Why content is (still) King; aligning navigation with user intent, and using research to influence what you think; designing with content in mind.
Visit http://www.controleng.com/events-and-awards/marketing-to-engineers/website-design-search-marketing-best-practices.html to download the slides in pdf format, and to watch the recorded presentation.
2. Agenda
o Why content is (still) King - Panda's Penguins and
Penalties
o Aligning navigation with user intent, and using
research to influence what you think
o Designing with content in mind-If you build it, will
they come?
o Extras
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3. Content Is (still) King!
• Why Should You Care?
• 82% of B2B marketers now employ content marketing as
a strategy in their marketing programs. Source: HiveFire 2012 study
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4. Make Content Part of Online Strategy
B2B marketers know their
customers and prospects are
online, which is why they're
focusing their marketing efforts
on the Internet.
How Content Marketing
Benefits B2B Marketers:
• Engages prospects
• Increases brand credibility &
thought leadership
• Generates qualified leads & sales
• Relatively low marketing cost
www.BeFoundOnline.com
5. Components of Content
Marketing
Content Creation Content
Management
Blogger Outreach
This includes writing
blogs, resource articles,
infographics, landing
pages, etc.
Content that is either
created by the client or
by 3rd party and is
optimized and posted
on the clients’ blog or
web pages.
Finding influential
bloggers and creating a
list of potential
bloggers.
www.BeFoundOnline.com
6. Pandas, Penguins, and Penalties
• Google Panda (2011) - filter “low quality
content”
• Google Penguin (2012) - discourage / punish
spam
• Reasons for Penalties
• Over Optimization
• Bad or Suspicious Links
• Virus & Malware
• Lack of user experience
• Duplicate/copied content
• High Bounce Rate
• PSST, don’t forget to talk about Authorship!! www.BeFoundOnline.com
8. User Intention – What is it they
seek?
Research what your buyers want. You Are Not The Target.
Consider what questions your prospects ask during the sales process
Use Google analytics to uncover what makes users land on a page (&
then blow it up!)
• what keywords are they using
• what are people entering in your site search box.
“blending solutions for
plastic packaging”
“remote IO installations”
“stereo 3D camera”
www.BeFoundOnline.com
9. Build Content For Maximum Effect
Design your website with content
in mind
Develop & Optimize Content
• Develop your own content
• Obtain content from credible
sources
• LinkedIn Posts
• White papers
• Guest Bloggers/Blogging
• Webinars/How-to Videos
To reach as many people as you
can, you need to serve your
content up in different ways.
www.BeFoundOnline.com
10. Challenges B2B Marketers Face
www.BeFoundOnline.com
64% of B2B marketers say that producing enough content was their
#1 challenge.
43% of B2B marketers are developing both in-house and
outsourced content.
• Outsourcing vs. Hiring
• Ongoing process
• How much is enough?
Source: Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs Study of 1,416 B2B marketers in North America
11. Integration Matters, Especially in B2B
Align navigation with content goals
Integrate Content
• Use flexible CMS to tie content to a
product/category
• Consider page lay out with case studies
• Integrate content using best practices
• Ability to share content directly to social
media channels
Best Practices for Article Optimization
If you really want to convert visitors
and nurture your audience, you must
build trust with them www.BeFoundOnline.com
12. If You Build It, Will They Come?
Reach your target market
Path To Your Prospects
• Multiple touchpoints
• Social elements
• 3rd Party Engagement
Results
• Higher page rank
• Leads & conversions!
How an optimized article can find its way to
your target audience.
www.BeFoundOnline.com
13. Remember These Three Things
Content Marketing is a Popularity Contest
• The more credible “friends” you have, the higher you’ll be ranked
Your Competition is Focusing Efforts on Content
Marketing
• What is your strategy for 2013?
