While Mel Carson moderates 'Social Media and the Marketing Mix' in the auditorium next door, I attend the last session of the day, Developing Great Content, moderated by Matthew Bailey (SES Advisory Board & President, Site Logic Marketing).
This panels' session of speakers includes:
- Jonathan Allen, Director, SearchEngineWatch
- Heather Lloyd-Martin, CEO, SuccessWorks
- Greg Jarboe, President & Co-Founder, SEO-PR
- Amanda Davie, Co-Founder & Director, Reform Digital Limited
First to the table, we had Amanda Davie delving into the world of Online Language Pathways. This aims to understand how people use language when they search online and how that insight can be used as a planning tool for developing great content. While search might be a powerful tool for looking at consumer behaviour insights, it's not always being properly deployed by brands. Language is a powerful driver of consumer response but the language on the site isn't always compelling.
It's true, content really can disappoint. There is a challenge in getting search specialists working alongside content specialists. The bottom line is that not enough time goes into the planning of content to really understand user behaviour.
Amanda shares with us the findings of the Online Pathways Study; users respond more favourably to destination content that uses language that's closest to their own. Essentially, people adapt their natural search language and employ more technical terms when they're searching (perhaps they think search engines robotic machines). Intent can be lost in the search process, when searchers apply associate thought processes and we need to think about addressing these processes and answering what consumers are looking for.
Using language as a filter, users are put off by too much formal marketing/legal speak/jargon on the destination site.
How do we change in terms of our marketing planning and processes?
We need to think about the language of intent and how the consumers react to different languages, as keyword research can be very one-dimensional when it comes to planning. Amanda shows us a case study example using Canesten as a brand which promptly embarrasses every man in the audience :-)
But the message is clear - we need to employ a different type of language to channel towards our different target audiences i.e. patients, clinicians, commercial partners all need to be targeting in very different ways.
To sum up Amanda' piece, it's not rocket science, just solid principles:
- Deploy the right language in your search marketing and your content
- Remove operational silos
- Understand the language of intent (not just keywords)
- Develop useful and functional content. Don't disappoint!
- Show users you speak their language.
Heather Lloyd-Martin asks the question 'Why care about content?' As Seth Godin says, the best SEO is the best content. It works. It drives conversions and helps bring quality incoming links to your site. Ultimately, it has tremendous impact to your bottom line.
Heather providers us with 5 Ways to Improve Existing B2B/B2C Sites:
1. Think about the target audience - create a customer persona. Consider: who is your target audience, what makes them tick, how old is your typical buyer/reader, what level of education do they have, what do they want? Need to create a picture of your ideal audience. This is the beginning before keyword research.
2. Look for opportunities to build out new, unique content. Content helps build trust, trust helps build sales and conversions.
3. Free yourself from SEO porkies - hitting a specific keyword density/word count e.g. back in the days of AltaVista (those of you who are old enough will know exactly what I'm talking about here). If you jam-pack those keywords in, you're doing everything to cater to the search engine but nothing for your target audience. Keep your key phrases in headlines and subheadlines, in hyperlinks, throughout the content, keyphrase-rich title.
4. Help your titles sizzle off the SERPs - your first opportunity to gather conversions is on the SERP. You want people to click on your ad above all of the other ads. People scan the SERP looking for the listing that will best fit their needs. The title/headline must be compelling and will encourage people to click on your listing, even if you're not in the number one position. Changing titles can have a HUGE impact on positions. Clearly explain what you're all about.
And lastly but perhaps, the most important point to consider.
5. There's ALWAYS something you can do - especially when you're feeling frustrated that you're not getting the results you want. Change a few pages a month, write one or two articles a month, consistently check for outdated content, start a blog, take control.this is the main advantage of good content.You can control the links, you can steer the position and you can certainly affect your conversions.
Greg Jarboe opens with a very compelling statistic. Video is 50 times more likely to get first-page ranking that web text (Forrester). Interesting? Yes, then read on!
According to Greg, great content is more than just keywords, ads and HTML. We need to think about photos, blogs, tweets and video. Another shocking stat: YouTube is 99 times more likely to appear in video results than in Google video (ComScore). Google Video drives less than 1% of video results. In the example he presents, in order to get their video ranked higher on Google.com, they first had to figure out YouTube's algorithm (not Google's); it examines video's relevance and importance. In other words, how many people have watched the video and how many people have subsequently rated it high?
If you have these two key elements sorted out, you know you have great content. It's also worth noting that embedded videos drive 5 times more views that YouTube search.
Greg leaves us with this nugget: Optimised videos get discovered but great content gets shared. Shared (or embedded) video gives you 5 times more views, giving you page one rankings, driving more brand awareness or conversions.
In a really interesting piece on social media architecture and remixing content, Jonathan Allen rounds off the last session of the day.
He sets the scene by sharing some key phrases as to what the BBC consider online content: 'discover', 'create', 'experience', 'connect', 'share', 'empower', 'interact'.
Like many of the other speakers today, he identifies the importance of defining the goals of the campaign, whether that be driving sales or awareness? How will this success be measured?
To conclude the session, without meaningful content and compelling copy, your website (or indeed video) is not grabbing the attention it deserves. To enjoy success an an online marketer and content developer, we need to employ a diverse range of Web content development strategies, along with innovative techniques for dramatically boosting the visibility and interactive appeal of your site/video.
Write great ad copy to encourage consumers to click and use persuasive design strategies that turn browsers into buyers.
It's all about improving the end user's experience through superior content.
That's all from me!
Sonia
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