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The Value of Search and the User Experience

I’m currently reading a book titled Search Patterns by Peter Morville and Jeffery Callender. Picking up a book is a rare treat for me, so even though this book is technically work-related I’m don’t mind. It is a good book and speaks to the Internet geek within me.

As I read through the pages I’m awestruck by the explanation given for the qualities associated with the searcher’s experience. The authors boil this down to a simple illustration called the User Experience Honeycomb.

The User Experience Honeycomb Includes

  • Useful
  • Usable
  • Desirable
  • Findable
  • Accessible
  • Credible
  • Valuable

While many readers might not deem this concept worthy of much pondering, I do. If you understand search and website design, you know the user experience is paramount in any Internet marketing effort. Explaining this to prospects and client’s is sometimes difficult for me, because not everyone grasps the subject. Some individuals are so burdened by their daily work requirements, they have a difficult time digging into the theories behind a quality search experience. Search is a science and an art that goes much deeper than just the front page of Google.

Many times one of the first things a prospect asks about is reaching page one of Google. Unfortunately, most think this is a short-term event that is triggered by voodoo and magic. They think there is a quick fix to reaching page one and converting each visitor to a lead or a sale. It isn’t that simple. Search has come a long way, but it still requires work. And more importantly, solid content that embodies the honeycomb concept mentioned above. If you provide useful content that visitors will find usable and they can easily locate, you will be rewarded.

Reaching page one or increasing your Internet sale volume requires work and real effort. If you are afraid of either, stick with your pay-per-click campaign or physical storefront and just call it a day.

I have a client who recently told me he doubled his sales funnel since his new website went live a few months ago. Why some may not believe that claim, it is true. I watch his Google Analytics account closely and I can tell many people are finding what they are seeking on his website. They are staying and they are converting.

Together we built a new website and launched an Internet marketing campaign that was built around the honeycomb theory. He produced solid content that people in his industry would find useful, usable, and valuable. In doing so, he increased his already high credibility factor. I took his strong content and made it findable and accessible. Together we became a powerful force and his company is reaping the rewards.

The client believed in the long haul of Internet marketing. He received benefits quickly and I’m sure has obtained a great deal of his project ROI. He did so because he is smart and he believes in the value of hard work. He also believed in the honeycomb theory. When I would talk about usability, he would listen. When I would say we should have “x”, he would deliver it quicker than I expected. He would also think about the project on his own and make valuable requests that would benefit the overall process and his ultimate success. He was an invested party and an active participant that believed in the honeycomb theory.

As I continue to read through my new book, I already applaud the authors for simplifying what many of us website designers and SEO consultants find so difficult. After so many years of working with organic SEO and website design, I find it fairly common sense. Well, I’m a geek and I am not normal. For others, they need an understandable concept and thus far, that authors of Search Patterns are providing just that to their readers.

If you would like more on the subject, I encourage you to purchase the book. Search Patterns is available through O’Reilly Media.


The Twelve Days of Christmas SEO Style

On the first day of ChristmasSocial Media Christmas Tree
my true love sent to me:

  • A Google Page One Ranking

On the second day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:

  • Two Webinars
  • and a Google Page One Ranking

On the third day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:

  • Three Squidoo Lenses
  • Two Webinars
  • and a Google Page One Ranking

On the fourth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:

  • Four RSS Feeds
  • Three Squidoo Lenses
  • Two Webinars
  • and a Google Page One Ranking

On the fifth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:

  • Five Facebook Fans
  • Four RSS Feeds
  • Three Squidoo Lenses
  • Two Webinars
  • and a Google Page One Ranking

On the sixth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:

  • Six WordPress Plugins
  • Five Facebook Fans
  • Four RSS Feeds
  • Three Squidoo Lenses
  • Two Webinars
  • and a Google Page One Ranking

On the seventh day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:

  • Seven Spider Crawls
  • Six WordPress Plugins
  • Five Facebook Fans
  • Four RSS Feeds
  • Three Squidoo Lenses
  • Two Webinars
  • and a Google Page One Ranking

On the eighth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:

  • Eight DMOZ Listings
  • Seven Spider Crawls
  • Six WordPress Plugins
  • Five Facebook Fans
  • Four RSS Feeds
  • Three Squidoo Lenses
  • Two Webinars
  • and a Google Page One Ranking

On the ninth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:

  • Nine Long Tail Keywords
  • Eight DMOZ Listings
  • Seven Spider Crawls
  • Six WordPress Plugins
  • Five Facebook Fans
  • Four RSS Feeds
  • Three Squidoo Lenses
  • Two Webinars
  • and a Google Page One Ranking

