is the #3 site visited by users 65 and older
• Twitter grew 500% year-over-year
• Time spent on social networking sites in the U.S. increased 277%
• The average U.S. worker spends 5 hrs a month visiting social networks at the office
• 32% of all mobile web users visited a social network

Another edition of notes from my trip to the Interative Advertising Bureau’s MIXX Conference this past fall. 

Ads Are Content

• 55 billion dollars are projected for interactive marketing in 2015; it will be the largest media category in the world.
• Economic value of the internet: 3.1 million US jobs, and $300 billion to the economy. 
• Evolution of banners
  • Banner ads – circa 1995 – when display ads were put on banners.
  • Google changed it with small ads to small groups that it was relevant to. 
  • Now, there are infinite inventory and places to advertise.  Attention is worth more than money.
  • We have learned to tune out banner ads that do not speak directly to us – we need to make ads as content, that match that niche community’s site (no generic banner ads to all sites).
  • Get communities to talk about your product for you.  Example of unique niche community – GeekDad.com – 1 million visits per month.  Great example of a very niche, yet very popular site. So how do you engage deeply with all of these micro-communities?  You can’t reach them all – you need to find a way to get that community to do that for you.
• Embrace digital – your stuff is out there so make a community around it or make it easier for people.
  • Example: Monte Python – They faced a potential loss in DVD sales when some of their episodes starting getting put online by users.  They embraced the fact that their content was already out there, and improved it by uploaded episodes to You Tube, making the episodes HD friendly, and organizing the collection online.  The result?  A renewed interest in the products, and increased DVD sales.

More notes from the International Advertising Bureau’s MIXX conference. 

Can you imaging spending 3/4 of your ad budget in ditial marketing?  Adobe can, and they do.  They have created proven campaigns, and alleviated concerns by sharing data and results.  The first speaker of the conference, Anne Lewis, Senior VP of Adobe, set the theme with this statement: It’s ALL Advertising.   When you think about it, it’s true.  Every piece of material we put out there for a brand can either credit or discredit that product or brand.  It’s important to make sure that what you are putting out there is relevant to your target audience. 

In September I had the opportunity to attend the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s annual MIXX conference.  I had the chance to attend idea-stimulating workshops, listen to speakers from a variety of companies, and learn about new trends in the digital industry.  In the next few weeks, I’ll be posting excerts from my notes.

The Consumer Revolution

Yahoo! did a survey and found that 77% of those surveyed wanted to find an ad again, but they couldn’t find it.  The people surveyed wanted to save it, store it, share it.  There is a large expectation gap of what online provides and what users want it to do.  Stay focused on the consumer.

• The web – massive in scale, but individual areas for all the niches, like interest groups the web brings those communities together.
• The web – not daunting but it needs simplification. 
• It is about LIFE, not online, or offline, all the time. 

It’s a mesh of:

My World               The World            

Friends                  Knowledge

Family                    Information

Values                   News

Interests                 Entertainment

Locale                    Editorial

Combine the two to give more of what they want and less of what they don’t.  Figure out what matters most.

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It’s always exciting to win an award, but when it comes from your peers – people with whom you compete for business -  it often means more.  Such is the case for the South Dakota Office of Tourism and its recent winning of the prestigious Mercury Award.

Micah Aberson, Director of Business Development at Lawrence & Schiller tells the story of the award winning Black Hills Digital Strategy in this edition of The Extra Minute.

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Since 1999 Search Engine Strategies (SES) has been presenting one of THE best conference series on search engine marketing. Doesn’t matter if you’re a novice or an expert, interested in search engine optimization (SEO) or pay-per-click (PPC) placement, digital PR or analysis of a campaign’s ROI, SES offers a wealthy of information.

Robin Temple, Director of Digital Marketing at Lawrence & Schiller attended the most recent SES conference (San Jose). In this episode of The Extra Minute, Robin discusses what’s new in search marketing now and what we can expect in the future.

The San Jose SES Conference also provided an opportunity for Lawrence & Schiller to step up to the speaker’s podium. Billie Jo Waara, Director of Account Planning and Research, spoke on “Small Voices, Big Impact: Social Media for the Little Guy.”