Make Sure Content Strategy is Part of Your Website
(re)design
• Integrate content alongside your products. Add videos, blog posts,
articles – they don’t have to be yours, just make sure you cite the
source
www.BeFoundOnline.com
14. Gratuitous Site Launch Guidelines
Rule Numero Uno – Redirect 80% of your Organic Traffic
• If Google can’t find the new pages, they can’t send traffic
Robots.txt is your friend!
• Use to keep search spiders from finding unwanted
content
• Also comes in convenient Meta tag form
Keep your content close!
• Never move products extra clicks away
• Shorten the distance between the Top and Products if
you can
• Avoid assigning products to multiple categories if
possible
Manage your Meta
• Page Titles are still a very important tag for Google
(others too, but I’m out of space…)
Random Thinkages
• Don’t outsmart Google
• Crawl the site yourself
(Visual Web Spider,
Screaming Frog,
Xenu)
• Watch indexation &
use Webmaster tools
• Check “site search”
behavior immediately
after launch
• Analytics is not just a
friend, it’s your best
friend
www.BeFoundOnline.com
15. Gratuitous Upper Management Slide
It’s not an Expense, it’s an Investment
• Websites cost money – Online Marketing prints it
Aim for Efficiency
• New platforms need to do more than be a pretty
site – it has to make life easier in several ways
Make the Kool-Aid, don’t drink it
• Remember, they are marketing to you, same as
you are them…look under the hood, talk to users,
check out user groups (get your nerd on)
Objectivity pays the rent
• Pet platforms are great and so are pet developers,
but pick the one that’s truly right for the job
Random Thinkages
• There’s often no cure for
“El Jefe’s” pet platform!
• Support your decisions
with metrics: Conversion
Rate, Bounce Rate and
Lifetime/Average Value
• Save yourself from an
ROI calculation if you
can
• Analytics is not just a
friend, it’s your best
friend
www.BeFoundOnline.com
16. Be Inspired
Be Passionate
Be Creative
Be Amazing
Why BFO?
◦ Search tailored to your business
goals
◦ Success across many platforms
◦ We solve technical SEO problems
every day
◦ We do more than SEO
◦ We love helping clients make
money
www.BeFoundOnline.com
Steve Krull
◦ Steve@befoundonline.com
◦ 877.553.6863 (call the office)
◦ 773.904.1182 (or hit me directly!)
◦ http://www.linkedin.com/in/stev
ekrull/
Notas do Editor
The center of gravity for content marketing is a brand website — whether it be a branded URL or a microsite for a brand’s specific product.
Over optimization - This is very important. People who don't have quality content over optimize their websites. So you should do what is necessary, and no more!High keyword density - This is like calling out loud to search engines; "check me! check me! I have the most keywords!". And they don't like it when you call them. Using excessive keywords is also a form of spamming, since you are seeking for search engines' attention. In the past, pages were ranked according to the number of keywords they had. Not anymore though. Always keep that in mind.Virus and malware - People simply hate it when they land on a website infected with a virus. And so does Google. Having a virus on your site, or even having too many spam or bot scripts can trigger the alarm bells for Google. Please review your website regularly from now on.Lack of user experience - Now this is very crucial, and Google has been stressing on this a lot lately. Pleasing the search engine is one thing. Pleasing the visitors is another. Even with adequate SEO, a website that lacks a good user experience might have been hit by Google.Duplicate / copied content - Yeah you think you are making things easier for yourself when copying content, but actually, you aren't. In fact, quite the contrary, you are axing your own feet. Google hates it when it finds duplicate content on your website. Never copy from another source, and never use redundant content.High Bounce Rate - Make sure to reduce the number of banners and other heavy graphics as much as possible to make sure your site loads faster. Slow loading blogs are hated by visitors and so by Google. Do not reduce the size of the page so much that it may begin looking dull and grey. Be creative yet smart!
Why content is (still) King-Panda's Penguins and PenaltiesAligning navigation with user intent, and using research to influence what you thinkDesigning with content in mind-If you build it, will they come?
sharing of online documents and content directly to social media channels