On the tenth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:

  • Ten Linkedin Connections
  • Nine Long Tail Keywords
  • Eight DMOZ Listings
  • Seven Spider Crawls
  • Six WordPress Plugins
  • Five Facebook Fans
  • Four RSS Feeds
  • Three Squidoo Lenses
  • Two Webinars
  • and a Google Page One Ranking

On the eleventh day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:

  • Eleven Tweeples Tweeting
  • Ten Linkedin Connections
  • Nine Long Tail Keywords
  • Eight DMOZ Listings
  • Seven Spider Crawls
  • Six WordPress Plugins
  • Five Facebook Fans
  • Four RSS Feeds
  • Three Squidoo Lenses
  • Two Webinars
  • and a Google Page One Ranking

On the twelfth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:

  • Twelve Bloggers Blogging
  • Eleven Tweeples Tweeting
  • Ten Linkedin Connections
  • Nine Long Tail Keywords
  • Eight DMOZ Listings
  • Seven Spider Crawls
  • Six WordPress Plugins
  • Five Facebook Fans
  • Four RSS Feeds
  • Three Squidoo Lenses
  • Two Webinars
  • and a Google Page One Ranking

CNN Polls Website Visitors On Their Search Engine

I have been visiting CNN’s website for years.  Rarely do I pay much attention to their polls, but today their poll catch my eye.  The poll questions was “Which search engine do you use?” and the answer was Google.  No surprise there for many of us, although I was surprised by how low Bing really was on the usage chart.

As of this posting, 198,584 people voted and their results are fairly close to what we see on other websites and analyst reports.

Website Usage Results

Search Engine      Percentage        Votes

Google                    85%                  168,166

Yahoo                     8%                    15,687

Bing                        4%                     8,419

Other                      3%                     6,312

CNN’s poll clearly shows that the website readers use Google more than any other search engine.  While Fox News may find a bit different results, I doubt it would stray very far from that of CNN’s.  Google is by far the major player in search and none of us can dispute this dominance.  It makes you wonder what Yahoo and Bing will or even can do to make the battle a little closer.


Conflicts Within Marketing, Social Media, and ERP Software

Since college I have loved ERP software.  I embraced the concept of an order entry system back in 1993 when I created a tiny Lotus 123 script to enter a basic sales order.  From that day on I was hooked.  I mean really hooked.  I fell absolutely in love with technology and could not turn back no matter how hard I tried.

After college I found a temporary position at a barcode and data collection distribution and before I knew it, I was a full-time employee running their operations.  Why?  Because I fell in love with the ERP system they installed three months before my arrival.  That and the fact that I was one of the few employees who “got” new their ERP system.  I didn’t just get it, I embraced it with my entire being.  For the next three years I worked 60-80 workweeks and spent much of my time on the applicable.  And while it wasn’t perfect, it helped me manage a national distributor with multiple branches and distribution centers.  Again, I was in love with my job and my ERP software.  To this day I miss the chaos and the challenge of fixing every operational woe with my ERP system.

Flash forward fifteen years and I’ve moved from my first college job through working ten years for an ERP developer and now I run my own Internet marketing company.  The trouble is my love for marketing and ERP rarely seem to connect as much as I would like.    While a VP of marketing at an ERP developer, I myself struggled with managing marketing via my ERP system.  While I lived off my personalized dashboards and workbenches, I used a lot of offline processes to help manage what my beloved ERP software could not.  Don’t get me wrong; I knew exactly where each lead came from, where it was at in our sales process, and how long the sales cycle should take before new business was closed.  I had lead generation and tracking, but I lacked the ability to proactively manage marketing.  Within my ERP software, everything I did for marketing felt reactive, which is not at all, what marketing is supposed to be.

Honestly, I don’t think I’m alone.  While I doubt there are many marketing people reading this blog entry, I know they would concur with me if they did.   And I don’t believe ERP developers have reached the concept of automating marketing enough to work hard at developing strong marketing content for their user community.  They are side tracked with fuel surcharges, customer service needs, and compliance issues.  And really, who listens to marketing people anyway?  We are overhead plain and simple.

