The Internet Marketing Mix
Hello again. For the last three weeks, I’ve been out of country visiting Guatemala and Ecuador. So it feels good to be back, although I do miss being with my friends of South America.
In response to the increasing surge of SEO wanna-bes, I’ve decided to write a book. This is my first attempt at book writing but certainly not the last, I hope. The working title right now is “The Internet Marketing Mix: Strategies for Capturing E-Commerce.”
Right now, I’m completing chapter two and should be finishing the book within the next month I hope. The link here will take you to a PDF file that includes the introduction. As always, I’m actively seeking feedback, so send it on in!
Internet Marketing Mix Preview [PDF] 512KB
Important Search Engine Optimization Expectations
Back in September, Sage Lewis from SageRock.com gave 10 items every search engine optimization client must know prior to initiating an SEO campaign. In the spirit of his list, I’ve decided it’s due time for me to issue my own considerations on what are healthy expectations for web site owners prior to launching a search campaign.
1. Google is more powerful than the other engines. I’ve combed through massive amounts of search engine data in an effort to understand the simple concept of ROI for both pay-per-click and organic search campaigns. I’ve made one substantial conclusion: traffic that is directed to sites from Google is the most targeted of any other referral source on the web. People who use Google to navigate the web are generally more interested in buying things than MSN, Yahoo!, Ask, Mamma, AOL, and all the others.
2. Google is the hardest road to take. Being the best means that they filter out junk. And anyone can create junk. So to rank high in Google is to perservere past all the junk out there.
3. Mostly every website is junk. My guess is that the top 25 to top 100 of any given keyphrase is the only group that contains seriously worthy content. All the rest is junk. That said, considering that the average keyphrase that drives any purchasing power has results numbered in the tens of millions, the top 25 represents a very elite group indeed.
4. Your website will be junk unless it can perservere. Perserverance is key. Not content, like everyone says. I’ve brushed up with plenty a web site that had little content but was valuable because of perservering. Sometimes it takes time, usually 6 months to a year, and other times it takes just sheer muscle, like a hot news story that breaks about you and suddenly you’re the hottest ticket on the web. But every time, sites reign because they are built on solid, long-term principles and strategies. Most web sites are born and either sit around and do nothing or die within a matter of weeks. To outlast, you’ll likely have to focus on a time frame in the months and even years.
5. Marketing is everything, not content. I say this because of this series of logic: Google gives higher ranking to sites that demonstrate better relevance for a key term (in theory) than competing sites; relevance is derived from both the content of the site itself and the relevance attributed by other web sites through linking; therefore, the market, not Google, determines quality and relevance of content. With a strong, sound marketing strategy, the market will find you more relevant than other sites, simple as that. If you can’t beat a major company in the real world, it’s going to be tough to beat them on the net without the marketing muscle to pull it off. Usually this means offline implementation as well. If your strategy stinks offline, (unless you’re an amazing strategist online) then your strategy will stink online. Read more books about marketing than about SEO before you try to take on a whole campaign. Content must come after the marketing strategy is understood, not before, otherwise it will be incongruent with the market and won’t be considered relevant.
6. There are no shortcuts on the net. You can’t just pay someone to point and click, and voilá, you’re site is number 1. It takes perservering through a powerful marketing strategy to accomplish high rankings. You can pay someone to develop strategy, research, and targeted campaigns that will lead to high rankings. The internet in many ways is more volatile than any offline strategy. Online traffic fluctuates in ways that brick-and-mortar stores don’t generally experience. It can be a difficult place to navigate, let alone, to market or advertise to.
7. The laws of nature dictate that everything has a cost. Targeted site visitors are incredibly effective - but also expensive. Don’t assume that a small marketing budget will cover a web site. More and more fluctuations over the internet are forcing companies to spend large amounts of money in marketing to web users. Yes, getting visitors from a search engine is free, but improving your ranking requires tactics that will require time and/or money. Don’t assume that for pennies you can all of a sudden make a million dollars in sales. Maybe back in the early days of the internet, but not anymore.
8. You can’t buy links. Well, sure you can, but it’s becoming less and less effective in site rankings. What does work, however, is gaining quality links. My own research demonstrates that it is the quality of links, not quantity that will improve your site’s ranking. Consider a celebrity endorsement for a traditional product: it costs lots of money to get the endorsement, but is well worth it because the consumer finds them more trustworthy. If a highly popular web site endorses you, it will carry more weight for the consumer than just seeing lots of ads. Buying links will get you lots of “ad space,” if you will, but negotiating quality links is like getting prime public relations.
9. While the internet is fast and can implement changes quickly, Google is not instant. Don’t expect to see immediate results from a campaign. That’s quite the temptation because of the instantaneous nature of the internet, but Google keeps a close eye on its multi-billion-dollar-worth algorithm. They’re not about to make you number one very fast at all.
10. And, echoing the words of Sage Lewis, Google doesn’t owe you anything. They don’t need to be fair. A great analogy comes from the bonus material of the film “School of Rock.” The producers of the film wanted to use a Led Zeppelin song, but were wary of the band’s long-maintained reputation of not allowing their songs into movies. So, instead of going through all the typical methods of gaining artist permission, they filmed Jack Black, the principle character, with a large concert crowd of movie extras, begging Led Zeppelin to use the song. Consider yourself like Jack Black and Google like Led Zeppelin. That’s how it goes in the real world. Like Jack says, “Cause if there’s a thousand screaming people behind you, it drives the point home a little bit.” Google’s pushy and doesn’t care if you’re a major company or not. They sometimes even cannibalize their own rankings to preserve the integrity of the algorithm. It’s that integrity that is worth the billions to them, and they definitely care about that more than anyone else. So go about seeking ranking on Google as a privilege or reward, not a legal right.
With these expectations in mind, go out there and launch your campaign!
Affiliate Program Started
I’m proud to announce the start of our affiliate program.
Simply put, affiliate members get a 10% commission on all sales made from their referral and can qualify to get as much as 15%. Signing up is simple and easy, and you all should do it! Just pointing visitors over can accrue some cash and it certainly helps us out as we grow.
So if you are interested in becoming a David Golding Design affiliate member, just review the main affiliate page and sign up. It’s instant and starts tracking leads immediately.