Today I received a feed from Web Strategy by Jeremiah.  He was covering CRM software (aka ERP software) and the newer functionality for social media management.  Yes, social media, the new darling of topics on the Internet.  Social media reminds me so much of ERP software, because just like a complicated ERP system, few people get it.  They think you can throw up a Facebook page or Twitter account and call it good.  Not so fast.  Just like an integrated ERP system, your social media accounts are fully integrated with your overall marketing campaign and search engine optimization.  There are rules to follow and there are reasons why you do what you do on Twitter versus Facebook.  Honestly, I think you either get it or you don’t.  I always felt the same about ERP software.  You need to look past your little piece of the ERP pie and you need to look into the entire pie or organization to see how your data input alters another department, process, or users.  Social media is the same.  Your tweet on Twitter will alter other marketing activities.  Good or bad.  The Twitter community is persnickety and they speak differently than Facebook or MySpace.  Make a mistake and you will be ignored or blocked.  Do the same in an ERP application and you’d just lose your program access.

Okay I’m running off track here a bit.  I have to really question the blog entry by Jeremiah, because I truly question if the ERP developers and their programmers get social media and marketing.  I question if they can truly meet the needs of marketing departments and look beyond a simple project plan, marketing budget, or lead-tracking program.  Marketing, and in particular Internet marketing, is like voodoo.  Hard to quantify and difficult to measure results, yet something I believe in.  Okay I don’t believe in voodoo, but I did catch your attention.  I do believe in successful marketing and I do believe in ERP software.

So Jeremiah, Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, and Salseforce – do you really get it?  Are you writing software code that your marketing department lives and breathes by or are you writing code that helps your salespeople sell your ERP software?  Ask yourself the question, then ask a marketing person who understands both their functional role and your ERP software. The answer may surprise you.


SEO Scams and Newbies Realm of Gullibility

One of my all-time favorite tv shows is The Twilight Zone. I particularly like Rod Serling’s memorable opening narration:

“There is a sixth dimension, beyond that which is known to newbies. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, and it lies between the pit of newbies gullibility and the sunlight of their naiveté. This is the dimension of smoke and mirrors. It is a dimension known as SEO Scams and Newbies Realm of Gullibility.”

Okay, so I took a little poetic license with Mr. Serling’s classic narration. But I did it to make a point, and the point is, everyday thousands of naive and gullible newbies are targeted, and ripped-off by common SEO scams – mostly scams that have been around since the advent of the Internet. You may even have been a victim yourself.

The question is, why do these seemingly obvious scams continue to thrive year after year after year? My guess is, because most of the victims are newbies who have entered the newbies realm of gullibility.

Hopefully, this article will prevent other newbies from entering this undesirable realm, and being unnecessarily victimized. Anyway, following are some of the most common SEO scams:

1. E-Mail Solicitations

First of all, legitimate companies, SEO or otherwise don’t send out e-mail solicitations without permission. And unless you signed up to receive e-mail solicitations from a particular company, delete all spam immediately. Don’t open it, and don’t send these scam artists your hard-earned money!

I always delete all spam – except when I’m doing research for articles like this one. On those occasions, I find opening e-mail spam extremely useful, because I can pass on what I learn to my readers.

Anyway, if you’ve registered a new domain recently, you’ve probably been solicited by SEO scam artists, looking to steal your hard-earned money. See if any of these e-mail solicitations look familiar:

“I just looked at your website and we can help you get better search engine placement.”

I had to laugh when I received this solicitation, because I had just registered a new domain, and hadn’t even built my website yet. The only thing I had up was a generic “This website is coming soon” placeholder. Obviously, there was no way they could have looked at my website.

Here’s another e-mail solicitation I received recently:

“We have performed a free analysis of your website, and we can help you get better search engine placement”.

Again, how could they have performed an analysis of a website I haven’t even built yet? Answer: They couldn’t.

Here’s another one:

“I was just browsing your website, and realized that despite having a good design, your site was not ranking on any of the search engines for most of the keywords pertaining to your domain.”

Despite having a good design? It’s a freakin’ generic placeholder you scamming idiots!

This next e-mail solicitation I received doesn’t even bother wasting time with false pretenses. It goes right for the jugular (i.e. your wallet) immediately:

“Website Listing Service”

Annual Website Search Engine Listing.

From Nov. 1, 2009 thru Nov. 1 2010

Amount Due: $65

At first glance, this solicitation appears to be a bill for some sort of “annual website search engine listing.” But if you scroll down like I did and read the fine print at the bottom of the letter, you’ll see this:

“This is not a bill. This is a solicitation. You are under no obligation to pay the amount stated above unless you accept this offer.”

I can’t emphasize this point enough: Legitimate SEO companies don’t send out e-mail solicitations without permission. And unless you signed up to receive e-mail solicitations from a particular company, delete all spam immediately. Don’t open it, and don’t send these scam artists your hard-earned money!

2. “We’ll Submit Your Website to 2500 Search Engines “

First of all, there aren’t 2500 search engines out there – at least not 2500 that actually matter. There are really only three search engines that matter.

The three search engines are:

  • Google
  • Yahoo
  • Bing (Formerly MSN Live)

And the reason they’re the only three that matter is because they’re the only ones that can send you any significant traffic. And that’s not my opinion, that’s a fact!

According to The Nielson Company, 66.1% of searchers in this country use Google. 16.6% use Yahoo! and 8.8% use Bing (formerly Microsoft Live).

The point is, since there are really only three search engines that can send you any significant traffic, paying anyone to submit your website to 2500 search engines is really a waste of time and money. The three aforementioned search engines will eventually find your website on their own.

However, if you want to submit to them you can easily do so yourself. There’s no need to pay anyone to do it for you.

3. “Achieve Top 10 Search Engine Rankings Guaranteed!”

No legitimate SEO company will guarantee you a top 10 search engine ranking. Why? Because they can’t. A website’s ranking is determined by a variety of factors within a search engine’s algorithms. SEO companies have zero control over the constantly evolving algorithms of search engines.

And since SEO companies don’t have any control over those algorithms, it only stands to reason that they can’t legitimately guarantee you a top 10 ranking, right?

Now it is possible for you to get a top 10 ranking for certain long-tail keyword phrases that are less popular – keywords that aren’t heavily searched?

Yes, that’s very possible. But again, no one can guarantee you a top 10 ranking for those types of keywords either.

And even if you do manage to get into the top 10 for certain keywords, there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to stay there. Because the search engines are constantly changing their algorithms to thwart cheaters.

For example, you can be on page one today and just as easily be on page one hundred tomorrow. It can happen just that quickly. Don’t believe me? Do some research on Google’s infamous Florida Update.

4. “Generate 10,000 to 1,000,000 Visitors to your Website Guaranteed!”

This SEO scam is called a Guaranteed Traffic Program. And yes, you’ll receive plenty of traffic, but they won’t hang around on your website for any length of time, and they won’t buy anything.

Why? Because the traffic is poor quality. It’s garbage. It isn’t targeted. In fact, in many cases, it’s not even humans that actually visit your site through these programs.

I discovered first-hand that when you purchase guaranteed traffic credits, it’s actually bots clicking through to your site, and then immediately clicking out. While doing research for this article, I actually tested a guaranteed traffic program.

And the numbers don’t lie. When I checked my raw data logs, I discovered that all of those thousands of visitors I received only stayed on my site for about five seconds. Don’t waste your money with guaranteed traffic programs.

5. Avoid SEO Contracts That Hold You Hostage

This particular SEO scam struck close to home recently, when my sister became a victim. Here’s how it works: Unethical SEO companies coerce you into signing a contract that commits you to using their service for 12 months or more. My sister got reeled in, because they told her that they needed to optimize her website’s coding every month to keep up with the search engines algorithm changes.

Can you believe that? What a load of bull crap! Anyway, she didn’t know any better, so she entered the newbies realm of gullibility, and signed a 12 month contract.

Unfortunately, when she finally got around to telling me about it, since she had already signed the contract, there really wasn’t anything that I could do to extricate her from the situation. And since her SEO contract is also tied into her hosting, they’re holding a huge hammer over her head.

In addition to that, they have all kinds of penalty clauses built in, in the event she tries to terminate her contract early. The good news is, next time, she’ll check with her big brother first, before she signs anything.

In fairness to legitimate SEO companies, I want to make something perfectly clear. Not every SEO company that has you sign a contract is unethical. And there are legitimate reasons for contracts.

For example, if you are implementing a link-building program, that obviously has to be monitored over time. Or perhaps your SEO company is managing your pay-per-click program. Again, this is something that has to be monitored over time.

That being said, caveat emptor! Personally, I have a problem with even legitimate SEO companies holding people hostage with long-term contracts.

Seriously, what do they need to hold you hostage for anyway? Now I don’t have a problem with a month-to-month contract. That way, if you’re not happy with the results you’re getting after a month or two, you can simply walk away without penalty.

So there you have it. The most common SEO scams rampant on the Internet today. Hopefully, you’ll heed the advice in this article, and walk away from these schemes, whenever they rear their ugly heads.

But should you choose to ignore the advice in this article, you can’t say that you weren’t warned!


David Jackson is the owner of http://reviews-by-customers.com

This article courtesy of SiteProNews.com